Christine Giordano Hanlon, Monmouth County Clerk, joined us and enlightened us on what a County Clerk actually does. This diverse position includes, but is not limited to: property reporting and processing (deeds and mortgages), overseeing the election process, organizing county archives and preserving historical records, offering passport services (two offices and one mobile office), updating notaries, processing trade name applications, and much more. She shared the new initiative of Property Fraud Alert and encouraged us to register as this protects you from property fraud should paperwork be received bearing your name. It prevents fake filings and you will be notified if documents are received in their office. This effort avoids paper terrorism. You can register online: www.monmouthcountyclerk.com. Questions were numerous particularly around the mail-in and pre-election day voting. We appreciated her taking the time to share valuable information with us.

Richard Buckley provided us with information on the options of preparing for your funeral. Preplanning for your final arrangements can relieve your grieving survivors of the burden of deciding what you would want. This information can be included in your will, but also inform your relatives of your wishes. But part of preplanning includes covering the cost of your arrangements. Saving funds in a trust can cover the cost of a funeral. A licensed funeral director can assist you in establishing a Prepaid Funeral Trust Fund. Richard shared two brochures on this subject: New Jersey Prepaid Funeral Trust Fund and SSI/Medicaid and Prepaid Funeral Arrangements. You can ask Richard for a copy of the brochures or this information is available at www.njsfda.org/choices. Richard shared that the cost of a funeral can be as much as $12,000, so preplanning for this expense is advisable. Richard then fielded entertaining questions to a serious slice of life and stories from our own experiences were shared.