My mother passed away on Tuesday and I’m the executor of her estate. I am totally non-world-wise and need someone to tell me if I’ve forgotten to do something important in terms of settling her affairs. The other compounding detail is that she died in Boston (I was with her at the time) and I live in Pennsylvania (I returned home yesterday).
So far I have:
*gotten 3 copies of her death certificate
*re-routed her mail to come to my address
*spoke with her bank to inquire about transferring her funds to an estate account
*called her lawyer (who told me that MA probate law is changing in January to become simpler, so we should wait to transfer funds and property until after the law changes)
*paid her outstanding bills
She owns a condo, which we eventually want to sell. Our plans are to go up to Boston in the next two months to pack everything up that we want to keep, donate or toss everything else, fix up the place to make it sellable, and contact a realtor sometime between now and then to get it sold.
She had her body donated to science, so there was no funeral/casket/service. We did have to work through a funeral home to collect her body and transfer it to the medical school. They did not mention any fees, but my uncle who made the arrangements with the medical school said that someone (some state department?) had a $600 stipend they would provide to pay for the transfer of her body. That’s all I’ve heard about that – I didn’t receive any money. The funeral home representative didn’t say anything to us about payment or billing us or anything when he arrived to pick up her body. I’m assuming I will receive a bill later (I guess?).
I’m going to try to cancel her credit cards today – do I just call up and ask to cancel them? Do I need to give them proof that she’s passed away?
More copies of the death certificate. We went through a stack of them when my mother-in-law died last Spring. Three most likely isn’t enough - everyone you deal with regarding wrapping up the estate is going to want one, and that’s not an exaggeration. (We got thirty. There are still a few left, but not many.)
It sounds like you’ve covered the major stuff. If your mom was receiving Social Security or a pension/retirement benefit, someone will need to contact them. Social Security pays a small death benefit – $250, I think.
One of the things I had to do when my mom died was cancel regular services. She had an exterminator, house cleaners, and a lawn guy. Since your mom was in a condo, you probably won’t have to worry about exterminators and the lawn, and the condo folks should deal with any outstanding utilities.
I went through mom’s mail, looking for subscriptions (mom was a big-time shopper – the UPS guy was her best friend), and cancelled deliveries.
Since mom died at home, I called her doctors to let them know. They appreciated that.
The credit card companies didn’t ask for any proof.
I went through her address book and if I recognized names of relatives and friends, I sent them a short note.
I assume since you were executor, she would have told you about any life insurance policies. Contact those people. They’ll want a death certificate.
My experience was that most everyone except banks and the government will accept a photocopy of a death certificate, not an actual certified copy. I think I only used three actual certified copies.
If your mother was receiving any pension or any other income, such as an annuity, you also need to notify them that she has passed.
It can be tedious, but if you notify all the catalogs and other solicitations she gets in the mail that she is gone, most of them will stop mailing to her (but not all, go figure).
If she had a safe deposit box and your name wasn’t on it, you will have to work with the bank to gain entry to the box. You don’t have to wait for probate for that, but they will want to see a copy of the will making you executor, as well as a certified copy of the death certificate.
That’s all I can think of. I’m the executor of my father’s estate, but he had everything in a living trust, so it was a small estate that I could file for probate myself, and since the assets were in the trust and I was the residuary trustee, I didn’t have to wait to disburse assets.
Good luck with this, and please accept my sympathy for your loss.
Roddy
I’m in the U.K. and am still going through this with my aunt’s estate. You’ll need many more copies of her death certificate. You should appoint an administrator for her estate. You could do it yourself, but you are legally liable (in the U.K.) and a professional administrator will have insurance, whereas you won’t. The administrator will consult all relevant professionals as necessary. Mail should be routed to the administrator, not you. The property may take a long time to sell, especially if there are tenants. Don’t bank on anyone actually inheriting any money for 6 months or more.
Thanks for the replies (and for those links, Toucanna)!
