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Be prepared
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October 1, 2001: 3:52 p.m. ET
Lesson from Oklahoma City widow: Learn about family finances now
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - For four breathless days in April of 1995, Anne Marshall waited for good news about her husband, Raymond Johnson, who worked at the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City. On the fourth day, word came that her husband's lifeless body had been found in the rubble and was being returned to her.
As Marshall mourned her loss, money was just about the last thing on her mind -- until it ran out.
"When something like this happens, you want the world to come to a screeching halt," said Marshall. "And it doesn't."
Even as Marshall continued to mourn, the bills continued to pour in, the mortgage payments didn't cease, and creditors started to call.
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When something like this happens, you want the world to come to a screeching halt. And it doesn't.
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Anne Marshall |
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Marshall's biggest problem was that she was totally unprepared for such a disaster. As in many households, there was only one person taking care of all the bills and paperwork -- and that was Marshall's husband.
Marshall said she knew little about her husband's finances or benefits other than that, as he was a veteran of the Vietnam war, she was entitled to his military pension.
Marshall was also not aware that they were carrying balances on their credit cards. And it wasn't long before creditors started demanding immediate payment.
Know what you owe; what they owe
If there is one major lesson in all this, it is to be prepared.
According to Trish Goodman, president of Partners in Financial Planning in Edmond, Okla., many family members of Oklahoma City victims did not know how much life insurance they had coming. Many did not know about their spouses' retirement plans, how many bank accounts they had, and whether they were entitled to benefits from previous employers.
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 BE PREPARED
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Know where will, trusts, birth certificates, marriages licenses are kept
Know where information on insurance policies is kept
Know about credit card, mortgage payments
Know where information on other investments is kept
Learn about employer-provided benefits
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Goodman also said many of the family members were too distraught to deal with finances and paperwork and filing claims in the days and weeks following that disaster. Collecting payments on life insurance and pension plans usually requires a lot of paperwork, including birth certificates, marriage certificates and death certificates. Anyone who didn't have those documents on hand would have had to first get their paperwork together before they could solicit benefits.
Goodman said a good financial planner would have all those papers together long before such a disaster. And they would quickly file the proper forms so beneficiaries could begin receiving payments right away.
For Marshall, having to deal with the financial fallout was like adding insult to injury. And she kept putting it off, not realizing that it would take several months to start receiving benefits after applying for them.
In the end, it was two-to-three months before she started receiving the military pension. And at $377 a month -- a sum she was shocked by -- the pension in no way covered her monthly expenses.
Marshall added she only got through the immediate aftermath because she was surrounded by generous people who kept her afloat.
"Be prepared to call upon your family and friends," she said. 
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