First the required disclaimer: I’m not looking for legal advice. I think I’m looking for legal advice advice, if anything.
My remaining parent, who lives 2000 miles away is getting on in years. We both realize that immortality doesn’t seem to be in our genetic makeup so we’re trying to plan for his eventual demise.
At some point I will have to suspend my job and go to straighten up his estate. This will mean selling his house, car, stopping all the automatic payments on utiliites and the like, notifying the government, final tax filing and millions of other things I haven’t thought of. (Not to mention the funeral itself, of course.)
Ideally I would like to be able to advise him to find a (this is where the profession is filled in by you) who I could then go to when the time comes and he or she would know what needs to be done and how to do it. I’m guessing this is someone in the legal field, but I’m not sure what type of lawyer.
He doesn’t have a lot of money or assets, but I’m sure that whatever has to be done will take more than the three days of bearvement leave allowed by my employer.
So, please, I would like to know what kind of professional we could visit now to lay the groundwork.
Then I’d appreciate information on how others may have handled this situation, juggling work while settling an estate in another state.
Other standard disclaimer: If this is in the worng forum, mods please feel free to move it. (Although this disclaimer seems unneeded as I’m sure the mods will do so if necessary whether I mention it or not.)
However, the advice from lots of people is “get a lawyer” but I’m still looking to know the kind of lawyer. Again, not a big estate, not worth spending a lot of money, just need a professional guide, if you will.
And I haven’t (yet) found suggestions on actually dealing with this while maintaining my occupation.
Its called an estates or, “wills and estates” attorney (“estate” in this sense doesn’t mean a vast tract of land). Many charge a flat fee for simple wills. They may also have suggestions for arranging certain assets in such a way that they don’t need to be probated (reviewed by the wills court before disbursement).
Google “[your state or city] Bar Referral Service” – your local Bar Association can set you up with an attorney with the right experience and normally you get a 1/2 hour consultation for a low flat fee of about $30.
If you haven’t already, you should have your father arrange a power of attorney for you (or whomever) and health care directive while he still has all of his faculties. While we may know that someone will become incapacitated, we don’t know when it’s going to happen, and after it happens is too late. The resulting confusion from not arranging these things adds another layer of stress and misery to an already miserable situation.
One thing that can ease the hassle and strain on your finances is if your father puts you on his checking account so you can pay his bills out of his money.
Does he have a lot of usernames and passwords? Record them somewhere safe. If you’re going to have to sell the house, you’re going to have to somehow keep paying the mortgage until it sells.
In my sister’s case (NY State) my attorney (I just called the one who wrote her will) dealt with surrogate court. I didn’t have to set foot in it. A lot of the estate settlement involved phone/fax work and sending forms and death certificates and/or letters from the court certifying that I am the executor (Letters Testamentary in NY State). If the estate is small and uncomplicated you might not need that much outside help. An important thing is how organized your father is. If everything is nice and neat in a filing cabinet or computer (again, usernames and passwords), no problem. If every obscure drawer and crack between cushions reveals another credit card or bill you didn’t know about, big problem. The most amount of time away from work dealing with estate stuff will probably be spent cleaning out the house and preparing it for sale. The fixing up can be done by a contractor but you’ll have to do the cleaning out. If your father’s like a lot of people he probably has stashes of cash and other valuables, sentimental or monetary, in nooks and crannies and coat pockets around the house.