One of the things we don’t know is whether or not she had any insurance. She was unemployed and a grad student living off her student loans and Social Security Disability (she had cancer since 2006), but she had been employed in the early 2000s and I have no idea if she had any life insurance through her employer. Her financial papers are in complete disarray and scattered all over her (mercifully tiny) condo, so we’ll have to go through those in the coming weeks. But luckily, being unemployed for so long means she didn’t have to pay taxes, and she didn’t own a car or anything else that required payments. She also had no credit card debt since she paid her balance every month.
My biggest concern is with her student loans. I estimate them to be somewhere around $100,000 and I’m hoping that selling her condo will be enough to pay them off. Fortunately, she lives in a high-demand area and I know that other condos in her building sold for more than they were bought for. I know she put $125,000 down when she bought the place 7-8 years ago and she consistently paid her mortgage since then.
I’m so sorry for the loss of your mom, first and foremost.
Some good news from www.studentloanborrowerassistance.org is - 'Your government loans will not survive your death. This means that your estate will not have to pay back your student loans. Also, the death of both parents with a PLUS loan (assuming both took out the loan) is grounds for the “death discharge.” The death of only one of the two obligated parents does not cancel a PLUS loan. A parent can also discharge a PLUS loan if the student for whom the parent received the loan dies.
Discharge because of the borrower’s death (or, in the case of PLUS Loans, the death of the student for whom the parent borrowed) is based on an original or certified copy of the death certificate submitted to the school (for a Federal Perkins Loan) or to the holder of the loan (for a FFEL or Direct Stafford Loan).
WARNING FOR PRIVATE LOAN BORROWERS: There is no administrative discharge for private student loans when the borrower dies. Private loan debts will be handled the same way as other debts. That means that they will be part of the borrower’s estate. This estate settlement process (also called probate) varies by state. However, some private lenders will consider discharges in these circumstances.’
Not sure if this is important to you but when my grandmother died my mother made arrangements for her obituary to be published in the town where she lived & the one she grew up in & still had friends. The people who contacted my parents with condolences later seemed to appreciate the knowledge.
It’s rare for someone to continue their group life insurance after leaving a job. It falls under COBRA but the premiums are high. Worth checking though.
It’d definitely be worth checking to see if she had life insurance related to her condo loan though.
We needed many certified copies of my mother in law’s death certificate, especially to finalize the sale of her house. The real estate agent wanted one, the buyer’s agent wanted one, the title agency wanted one for both my mother in law AND her husband who had died fifteen years previously before they would clear the title, etc…
I had a thought–what if you googled her name and checked through the hits? You might come up with insurance information and other bits of data that way.
I would definitely contact the credit card companies and explain to them that your mom died and to close the accounts.
You do need to contact Social Security and let them know also. They will send a final benefit check to the estate in the amount of $255.00.
I just looked at Harvard Medical School’s website, and it says that they pay the stipend directly to the funeral home for transport, etc. If the cost is more than what the stipend is, you will be billed for the overage.
So sorry for your loss. Been there, done that, too.
Ditto on lots more death certificates. You’ll need them.
Track down her magazine subscriptions, if any, and get them shut off. Was she Greek? You’ll need to notify the sorority HQ about her passing. Her university? Same thing.
Did she vote? You’ll need to get her voter reg closed out as well in her county of residence
. Charitable donations to organizations? Again, same thing.
My sincere condolences on your loss. It will be hard for you to do everything you must do, and please know that those of us who have been there understand and extend our sympathy.
Daddy died three years ago. I asked for three copies of the death certificate and truly, I only needed one. Social Security was the only place I had to show the original. And once you notify Social Security, everyone from God on down is notified. We didn’t need to notify CalPERS (California State Retirement) or the military (he was retired AF), because they already knew.
I had to send copies of the DC to a lot of places, and my sister was the one who had to handle all of Daddy’s last bills, mostly related to his last hospitalization.
I asked SS about the “death stipend,” and was told by the representative that is only paid to people who have recognized dependents. We never received any check from Social Security.
Daddy didn’t have any real estate, so I don’t know how that is handled. Hearsay from others who have had family members pass, probate is a bitch, and that can complicate any real estate sales.
Again, I’m so sorry. Losing a parent is a very painful rite of growing up.
~VOW