For families

# Before they go

Most of this period belongs to them, and the companion guide covers it. Your part is narrower and easy to miss.

The handoff

## Get the handoff document

They should be writing you a document that covers accounts, passwords, deadlines, contacts, and what you are authorized to decide without asking them. If they have not started it, make them start it. If they say they will do it later, understand that later means the week before they report, badly.

Read it while they are still here and can answer questions. The gaps you find now are the ones you will otherwise be discovering alone in eight months.

What goes in it, from their side of the table: [the waiting-for-designation section](/going-in/before-you-go/waiting-for-designation) of the guide written for them.

The papers

## What you need in your own hands

- Power of attorney, executed;
- a copy of their presentence report (the report that follows you the whole sentence), because they are not permitted to keep one inside and you may need to quote from it;
- their judgment and commitment order;
- account access that actually works, tested by you, not described to you;
- and their full committed name exactly as it appears on the judgment, which is the name you will use on everything.

Restraint

## Do not

Do not liquidate things in a panic. Do not [pay a consultant who promises a specific facility](/resources/facility-placement) — nobody can deliver that. Do not post about the case publicly.

Keep reading — part 2 of 12

### [The first two weeks](/for-families/guide/the-first-two-weeks)

They reported, and then nothing. This is the part that frightens people most and it is almost always ordinary.

**Need help with this? Just ask.**

These pages cover the general rules. Your situation has details they don't. Email me a question. **Answers are free** , and "you don't need to pay anyone for this" is my most common answer.

[josh@federalprisondude.com](mailto:josh@federalprisondude.com?subject=Family%20question)

I answer in the order received, usually within a couple of days. I have a day job. If your situation genuinely needs more than an email, I take a limited number of consults, so say so and we'll work it out.