Alright folks, I volunteered to review the following book and place it on my blog, and I am glad that I did. It was an "enjoyable" read, not only because it was information that I am comfortable with, but it really did cause me to think hard about the things that I do and do not have in place for the Tater...and any tots to come.

The process of putting together wills, trusts, durable powers of attorney's, and the like is daunting (even to me) and this book gives a wonderful overview of the specific (we all know the general) reasons why it is important to get things in place.

While the book provides great advice in a specific sense, it also does a great job of reminding you that state laws differ, and that it is important to find someone you are comfortable with who can provide you with legal advice about what is required to get your affairs in order.

There are lawyer jokes, and jokes about drowning lawyers, and tons of kits to help you avoid having to see a lawyer. But despite all of the website and information touting how great the do it yourself legal kits, there are few resources to tell you why accessing and using those is a bad idea.

This book outlines the many things that can go wrong in do it yourself kits for wills, trusts, guardianship documents, or the various and sundry other things that you need to have in place if something were to happen to you creating a situation where you could not be there for your children.

Fortunately, Always Wear Clean Underwear also looks at the really important non tangibles that we as parents want to leave for our children and simply assume that we will be there to give them.

An easy to read book, which will not knock a large chunk of time from an already full day, you can get ideas about the kinds of things that you should have in place for your children. In fact, I read the whole book in an evening.

While it will not teach you how to do these things on your own, it will most certainly provide you a good basis to be able to ask intelligent questions and to be prepared to meet with someone who can help you prepare all the documents that you should have in place in case of an emergency.

Thinking about no longer being there for your children is a painful process and one that most parents *including me* choose to ignore. BUT, one of the most disturbing things for me in reading Always Wear Clean Underwear is that while I could answer all the questions of what happens when you do not make arrangements for the long and short term care of your child, none the less, I have no written plan in place for my child.

You all know what I do which means that I know what happens when children are left to the system and the decision making power of the Court. Each section of the book provides a specific scenario in the Choose your own adventure format and gives suggestions for solutions and specific working solutions to problems and issues that could happen to any family.

The book provides information for you to access worksheets and documents that will help you in planning for your future and the future of your children either with or without you!

While, ethically, I cannot tell someone that they need to hire a lawyer, I can indeed say that when I need a root canal, I call a dentist.

As a bonus, you get access to lots of extra things if you buy this book on the launch date...May 7...
http://www.WearCleanUnderwearBook.com

You can find information there from people who are much better with words and reviews of books than I!

P.S. The one thing I would like to remind any of you who are not married, but rather live in some sort of a domestic partnership which is not sanctioned by law is that you have to get Durable Powers of Attorney in place so that your significant other can be the one who makes medical decisions for you, and not your oldest sibling or something similar.