Odd Next of Kin question

[rhodesaz]

Originally Posted by sgpd1sam

How about just letting your family members know where you’re at and where you’re heading? It gives them and the authorities a jumping off point to start checking hospitals and Coroner’s offices.
When I was a cop I had to make death notifications to families who didn’t even know a relative was missing or their last whereabouts. The investigative techniques are pretty good now.

We have no close family members. We do keep a blog but, we may stay at a location for several months without updating the blog. Anyway, the blog would not help the PD in a worse case situation.

Back in my day, death notifications came via teletype or phone call request. In my small department I was the officer most often chosen for this duty.

[DRM901]

For the most common situation, I would just have a piece of paper in your wallet, purse stating who to call in an emergency. (That is assuming the body survives, which is really morbid!)

Do you have a medical power of attorney &/or power of attorney? Unfortunately, these seem to be state specific, but once filed with the state they would direct the authorities to the right person.

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by sgpd1sam

How about just letting your family members know where you’re at and where you’re heading? It gives them and the authorities a jumping off point to start checking hospitals and Coroner’s offices.

That's a good idea, as is the bracelet idea.

You could even do it by text message as you go. It would be a way to stay in touch.

When my wife goes out of the country with her sisters she wants the daughter to check up on me. I accomplish that task for her by texting the daughter: "Not dead yet!" every day.

[Mudfrog]

Except for the wedding band, I don't wear jewelry. Not into bracelets, I rarely wear a watch for that matter, so that would be out. However, I could handle a Military type ID tag engraved with the trustee's contact info hanging around my neck.

[Isaac-1]

The simplest way is probably to text the cousin once per moth with a not dead yet message, and have them reply to make sure the same is true of them. Facebook is probably easier.

[pointrow]

Dog tags the tried and proven method.

[richard5933]

Originally Posted by pointrow

Dog tags the tried and proven method.

I was going to suggest something similar - get an engraved tag and keep it on the keys to your rig. Even if a fire should take out everything, the keys and the tag will hopefully survive if made out of stainless.

[TXTiger]

I went to PetSmart and got a real dog tag for my dog for about $5.00. It has her name, my address and my cell # on it. No reason why you can’t get one for yourself. You don’t have to have it around your neck like a military dog tag, just put it in your wallet. It’s metal and should survive anything even a fire which may melt you drivers license.

[akeagle]

Originally Posted by rhodesaz

FYI: I'm not staying up at night thinking about this. It just crossed my mind! As they say "Inquiring minds want to know!"

I thought about the safe idea. Looking into it. Not sure I'd go cheap.

We own the rig out-right and but that is a great idea. Maybe put a $1 lean on the title when registering it with the trustees name as the lean holder.

Don't wear jewelry, altho, that is a great idea.
Yes, we have a living will. Currently the will is registered in AZ (last state we lived) I will look into registering the will in SD. That would find the trustees!

Mudfrog is right, we only visit the cousins during the holidays.
For old-biscuit: I said the same thing until I realized the government would get all of my money!! Can't have that now can we?

We have a "small" security chest for our residence made by Century. Its roughly 12x12x12 and made of a sturdy plastic that has been injected with a fire/heat resistant material heavy enough to be concrete. Its just big enough to contain our important documents, vehicle titles, passports, and a few other things. I don't remember the specific numbers but supposedly it will protect the contents for an about hour while exposed to approximately 1500 degree heat. The lid and body will melt together in that heat but can be broken apart after it cools.

Unless you have a pretty big RV, I'd say that particular model would be too big for that purpose, but I'm pretty sure Century makes a couple smaller models that may be suitable for RV use.

You've made me think about the possibility of a catastrophic accident, so I'm going to look into this myself. Thank you!

Just Googled Sentry Fire Safes (note that I originally spelled the name wrong). The model I have at home is now called a "Fire File" and they do have a smaller Model 1200 "Fire Chest" with the inside dimensions of 7.5x12x3.5. That size might be appropriate for RV use.

The actual UL fire rating is half an hour at 1550 degrees.

[Unplanned Tourist]

Get chipped, like Fido! I'm just not sure where they will put the chip though.

Just kidding! The fire-proof safe is most likely the best way to go. We have one, and no matter what you think, the police will get it open.

[twogypsies]

You have ICE on your cell phone and a list on your refrigerator. Good start.

We also put our traveling itinerary in the glove compartment of our toad with appropriate emergency names. On it we also had the location of our campsite in case one of us traveled solo into town for shopping, etc. and got in an accident. Then authorities would know where the other was along with the motorhome. We were usually in the boondocks on public lands so finding the other would be impossible since a cell didn't usually work. I made a form on the computer for this purpose that was easy to fill out with our moves.

We gave our kids our rough schedule of travel every month or so with known towns we'd be near or just with the states we were planning to go through. We contacted each other at least once a week so if they wouldn't hear from us or couldn't contact us they'd have an idea what direction we were heading and could give authorities where we were last.

[Toby Dog]

You know you always wanted a tatoo. You CAN'T leave home without it. How sad to have no close family.

[texasrs]

I am a widower, and close to retirement. I'll be doing some long-awaited, solo, travel in 2021 and beyond. My plan is to leave my travel itinerary with my son. I'll also provide my cell location (by app) so that he will always know where I am on the road.


Ray

[KanzKran]

Originally Posted by akeagle

Just Googled Sentry Fire Safes (note that I originally spelled the name wrong). The model I have at home is now called a "Fire File" and they do have a smaller Model 1200 "Fire Chest" with the inside dimensions of 7.5x12x3.5. That size might be appropriate for RV use.

The actual UL fire rating is half an hour at 1550 degrees.

We have an older version of that one, in putty instead of black. Small, but big enough for passports, birth certificates, medical bracelet or pendant (when wearing just one or the other), etc. Only $30, so cheap peace of mind.

https://www.sentrysafe.com/product/1200

Just store it far away from the diesel tank, and the propane tank for that matter. That propane tank will not normally blow up in a fire, but it will shoot a flame from the relief valve in pretty spectacular fashion.