A terminal illness in a parent can cause financial ruin.

We help San Diego parents plan for their family’s financial future after they have been diagnosed terminally ill.

This allows the survivor to focus on saying their goodbyes and begin putting their lives back together.

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support a family through your charitable donation, by volunteering for a committee, or joining our network of Estate Attorneys and Financial Advisors.

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    Help now with a monetary donation that goes directly to a family in need. 80% of all donations go directly to a grieving family.

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    Committee Volunteer

    Volunteer committees are a fun way to get involved in The HFF community. Help plan fundraisers and legacy events.

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A lost income paired with a lack of life insurance will cause great hardship for families.

That’s why we focus on helping San Diegans navigate the intricacies of a terminal diagnosis.

Navigating the terminal illness of a spouse is soul crushing and can become even more devastating when it causes financial hardship. A few difficulties that arise from widowhood include:

 

  • decreased income for the surviving partner

  • financial uncertainty

  •  coping with the pressure of caring for children alone    

  • navigating the process of ending a life

  • dealing with the pressure of the outside world

  • grieving the end of a planned future

It is our sole purpose to ease the burden caused by spousal loss.

 

  • Providing these families with a financial grant can help them focus on their grief journey without being rushed back to work. Giving the surviving parent time to grieve with their kids and seek out the help they need to heal the trauma.

  • An estate plan put into place before the death of a spouse will protect assets and streamline the transfers of titles, deeds, and other valuable assets.

  •  With the help of a dedicated financial advisor, our Honu Families will have a plan and budget put in place. They will also have a clear picture of their net value and visibility on how to best manage their finances.          

 

Our approach is focused on supporting the surviving family members and helping them heal.

  • Monetary Endowment

    The very real worry that comes from knowing you will be losing an income along with your spouse can make the grieving process so much more complicated. Compound that with the absence of a life insurance policy, it’s enough to paralyze the surviving spouse. WIth this endowment, we will be able to relieve some of that stress and worry to encourage more focused grieving along the way.

  • Estate Planning

    There are so many details that go along with your partner losing their life. The weeks before they pass are a blur and it is impossible to think of everything you would need to know and do. With the help of an estate planner, the transitions will be smoother and simpler. Creating estate plans, wills, and trusts, is a huge factor in simplifying the process. This will also help to avoid probate, close accounts, and gather those little things that might get overlooked amongst the storm of grief.

  • Financial Planning

    In the years that follow the death of a spouse, finances can cause a lot of stress. By working with a dedicated financial advisor, a budget and plan will be put into place giving the surviving spouse transparency on their current and future financial well-being. The financial advisor will also work with the spouse to get a life insurance policy in place for them.

  • General Support

    Given the complicated nature of losing a spouse, we also offer a variety of additional support. From patient advocacy, to counseling, and even residential clean-up following the loss, we will do everything we can to help with the overwhelming details that come with this kind of loss.

 

Honu was born from a Love Story…

John and Angela Hicks with their two girls.

John and Angela Hicks with their two girls.

 

The garage door to the vacant condo next to mine opened, "Oooh, new neighbors," I yelled to my roommate. We ran to the window and found ourselves pleasantly surprised by the two cute guys standing downstairs in the driveway. Little did I know, at 22 years old on that beautiful day of August 2002, I was about to meet my future husband. Celeste and I headed downstairs and I found myself face to face with the man who would become my partner in life and the father to our beautiful little girls. John Hicks, he said as he shook my hand. We quickly became friends, born from our mutual adoration, but our relationship beyond that took years to develop. After being good friends for 3 years we decided to start dating and it was another 7 years before we were engaged to be married. A whole decade after that first chance encounter, in the fall of 2012 he popped the question, and the following spring, we tied the knot. In the fall of 2015, we welcomed our first daughter, and in summer 2018, our second daughter joined us. For a year and three quarters, our family was complete.

On April 6, 2020 we celebrated 7 years of marriage, just weeks after our country essentially shut down due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. It wasn't our ideal anniversary celebration, out on the town, alone for a few blissful hours. Still, we were safe at home with our girls, and for that, we were thankful. We celebrated happily that evening, clueless that it would be our last. Twenty days later the future we had planned and worked so hard towards for our family would come crashing down around us with one simple but heartbreaking word, Cancer.