By Chris Fireman
Tribune-Review
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — For years, Mt. Lebanon firefighters have kept a “just in case” file, outlining for the department chaplain the last wishes of some members if they should die in the line of duty.
But only about half of the department’s 64 paid and volunteer members have submitted something about a preferred memorial service, and the records tend to become outdated as the firefighters cycle through, according to department President David Westhead.
As for estate planning, very few of the firefighters thought much about that, he said.
That changed in April when Mt. Lebanon’s public safety community joined with the Allegheny County Bar Association to sponsor a “Wills For Heroes” session to provide free estate planning assistance for first responders.
About 30 police officers, emergency personnel and firefighters, including Westhead, came to create or revise a will and specify someone who would have power-of-attorney duties if they became incapacitated.
“Nobody really wants to do it,” said Westhead, a married father of two college-age sons who has been a firefighter for 15 years. “Considering your own demise, it’s not a pleasant thought, so it’s always put on the back burner.”
The program is a spin-off of a national initiative by a South Carolina attorney through the nonprofit Wills For Heroes Foundation he created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The foundation estimates that 80 percent to 90 percent of first responders don’t have documents organizing their estates. Most of the 403 first responders who died trying to save others on 9/11 did not have a will, according to the organization.
The program also serves the first-responders’ spouses or significant others for no charge.
With estate planning like this projected to cost as much as $1,200 to $1,500 per couple, Westhead said, “The value of it, monetarily, was fantastic.”
Pennsylvania programs began in 2009 through the coordination of the state Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division.
Allegheny County’s program has helped between 300 and 400 first responders, White Oak attorney Jessica Crown said.
Indiana County held its first event in July, with a volunteer team of 20 attorneys, notaries and witnesses helping about 35 people, Indiana attorney Stephanie Menjivar Yuhas said. The process, which she described as “easy and painless,” lasts about an hour for each participant.
She said she’s hoping another can be scheduled early next year.
“It’s extremely important,” Yuhas said. “The first responders, they’re putting their lives at risk every day by protecting their communities.”
Westmoreland County in 2009 designated its coordinator as Youngwood lawyer Anthony Bompiani, but the county’s Bar Association has delayed the program’s start because of concerns about professional liability.
Among the issues is that the program in the state doesn’t recognize any professional relationship between the attorney and the first responder, said Michael Stewart, president of the Westmoreland Bar.
Another concern, he said, is who keeps the documents. In other counties, the first responders are given the documents and told to keep them in a fireproof box, but the attorney does not retain any copies.
“We think it’s a wonderful idea, and if we can resolve these professional concerns, we want to participate,” Stewart said.
The state Bar’s co-coordinator for the program, Daniel McKenna, could not be reached for comment about the liability concerns.
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