Can the dead vote? Non-political

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

You mean like the town in New England where all 9 residents gather for a party on election eve and vote right after midnight? https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10153661983446130

[Mike Henderson]

When my wife passed away, I was not blocked from our joint account. It would be terrible if they did do that. There is so much to do in a time like that - you sure don't need a fight to get access to your funds.

Mike

[Ron Citerone]

When my wife passed away, I was not blocked from our joint account. It would be terrible if they did do that. There is so much to do in a time like that - you sure don't need a fight to get access to your funds.

Mike

Sorry about your wife Mike. My brother had power of attorney when my mother passed. We had joint executorship, but an estate account hadn't been set up and the will wasn't filed at the courthouse. At the funeral luncheon my brother wrote a check for the bill. It bounced because the account had been closed without us knowing.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

Actually in PA, the county coroner issues a state vital statistics death certificate, along with nurses and doctors at the hospital. There is no notice to the county or input to the county offices, the forms go directly to State vital statistics office. Banks freeze accounts based on death notices in the papers. If a family doesn't put the death in the paper, and the person was not otherwise newsworthy, the banks will not know to freeze accounts. Families of social security recipients have committed social security fraud and pension fraud by keeping the deaths under the radar. A Cesus guy showed up here asking about a neighbor. Said according to their records, she was 103 and still living there. She died at least 15 years earlier and apparently the family just kept her checks coming in. One of them went to jail a couple years later, but the family lived off those checks for over a decade. Counties only have death records prior to 1908 https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/cer...ssed%29%20seal.

[Bill Dufour]

Like Arsenic and Old Lace Dorthea Punte lived about 90 miles from here. She ran a rooming house and when tennets died she buried them in the yard and basement and the checks kept coming. She claimed they were all natural deaths. The DA convicted her for only three of nine known deaths.
Bill D

[Jim Becker]

I can guarantee that the barcode does not tie back to a voter. Being able to tell how an individual voted would negate the concept of a secret vote, which is a cornerstone of our voting system.

Mike

I can actually guarantee it does tie to the voter/ballot here in my district because I accidentally got a replacement ballot two elections ago after I had already submitted the first one received. Same for my spouse. I called the county election board to discuss and they invalidated the new ballots and restored the ones already submitted to being valid. That said, I suspect that the actual voting data is not tied to the ballot barcode/number used for insuring that only one ballot per registered voter is valid.

[Jim Becker]

When my wife passed away, I was not blocked from our joint account. It would be terrible if they did do that. There is so much to do in a time like that - you sure don't need a fight to get access to your funds.

Mike

This is why it's critical that assets be in both names for a married couple and that a legal estate plan is in place. (will, living will, DPoA for both parties) and also why it's a good idea for another family member to be an account owner when one parent passes away or even before that if there is illness and/or increased risk. It prevents accounts being frozen pending probate (if there is any). I did that with my mother after my father passed away for any accounts that already did not have me as an account owner. (I was already managing their affairs, but discovered that there were a bunch of accounts in different institutions that only my parents were listed. Consolidation to one bank ensued...)

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Lee, I'm not sure that you are correct that jointly held/owned accounts would be frozen if there is a proper estate plan because that insures that most assets pass directly and immediately. Folks who do not have wills and DPoA may have issues, however. BTW, the death notice stuff is automated via SSA which a bank's system apparently has access too. "Reading obituaries" would not work since they are an optional thing that folks actually have to pay for to get published.

[Bill Dufour]

My brother was on some of my Mom's accounts so he wrote most checks for her. Should have done it for everything but by the time we realized it, it was too late. Any bank teller would have said she is maybe not competent and we need a judge to decide what to do. Rather then force her to testify and the expense he just got good at forging her name. Since it was small normal bills, nothing weird or expensive, no one questioned it.
I know Wells Fargo has deposited checks into the ATM that I forgot to sign.
Bill D

[Lawrence Duckworth]

This is why it's critical that assets be in both names for a married couple and that a legal estate plan is in place. (will, living will, DPoA for both parties) and also why it's a good idea for another family member to be an account owner when one parent passes away or even before that if there is illness and/or increased risk. It prevents accounts being frozen .

Sage advice! [I would even consider adding your adult children to property deeds]....but I don't know where you guys get the idea someone at the bank after reading an OB has the right to freeze an account.

[Stan Calow]

My experience was of a bank closing access to a jointly owned safe deposit box after seeing the obit. On my first visit to the bank, they had me open the box in their presence, and then they went through the box looking for, and finding a copy of the Will. They said they were required to take any Will they find and send it directly to the court. Then I was free to go through the box. No issue with joint bank accounts.

In our state, when someone has requested and been issued a mail-in or absentee ballot, it is noted in the data system immediately, so they cant be issued another ballot. The system would flag it. If they show up at the polling station anyway, they can only be issued another ballot if they bring in the one they were mailed and it is spoiled right there. No barcodes on any ballot, just on the envelope that a mail-in ballot is inside. Ballots handed out at the polling station are not trackable.

The dead person situation, I think the problem is there is likely a multi-day lag between a death and any official record being available. So even if an election office is keeping up to date, the likelihood of them catching all

[Jim Becker]

Sage advice! [I would even consider adding your adult children to property deeds]....but I don't know where you guys get the idea someone at the bank after reading an OB has the right to freeze an account.

Property deeds are a bit more complicated, particularly when they are not held free and clear. A local family law attorney can provide the best advice on that to be sure that things are setup so there is a clean path for survivors in multiple scenarios.

Also, prompted by a private exchange with Lee, I'll mention, as I should have in a previous response, that a proper estate plan (will, living will, DPoA) needs to be reviewed periodically to insure that its provisions are in line with current state (or whatever jurisdiction applies for non US folks) laws as they sometimes change. I ran into this after my father passed away, finding that my parents' wills and living wills were way out of date with Florida's laws. That resulted in needing to have my mother's redone by a Florida attorney...I fortunately found one who was semi-retired, was willing to travel to my mother's residence and had a very reasonable, low fee for the service as resources were limited. (There are now decent online legal resources that one can prepare their own papers if, and ONLY if, things are simple...no real estate property, etc)

[Stan Calow]

Regarding ownership of a house and putting children on deeds. In our state, we have something called a Beneficiary Deed, which is effectively a Transfer on Death filed with the county ahead of time. Immediately on death, the beneficiary owns the property without any further action or legal decision. They have different names for such documents in other states. Extremely highly recommended. Not sure how that works with a mortgage in place, other than you cant change the terms of a loan without the banks agreement.

[Bill Dufour]

Make sure car titles are in both spouses name. When someone dies get 10-12 official copies of the death certificate. Many places will take a xerox copy others will require a stamped official copy.
Also many widows find out all the bills are in the husbands name only and they have no credit record.
Adding a childs name to a bill can help them get credit when starting out. The adults pay it like always but five year old Jr. is building a history of paying on time.
Bill D

[Lee Schierer]

Just to clarify, I should have said death notices, not Obits. Poa's end on death of the individual and then the will and/or estate plan takes effect. To sell a vehicle or real property in PA that has joint signatures, you have to have both signatures on the transaction if both parties are living. A simple POA may not cover one of the parties of joint ownership being incapacitated.

[Ron Citerone]

In PA, I learned the way a deed to real estate is titled may make ownership transfer simple. However, there are tax implications that affect capital gains vs inheritance tax. In my instance it was a combination of the two. I recommend talking to an attorney and make sure you understand how the property will transfer as well as the tax implications. Finding out at settlement on a future sale should not have any surprises if you are informed. Also there are lookback rules that pertain to nursing homes and medicaid.