PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES, October 17, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- It's National Estate Planning Awareness Week October 16 - 22, 2023. Gallup's latest polling finds that slightly less than half of U.S. adults, 46%, have a will. In addition, nearly 50% of U.S. adults also happen to be single. That’s 126.9 million unmarried people, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics. Plus, another recent Gallup poll reveals that 58% of U.S. adults now believe having two children or fewer is the ideal number for a family. Indeed, many families are opting to have no children at all. The growth in the single population is driven mainly by the decline in marriage, rather than a hike in divorce rates. Indeed, nearly all the growth in the unpartnered population since 1990 has come from a rise in the number of people who have never been married.

No NOK
One hidden consequence of these trends is that individuals today often have no next-of-kin (NOK), or they’d prefer to choose someone other than their natural NOK, when it comes to the disposition of their body after they pass. While the ability for unmarried couples to gain disposition rights is available through domestic partnerships and Civil Unions, or by drafting or changing a will, as noted above, very few couples avail themselves of these legal options. Setting them up takes time and money, and many couples simply don’t want to sign anything that might link them together in a formal way. Plus, once Gay Marriage became legal, the need and demand for many of these other covenants evaporated.

No, not a Travel Agent. Not a Secret Agent. A Designated Agent.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Cremstar, the leading online direct cremation service covering New Jersey and Pennsylvania, has just launched a campaign to raise awareness about something called a Designated Agent form. A Designated Agent is someone people designate to be responsible for what happens to them after they transition, instead of a traditional next-of-kin. Most states have an official Designation of Agent for Body Disposition (DABD) form, a simple agreement saying people designate a particular person as the agent responsible for the disposition of their body after they pass. That’s it. Nothing else. And while some state DABD forms require a notary public, most simply ask for just one or two witness signatures.

For those who have no NOK, or to choose somebody else besides a normal NOK, Cremstar offers a free Designated Agent Kit designed to guide folks through the process, available on its Forms & Kits page (see footer at www.cremstar.com). “In ancient Roman mythology, Charon the boatman ferried you across the river Styx into the afterlife once you’d passed on,” says Cremstar CEO J.G. Sandom. “Find your Charon, your Designated Agent, someone who will outlive you. Make sure there’s someone there you trust to help you make the journey we’re all going to be making … one day.”

###

Sylvana Marie
Cremstar
+1 267-888-8015
jsylvanita@gmail.com

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.