Lifefile Compiles Tough Questions Three-Page Form Has Everything From Funeral Wishes To Diplomas

Jeff Camp remembers sorting through his father’s stuff a few weeks after his death last November and finding directions on how his funeral should be handled.

Camp, who had been helping his father manage his affairs prior to his death, said arrangements had never been discussed.

“I had no idea that existed,” he said of the funeral directive.

And as he thought back on his efforts to gather piecemeal even the most mundane information about his father, like a Social Security number or bank accounts, Camp said he decided there had to be a better way.

“There’s got to be something out there - simple - for people to use,” he said.

But Camp said he could find nothing, so he created his own: LifeFile, a product he is just starting to market in the Spokane area.

LifeFile is just that, a simple file folder that catalogs personal, financial, health and other information on just three pages.

The spaces for life insurance, for example, identify the agent, company, policy number, and beneficiaries.

Just as importantly, Camp said, the file tells the holder where the policy can be found. In fact, there is space set aside in LifeFile exclusively for the location of items like birth certificates, divorce papers, passports, wills and other documents.

And the package includes four business-card-like slips that, when placed where they can be easily found, disclose the file’s location.

Camp said filling out the form helps avoid frustration after the death of a relative, as well as embarrassment while they are alive.

“Those kinds of questions are tremendously difficult to ask,” he said.

Camp, a commercial artist, said he prepared LifeFile with the help of his wife, Edna, a nursing administrator at Valley Hospital and Medical Center, and a friend who is a certified financial planner.

Edna knew what charts and insurance information doctors want when they see a new, possibly seriously ill, patient, he said.

None of the information is especially enlightening of itself, Camp concedes. What is unique is the packaging, which went through 10 revisions before he was satisfied.

“It was a struggle to keep it this size,” he said.

Camp said he also wanted a product that would not intimidate or baffle buyers.

“I always had my parents in mind as to who should fill this out,” he said.

Although he has just begun offering LifeFile, Camp said he thinks the contents would be perfect as computer software, most likely as an add-on to an existing program.

He said Spokane will be his test market. He is circulating word about LifeFile through contacts, hoping to stir enough interest to generate a more potent marketing effort.

The cost runs from $5 each for a minimum order of five to $1 each for orders of more than 100.

Camp said profits are less important than getting LifeFile to all the people who could benefit by its use.

“Someday, you’re going to need that information,” he said. “I’ve been there.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Funeral costs

MEMO: LifeFile’s phone number is 535-7875.