Dennis Peacock
09-21-2011, 9:43 AM
Below is a list that I made up from all the stuff I’ve been going through in the past 10 days. This list is not a rule set, but something to be aware of.
1. Put ALL your life, burial, and vault insurance policies in a single folder. Just because you can find it, doesn’t always mean someone else can.
2. Make sure you have a living will and keep it in the same folder as your life insurance policy.
3. Make sure your will is kept current.
4. Keep your beneficiaries up to date on every insurance policy.
5. Make sure someone else you trust is on your bank account with you and can legally sign checks and take care of the account for you.
6. Make a list of every computer account you have and keep it in a clearly marked folder.
7. Make a list of every automatic draft account you have setup for bill pay.
8. Make sure you have at least $10,000 for burial expenses.
9. Make sure you have money set aside for a family spray of flowers for the casket.
10. Create a list of online accounts that you have created, including passwords so that someone else can update and close your online account as necessary. A small password keeping program like “KeePass” is a great computer tool to keep your user account name, password, and the link to that site for that specific user name and password.
11. Make sure you have at least 12 copies of the death certificate. Many places want a copy for their records as you go about the financial business of the survivor (if there is one).
12. Leave instructions about probating your will.
13. Deed to your property, make sure it can be found easily by your family.
14. Vehicle titles, leave instructions on how to get the titles changed over to another name. In the case of a spouse survivor, have all your vehicle titles changed to include your spouse on the titles to save that time and hassle.
15. Contact Social Security about the passing of your loved one. SSA will require a copy of the death certificate if the funeral home has not notified them already.
16. The survivor will need to have the will “probated”. This will require a lawyer and he will work with the family and primarily the Executor of the estate.
17. The lawyer will run a required death announcement in the local paper for a total of 3 consecutive Fridays. This is in case someone is owed money from the deceased or deceased family. Check your local legal requirements on this line item.
18. Contact every business that the deceased does business with on a regular basis and work with them to get the account name changed to the survivor or work with them to close the account if it’s no longer needed. Local Utilities, telephone, cell phone, pest control, car insurance, home owners insurance, and the list goes on from here.
19. Don’t rush everything. In order to get everything worked out properly will take time, effort, money, patience, understanding, and digging through papers in places you never dreamed of.
20. Document everything you need to do and then continue to document all that you do for each item on your list. Includes dates, times, and what was done and by whom.
21. Practice patience and understanding while working and visiting with a survivor. Grieving comes in many forms and many things can trigger an outburst of grief. Extend yourself for that added bit of compassion and understanding for the survivor and their family.
22. Be ready in case the financial institution closes the current account upon you presenting them with the death certificate. If you aren’t ready for this? It can cause you all kinds of stress, problems, and heated discussions. It’s best to move some money into a new bank account but leave most of it in the existing account to cover outstanding checks, credit card transactions, debit card transactions, and any specific IRA account under that same account.
23. Be ready to work with the funeral home to work out details for payment of the funeral expenses.
24. Don’t forget the headstone for the grace site. This is an additional expense to the family.
25. Be ready to spend some time at your local county health department to get copies of death certificates of loved ones gone on before. This is to deal with insurance policies you find where those were the named beneficiaries but they are no longer living.
This list could go on and on….and each family will have to deal with specifics to just their family and only some items in general. Be prepared for this process to take about 2 weeks in general to get the most things done while others will take weeks to get done due to paperwork and mailing.
Feel free to add to this as I felt that someone could benefit from the things I've learned in the last 10 days on the death of my dad.
1. Put ALL your life, burial, and vault insurance policies in a single folder. Just because you can find it, doesn’t always mean someone else can.
2. Make sure you have a living will and keep it in the same folder as your life insurance policy.
3. Make sure your will is kept current.
4. Keep your beneficiaries up to date on every insurance policy.
5. Make sure someone else you trust is on your bank account with you and can legally sign checks and take care of the account for you.
6. Make a list of every computer account you have and keep it in a clearly marked folder.
7. Make a list of every automatic draft account you have setup for bill pay.
8. Make sure you have at least $10,000 for burial expenses.
9. Make sure you have money set aside for a family spray of flowers for the casket.
10. Create a list of online accounts that you have created, including passwords so that someone else can update and close your online account as necessary. A small password keeping program like “KeePass” is a great computer tool to keep your user account name, password, and the link to that site for that specific user name and password.
11. Make sure you have at least 12 copies of the death certificate. Many places want a copy for their records as you go about the financial business of the survivor (if there is one).
12. Leave instructions about probating your will.
13. Deed to your property, make sure it can be found easily by your family.
14. Vehicle titles, leave instructions on how to get the titles changed over to another name. In the case of a spouse survivor, have all your vehicle titles changed to include your spouse on the titles to save that time and hassle.
15. Contact Social Security about the passing of your loved one. SSA will require a copy of the death certificate if the funeral home has not notified them already.
16. The survivor will need to have the will “probated”. This will require a lawyer and he will work with the family and primarily the Executor of the estate.
17. The lawyer will run a required death announcement in the local paper for a total of 3 consecutive Fridays. This is in case someone is owed money from the deceased or deceased family. Check your local legal requirements on this line item.
18. Contact every business that the deceased does business with on a regular basis and work with them to get the account name changed to the survivor or work with them to close the account if it’s no longer needed. Local Utilities, telephone, cell phone, pest control, car insurance, home owners insurance, and the list goes on from here.
19. Don’t rush everything. In order to get everything worked out properly will take time, effort, money, patience, understanding, and digging through papers in places you never dreamed of.
20. Document everything you need to do and then continue to document all that you do for each item on your list. Includes dates, times, and what was done and by whom.
21. Practice patience and understanding while working and visiting with a survivor. Grieving comes in many forms and many things can trigger an outburst of grief. Extend yourself for that added bit of compassion and understanding for the survivor and their family.
22. Be ready in case the financial institution closes the current account upon you presenting them with the death certificate. If you aren’t ready for this? It can cause you all kinds of stress, problems, and heated discussions. It’s best to move some money into a new bank account but leave most of it in the existing account to cover outstanding checks, credit card transactions, debit card transactions, and any specific IRA account under that same account.
23. Be ready to work with the funeral home to work out details for payment of the funeral expenses.
24. Don’t forget the headstone for the grace site. This is an additional expense to the family.
25. Be ready to spend some time at your local county health department to get copies of death certificates of loved ones gone on before. This is to deal with insurance policies you find where those were the named beneficiaries but they are no longer living.
This list could go on and on….and each family will have to deal with specifics to just their family and only some items in general. Be prepared for this process to take about 2 weeks in general to get the most things done while others will take weeks to get done due to paperwork and mailing.
Feel free to add to this as I felt that someone could benefit from the things I've learned in the last 10 days on the death of my dad.