Did you catch the recent article in the Las Vegas Review Journal by author Elizabeth Marquardt on Aging in America entitled "Broken families, lonely ends". In the article, Ms. Marquardt writes,
I had dinner with a friend whose mother had recently remarried, to a man who had never had children. Though happy for her mother, my friend was also bothered. If her mother were to die before the new husband, she wondered, would she herself be expected to care for this man she barely knew?
She isn't alone in her uncertainty. Because of profound changes in how Americans organize and sustain -- and often break up -- our families, our nation will soon confront a never-before-seen shift in how we die and whom we'll have around us when we do. And the likelihood is that we will be dying much more alone.
Reduced birth rates, widespread divorce, single-parent childbearing, remarriage and what we might call "re-divorce" are poised to usher in an era of uncertain obligations and complicated grief for the many adults confronting the aging and dying of their divorced parents, stepparents and ex-stepparents. Compared with the generations before them, these dying parents and parent figures will be far less likely to find comfort and help in the nearby presence of grown daughters and sons.
You can read the entire article by clicking here. It makes clear the importance of proper planning for not only legacy planning, but also for long term care. Elizabeth Marquardt, a vice president of the Institute for American Values, a nonprofit pro-family organization, is author of "Between Two Worlds: The Inner Lives of Children of Divorce."
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