Expats, Death and How to Plan Round 2

"Death is Certain, Time is Not"

INFORMATION and INVENTORY REQUIREMENTS- EXPAT

It is important as an expat to know what is required when you or one of your loved ones passes away in your HOST country.

The below information should be available to your family in your Host country or a friend if you are on your own, as well as family or friends back in your home country.

A contact number for a family or friend back at home should be left with a reliable person in your host country.

If you are concerned about leaving the below information with other family members or friends, then ensure that you have left this with the person responsible for your Estate / Will, may it be a bank, accountant or lawyer. Then ensure that someone knows where to find this information if you do pass away.

STEPS THAT SHOULD BE TAKEN IN YOUR HOST COUNTRY:

1.   Register every member of your family with your HOME country Embassy, in your HOST country. Most embassies require the following information: 
        -  Person's Name, Date and Place of Birth, Passport Number, Visa or Work Permit Number,
            and the Contact Details for each family member,
        -  The Full name and address of Next of Kin,
        -  On the death of a family member they would require Date and Place of Death, Cause of 
            Death, and the Location of the Remains.
2.   Your embassy will assist you in the event of a death of a family member in your Host country and will be the source of any required information with regards processes to be followed. 
3.   Be proactive and contact your embassy to find out all relevant processes to follow in cases of  death; natural disasters; and evacuation processes during conflicts.
4.   When a person has passed away contact your embassy, as well as the police, a doctor or emergency services. Find out who the relevant people are to contact via your embassy.

5.      A medical officer or doctor will have to pronounce the person as deceased, they will issue a medical record stating that the death was of natural causes and that nothing suspicious occurred.

6.      The coroner, funeral home/parlor or police ambulance should be contacted to collect the body. The remains will be handled in accordance with the laws of and facilities available in your host country.

7.    If the remains are to be shipped to your Home country, it would be necessary to embalm or cremate the body. Check the local requirements and customs allowed within your Host country. Certain Muslim countries will not allow non-Muslim's to be cremated within the country, and special arrangements would be required to ensure that customary procedures of your Home Country are followed. Once again your embassy should have this information.

8.      Find out the legal requirements with regards the remains and follow these in accordance with the persons wishes.

     9.       The official funeral director should be able to complete and hand in any official forms on your behalf e.g. Lodging the Death Certificate with the relevant State/Government Department, as well as certify Identity Documents and Death Certificates.

10.   Certified Copies of the Identity Documents, Passports and Death Certificate should be kept in a safe place. These may be required to close personal accounts at a later date and for official government requirements back at home.

11.      In the case of an expat or a member of the expats family passing on, the below questions should be provided for a course of action to be followed by surviving family members.

12.   This document should be completed separately by each adult member of the family.

13.   This document should be distributed to relevant individuals and kept in a safe place.

14.   Delete any sections that are irrelevant and add in sections that may have been left out and which are appropriate for the country you are a citizen of.

 To find your Home country embassy in your Host country try out the  Project Visa website,


EXPAT PERSONAL AND INVENTORY FORM

Personal Details:

Full Name:______________________________________________________________

ID Number:_____________________________________________________________

Passport Number:________________________________________________________

Resident’s Permit / Visa Number:___________________________________________

Essential Friends, relatives, neighbors and colleagues to be contacted in the event of my death:

Name:	Relationship:	Contact Details: Tel/Email

Where I have placed my Will:________________________________________________

Where I keep my ID Book / Passport:__________________________________________

Organ Donor:________________________ Living Will:___________________________

Guardianship of my children:

Names of Children:_________________________________________________________

Name of Guardian:_________________________________________________________

Contact for Guardian:_______________________________________________________

Person responsible for Children until Guardian arrives:_____________________________

Contact for above:___________________________________________________________

Pets:

Names of pets:_____________________________________________________________

Details of pets care:_________________________________________________________

Name of person responsible:__________________________________________________

Contact for person responsible:________________________________________________

Funeral Details:

