From the tragedy of losing both of her parents in a car crash a few years ago, Sallome Hralima, she has devoted her time to give back to society some of the very valuable life lessons she learned in order to prevent unnecessary hardship for families who don’t have their estate plans complete. She isn’t an accountant or an attorney, but has taken her experience and used it to help others. She facilitates and encourages dialogue among family members about the subject of estate and end of life planning. She is an advisor at After, the organization she helped create in order to turn her personal tragedy into a gift for others.
Here are the highlights from this interview:
- She lost her parents in a car crash in May of 2018 and before that she didn’t think about wills, life insurance, or end of life planning
- She was thrust into end of life advocacy, first for herself and her family, and eventually helping others to advocate for themselves and not be taken advantage of
- She wanted to take everything she learned in a 2 year probate situation and help others to have more open dialogues about end of life planning
- Both her parents died tragically without having a will therefore her biggest challenge was with probate court and the process when someone passes without a trust or will
- The two resources that she reached out to first was a coach and a death dula
- She explains that a death dula, like a birth dula, prepares you for this rite of passage
- Most death dulas can do one of three things – support people in being prepared for the inevitable with end of life documents and planning, support people when death is near with hospice care and emotional support, and they can also support the friends and family after someone passes and they have to deal with all the administrative, financial and emotional issues
- With her coach she decided how she wanted her experience of dealing with her parents death and the entire process of dealing with the aftermath to go
- She shares that you can’t choose the circumstance of someone’s death but you can choose how you want to experience that circumstance
- Unless you’ve gone through it, you have no idea the enormity of getting someone’s affairs in order after they’ve passed
- She was part of the creation of the company After.com, helping to share her experience with the aftermath of her parent’s passing and create products to help others have the important conversations about end of life issues that most people don’t have
- Due to Covid, she has found that more and more people of all ages are having conversations around death and planning
- She shares that although you might not be spending time with loved ones this year like you have in the past, it just as important to have these important conversations about end of life planning, no matter what age you are