Wills for Firefighters
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 at 8:05 pm
A lot of firefighters contemplated on their own mortality as one of their colleague, Manny Rivera, who sustained fatal injuries in battling last winter blaze, died at 42 years old.
According to John Panacek, Trenton Fire Department battalion chief, “Most firefighters don’t have wills in order. They may not anticipate dying in their 30s or 40s but in our job, it could happen tomorrow.” Because of this concern, Panacek tapped Wills for Heroes program, which is a national initiative offering firefighters with free estate planning assistance. This also includes police officers and other people considered as first responders.
For Mercer County, the Young Lawyers Division of New Jersey Bar Association agreed to host a particular event that would be open to these first responders having an estate below $750,000. This will be held at Hamilton Capital Health on Sept. 26.
Panacek added, “Estate planning has been something that plenty of firefighters are putting off. Manny’s untimely death has been a real eye-opener.” Rivera rescued a man on Feb.9 from a fire at Washington Street. He collapsed at the scene and remained in a coma (seven week) until finally succumbing to death.
According to the website of Wills for Heroes, there were 400 police and firefighters who died in 9/11 terrorist attacks but a lot of them have no wills or estate documents.
Tags: estate, Fire Department, firefighters, Hamilton, injuries, John Panacek, lawyers, Manny Rivera, Mercer County, New Jersey Bar Association, police, Trenton, Wills, Wills for Heroes