Place of worship:___________________________________________________________

Requests regarding burial / cremation and scattering of ashes:

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

Preferred funeral arrangements:

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

Contact of Funeral Parlor / Person responsible in Host country for Funeral Arrangements:

Name:____________________________________________________________________

Tel:_______________________________________________________________________

Other:_____________________________________________________________________

Payment options for funeral:

Burial Scheme / Funeral Policy:_____________________________________________________________

Financial Details:

Income tax number:____________________________________________________

Auditors:_____________________________________________________________

E-mail:_______________________________________________________________

Tel:__________________________________________________________________

Employment / Sources of income details:

Employer:____________________________________________________________

Tel:__________________________________________________________________

Company policies:______________________________________________________

Company benefits:______________________________________________________

Bank account:

Institution:____________________________________________________________

Account number:_______________________________________________________

Type of account:________________________________________________________

Account details:_________________________________________________________

Insurance:

Institution:_____________________________________________________________

Account number:________________________________________________________

Type of account:_________________________________________________________

Account details:__________________________________________________________

Investments:

Institution:______________________________________________________________

Account number:_________________________________________________________

Type of account:__________________________________________________________

Account details:___________________________________________________________

Policies:

Institution:_______________________________________________________________

Account number:__________________________________________________________

Type of account:___________________________________________________________

Account details:___________________________________________________________

Pension Funds:

Institution:_______________________________________________________________

Account number:__________________________________________________________

Type of account:__________________________________________________________

Account details:___________________________________________________________

Unit Trusts

Institution:_______________________________________________________________

Account number:__________________________________________________________

Type of account:___________________________________________________________

Account details:___________________________________________________________

Loans:

Institution:_______________________________________________________________

Account number:__________________________________________________________

Type of account:__________________________________________________________

Account details:___________________________________________________________

Shares:

Institution:_______________________________________________________________

Account number:__________________________________________________________

Type of account:__________________________________________________________

Account details:___________________________________________________________

Off shore assets:

Institution:_______________________________________________________________

Account number:__________________________________________________________

Type of account:__________________________________________________________

Account details:___________________________________________________________

Accounts to be paid up and closed:

NAME	Account Details	Account Number	Contact Details: Tel / Email
Doctor 1
Doctor 2
Dentist
Pharmacy
Credit card
Clothing
Landline / Tel
Cell phone
Pay TV
Security

Ownership Documents:

Car Lease:_______________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Residential Property:

Property Number	Deed in name of	Bank	Tel	Mortgage account number

If bonded / mortgaged the bank will hold the deed if not state where the title deed is kept:

Mortgage / Life Insurance

Insurer:___________________________________________________________________

Policy Number:____________________________________________________________

E-mail:___________________________________________________________________

Tel:______________________________________________________________________

Details of Rates and Taxes Account / Body Corporate / Managing Agents:

Details:___________________________________________________________________

Contact:__________________________________________________________________

Account number:___________________________________________________________

E-mail:___________________________________________________________________

Tel:______________________________________________________________________

Other:____________________________________________________________________

Details of Timeshare:

Resort:___________________________________________________________________

Tel:______________________________________________________________________

Ref / Account number:_______________________________________________________

RCI / Other:_______________________________________________________________

Tel:______________________________________________________________________

Medical Aid:

Name of Medical Aid:______________________________________________________________________

Tel:______________________________________________________________________

Account / Ref Number:_______________________________________________________

Details of Executor:

Name of Institution:__________________________________________________________

Name of Person:_____________________________________________________________

If person state ID number:_____________________________________________________

If Institution state Account / Ref Number:_________________________________________

E-mail:_____________________________________________________________________

Tel:________________________________________________________________________

Details of Administrator of Trust:

Details of Trustee:____________________________________________________________

Institution:__________________________________________________________________

Contact Details:_____________________________________________________________________

