You feel invincible, you are at the top of your game, your practice is humming along with all of your hard work coming to fruition and then BAM the unexpected happens and an unthinkable disaster strikes and forever changes the world of those you love. I know that we never want to think this way yet we also would want to ease the path for those we leave behind.
You have a Will for your personal and financial wishes, although, very few dentists have a Will (directives) for their dental practice.
As we know a spouse/partner can take over a dental practice for a very limited time after a death, but the practice must be sold to another dentist within a three-month period of time. This article isn’t about how to quickly sell a dental practice, it is about making those three months a bit easier for those you have left behind. By leaving an emergency directive for your practice, your team and your spouse/partner will be able to better navigate the rough waters they will be treading.
It isn’t enough to say that my spouse/partner or Office Manager know everything about the office. That is likely impossible, as we all carry around so much information in our heads we don’t even realize it . In a worst-case scenario, your spouse/partner may be with you when disaster strikes.
Many dentists use different professionals for their personal lives then they do for their business worlds. The basic contact information for your Business Lawyer, Accountant, Bank Contact, Financial Advisor and Business Insurance Agent should be available at all times for your Office Manager and your spouse/partner.
Choose either your Financial Advisor or your Lawyer to be the point person to hold all of the following information and let your Office Manager and spouse/partner know that this point person has all of details.
The details that you will want to include in your directive are: Bank Account Information and passwords, Alarm Codes and Company contact, Credit Card Information and PINS, a listing of any professionals that you work with, Computer passwords and email passwords. Keep a piece of paper close by for two weeks and everything that is password protected add to this list. You will be amazed when you start making this list how many items you will need to put on it. Once a year pick a date to review this information and make any necessary changes to ensure that it is kept current.
