My good friend Mary ended up helping her new husband Stan deal with the estate of Stan's mom after her passing — and, being that sort of person, distilled what she learned into some convenient checklists and bullet points (yay liberal arts education!). I passed on an early version of this list to my own mom when my dad died earlier this year, and it was a great help.
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Death 101 – A Checklist — Chez Oswell
So, after my last post, one of my friends asked for a checklist. I got such a list from the lawyer after Jo Ann died, but I found it incomplete and poorly written. So after looking around, stealing some verbiage […]
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Good info and, I'm sure, a list none of us ever want to have to consult.
I can add one thing here, being that I do death calls for 401k, pension, and company sponsored life insurance…and this is a point of some stress for surviving spouses when they learn this.
Do not assume that the life insurance will be around to pay for the funeral. At least not immediately.
Be very aware that in many cases, the life insurance won't be paid out immediately. For one of my clients, it can range between 30-60 days post passing. Also, some plans do not allow the insurance to be paid directly to the funeral home ( I just had a rather unhappy call regarding that fact as well). No automatic assignment. So please, check with the carrier for timing.
You'll need a statement of the asset valuation as of the day of death.
+Mark Means I have become sadly aware that it's something that, sooner or later, we will all have to consult such a thing — unless others end up consulting it regarding us, first.
+Paula Moore Yeah, that's been a tricky one my mom has been going through, esp. since it impacts different trusts that they had.
And one more thing.
Be aware that in most 401ks, the will does NOT trump the plan provisions. If there is a beneficiary on file with the 401k, that's where it goes if the ppt did not change it. Again, had a situation years ago where the mother had disowned her daughter in her will and left everything to her son…but never got around to changing her bene information with the 401k. Guess who got the $100k? Nothing we could do about that; they had to sort that out in court.
Also, if there is NO bene on file, be assured the plan does have a designation order in their provisions. Some will automatically pay out to spouse, then children, then estate in that order. Some will automatically go to spouse and then estate in that order, skipping over children entirely.
+Gretchen Sher Good thing to remember, thanks.
You're welcome. I take these calls every day, and any way I can lessen the stress and get people ready for what they might encounter in the process of settling a life, I'll do it. :/