Housekeeper employees details, contract, UIF/Social Security etc: 

Full name:___________________________________________________________________

Tel:_________________________________________________________________________

ID Number:__________________________________________________________________

Resident Permit / Visa Number:__________________________________________________

Other Details:_________________________________________________________________

Details of Firearms, locations of licences and access to safe:

Firearms:_____________________________________________________________________

Licences:_____________________________________________________________________

Safe:_________________________________________________________________________

Computer logins:

Account	Login	Password	Other
Email
Facebook
Twitter
Etc

Note any other items that have not been mentioned on this list, e.g. details of CC, Partnership agreements, ante nuptial contracts, divorce agreements, hiring or letting contracts, safe keys / combinations, passwords for computer, where the gold is buried, etc.

            WITNESS 1            WITNESS 2

Name:____________________     Name:__________________     Name:__________________

Signature:_________________     Signature:_______________     Signature:_______________

Date:_____________________     Date:____________________     Date:____________________

Regard this as a legal document, initial each page and get your witnesses to initial alongside you. Once this document has been completed, keep the original in a safe place and distribute copies to the relevant family or friends. Let them know where the original document is, for future legal requirements.

If you would like to receive these documents in Microsoft Word format, please send an email to help@xpatulator.com

Xpatulator.com bringing you all your Expat cost of living information

Expats, Death & How to Plan

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans", John Lennon's words should ring true in all our ears.

As an expat you can never predict when your next journey home will be, especially when you have a loved one at death’s door.  I have had many conversations with expats around a parent being ill and when it would be the right time to go home.  In response, there is never a right time.

Many expat friends have arrived home just a day too late or their parent passed on after they had left to return to their assignments, very few were there at the “right” time. 

I was one of the lucky one’s, my one sister arrived one day before, while my other sister arrived 12 hours too late. I left for home 4 weeks earlier than planned, my mother via Skype had seemed chipper and coping well. She was diagnosed with cancer in June 2010 and we had returned home every six months to visit, never knowing if we would see her again.  This time, my aunt, who was visiting insisted that I come home earlier, I had one week with my mother before she passed away.  I will be forever grateful for that time.

However, although you cannot plan to be at your parent or loved one’s deathbed, there are certain courses of action you can plan for.  My sisters and I found that, even though my parents had often spoken about when they passed on, their plans and course of action, that in reality there were no “real” plans to follow.  We had to muddle through figuring out who to contact with the news (other than family), what funeral arrangements were required, what documents needed to go where and to whom, it was a mess. My parents were not well organized and we realized that our father had been living in denial, even though they were aware that our mother would not recover.  

Our father was overwhelmed with grief and during the week following my mother’s death, he was unable to function or help us with any course of action.  In normal circumstances dealing with death is in itself difficult, coming from all over the world, we initially felt lost. 

To avoid the frustrations that we faced, what you need is a “Plan”. Not only for when you lose a loved one but also for yourself.  Is your spouse aware of what plans to follow and do you have a friend in your assigned country who knows who to contact if something happens to you?

I have outlined a course of action to take and a question/answer sheet for both circumstances.  If anyone has any further suggestions to make on these sheets please feel free to comment or email me and I will adjust the contents and repost. If you would like to receive the below document in a MS-Word format, please comment or email me at denise@xpatulator.com.


I have posted the PARENT Inventory Requirements below and will post the EXPAT Inventory Requirements tomorrow.

How Does Your Salary Compare?

Most of us spend much of our time working for a salary. The average person will spend close to 40 years earning a salary of some sort. Do we spend enough time and effort making sure what we get paid is adequate? People who are in organized labour such as unions, are often made aware of the impact of inflation on their purchasing power, and the value of their benefits, over time. When you work in a profession or trade for a long period of time most people get a sense of what the market pays. This may be from listening to people complain about being under paid or boasting about the new job they just landed. We also get a sense of what the market pays from job adverts in newspapers or online. Increasingly, especially amongst the younger generation, people openly compare payslips while having lunch in the company canteen. These snippets of salary information lead us to feel either adequately paid or more likely under paid. Most of us tend to over estimate our value and as a result feel we do not earn enough. How much is enough? A little bit more?

It is much more difficult to get a sense of how our salary compares when we move to an unfamiliar environment. When you move to a new country, city or state it becomes much more difficult to compare your current salary to what you have been offered because the cost of living will also be different and that affects your purchasing power. If you are offered a salary that is 10% higher, it looks really attractive, but is it really? What if your cost of living was 20% higher? What if you have to pay for items you don't have to pay for now? What if you have to pay more tax? Of course the opposite could also be true. If you are offered a salary that is 10% lower, it looks really unattractive, but is it really? What if your cost of living was 20% lower? What if you have to pay for less items than you pay for now? What if you have also paid less tax? All these factors make comparing salaries when relocating challenging.

A useful tool to help people who need cost of living information to help them calculate cost of living differences and compare salary purchasing power is the salary purchasing power parity calculator (SPPP) report from Xpatulator.com.

John Hunt, a Financial Manager in Houston, recently had a salary offer from a large multinational headquartered in Dubai. He was pretty happy with the salary offer of $120,000, tax free, as this was equal to his gross salary in Houston. His net (after tax) salary was $92,000 in Houston. In addition he was offered a housing allowance, which with the low rentals in Dubai would be more than adequate. That would mean he could rent out his home in Houston to cover his mortgage. He would also receive medical insurance and an annual return air ticket to Houston and 5 weeks annual leave each year.



Although he was excited about the offer of $120,000 tax free, he was not sure how far that would go in Dubai compared to his net salary of $92,000 in Houston and decided to use the SPPP calculator to see how his offer compared to his current purchasing power.

He had previously registered on http://www.xpatulator.com/ so he logged in using his username and password. He clicked on the "Purchase Credits" menu and within 10 minutes had a credit loaded using PayPal and was ready to run his report. From the "Calculators" menu he choose the Salary Purchasing Power Parity Calculator (SPPP): The SPPP report calculates how much you need to earn in another location to compensate for a higher cost of living, hardship, and the exchange rate, in order to have the same relative spending power and as a result have a similar standard of living as you have in your current location.

John was prompted for a reference for his report to help him identify his reports for future reference. He then selected Houston as the location that he was being relocated from and Dubai as the location that he was relocating to.

Next John selected the basket costs that will he will pay for from his salary and selected Household and Healthcare as provided for by his employer. John read that basket costs that are provided such as in his case, household and healthcare costs, are not included in the cost of living calculation.

John then selected US Dollars as the currency and entered his net salary of 92,000 in Houston so that he could compare this to the net salary offer in Dubai for a more accurate comparison

Having checked all his selections in the calculator John clicked on "Run Report". Within a few minutes Xpatulator.com displayed his report. He saved a PDF version and had a look at what the report contained. This is what he learned:

*For the basket he selected (excluding Housing and Healthcare) Dubai is 8.78% more expensive than Houston
*The relative hardship (quality of living) between Houston and Dubai is 10%
*Applying the cost of living difference based on what will be paid from salary, together with the hardship difference, the Xpatulator calculation is as follows:
                                 
Home/Current location salary          $ 92,000.00
+ Cost of living difference (8.78%)  $   8,077.60
+ Hardship Difference (10%)           $   9,200.00
Total                                              $109,277.60

This means, based on all the above factors, that John would require a net salary of $109,277.60 in Dubai to have the same standard of living as currently enjoyed in Houston on a net salary of $92,000. This salary compensates for the overall cost of living difference of 8.78% and the hardship difference of 10%.

Given the offer of $120,000, John calculated that he would have an increased purchasing power of approximately 9.8% and accepted the job, confident that he would be better off financially, in addition to the better career prospects the new job was likely to bring.