# The nuisances and inconveniences of getting a dead woman to sign anything **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 16, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nuisances-and-inconveniences-of-getting-a-dead-woman-to-sign-anything/456738 "2008-07-16T20:08:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nuisances-and-inconveniences-of-getting-a-dead-woman-to-sign-anything/456738/21 "2008-07-17T19:39:21Z")
Oh, lord, I don’t even want to think of the legal repercussions of forging a dead person’s signature for an insurance company. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nuisances-and-inconveniences-of-getting-a-dead-woman-to-sign-anything/456738/22 "2008-07-17T19:42:33Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] Oh, lord, I don’t even want to think of the legal repercussions of forging a dead person’s signature for an insurance company. [/QUOTE] Ha! I laugh at your puny “legal system”! Ha, I say! [sup]Good afternoon, Officer. Is there something I can help you with? Hey! Wait… noooooooo…[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nuisances-and-inconveniences-of-getting-a-dead-woman-to-sign-anything/456738/23 "2008-07-17T20:08:14Z")
IT TAKES A KRAKEN I should have done this two weeks ago. My sister (a composite of both Sugarbaker sisters with a sprig of dragon’s tongue for garnish) tonguelashed her way to the right person and they’re sending an adjustor. ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nuisances-and-inconveniences-of-getting-a-dead-woman-to-sign-anything/456738/24 "2008-07-17T21:01:43Z")
I am an attorney, but not your attorney, etc… Yes, you need a Letter Testamentary signed by the Court. The executor then should be able to file the claim and transfer the deed on the home. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nuisances-and-inconveniences-of-getting-a-dead-woman-to-sign-anything/456738/25 "2008-07-17T22:26:09Z")
When my wife died we had a joint “investment” account (A mutual fund that we used as a holding account for mortgage, property tax, insurance, and other house-related expenses). I called the bank to see what needed to be done about closing it and was told I needed to file some sort of court-approved document certifying that she was dead in addition to a copy of the death certificate. I just wrote out a check for the remaining balance in the account and six months later they closed the account for lack of activity. ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nuisances-and-inconveniences-of-getting-a-dead-woman-to-sign-anything/456738/26 "2008-07-18T01:02:21Z")
This is the kind of thing that the Executor or the Administrator of the Estate has to handle. Since at this point, your mother’s estate hasn’t been settled, the Executor or the Administrator has the authority to deal with the insurance and anyone else. From the insurance company’s perspective only the homeowner can make the claim. Since the homeowner is deceases, the Estate through it’s Personal Representative steps into the shoes, so to speak of the decedent. In this case, the Kraken didn’t have to do much other than make the claim. All Letters Testamentary are is a document from the Court which states that person A has been appointed as either the Executor or the Administrator of the Estate. Where I am the document would be a Certificate of Qualification. All that aside, I don’t understand why the insurance company claims person didn’t simply tell you that the Estate has to be the one to make the claim. That said, is the estate making payments for the mortgage or the insurance? - At least where I am, the Executor is what you call the Personal Representative if there is a will. The administrator is what you call the Personal Representative if there is no will. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nuisances-and-inconveniences-of-getting-a-dead-woman-to-sign-anything/456738/27 "2008-07-18T07:09:28Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] She swears, and I believe her, that the baby was already dead when it was put in her back seat. [/QUOTE] Shit. I’m too tired to do a search. _makes note to figure out the origins of this gem tomorrow_ ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nuisances-and-inconveniences-of-getting-a-dead-woman-to-sign-anything/456738/28 "2008-07-18T09:50:07Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] IT TAKES A KRAKEN I should have done this two weeks ago. My sister (a composite of both Sugarbaker sisters with a sprig of dragon’s tongue for garnish) tonguelashed her way to the right person and they’re sending an adjustor. [/QUOTE] Does she read A Game of Throne? I think she would love House Greyjoy 😛 ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nuisances-and-inconveniences-of-getting-a-dead-woman-to-sign-anything/456738/29 "2008-07-18T14:12:36Z")
**LifeOnWry** - Susan Smith was the NC woman who put her two small children in the back of her car and sunk it in a pond. Then she claimed she was carjacked by a “big black man” and he took her car with the kids in it. Lots of appeals on TV, that sort of thing. It turns out she was having an affair and she thought she’d have a better chance of snagging the guy if she wasn’t burdened down by her husband’s kids. StG ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_Clock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Shot\_Clock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_Clock)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nuisances-and-inconveniences-of-getting-a-dead-woman-to-sign-anything/456738/30 "2008-07-18T14:26:10Z")
[QUOTE=phouka] And, is anyone else hearing the grubby, nasty old Fates from _Clash of the Titans_? [/QUOTE] **GIVE US BACK THE EYE!!!** **StGermain** , as much as I wish I could foist off Susan Smith onto NC, GA, or any other state in the union, she is in fact A Good Sandlapper, a native of my beloved South Carolina. Just thinking about her and Bobby Baker (now there’s an old school reference fer ya) fills me with such pride that I want to sing Carolina until my lungs burn. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nuisances-and-inconveniences-of-getting-a-dead-woman-to-sign-anything/456738/31 "2008-07-18T15:22:19Z")
Who was it that put a fly in a dead man’s mouth and then moved his hand holding a pen to sign a document - all so that it could be sworn that “the man signed the document while there was life in him”? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nuisances-and-inconveniences-of-getting-a-dead-woman-to-sign-anything/456738/32 "2008-07-18T15:45:07Z")
[QUOTE=CrazyChop] I think you need a certain Dr. West. Dr. Herbert West, to be precise… [/QUOTE] Stand back, Dan… _brandishing a neon-green syringe…_ ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nuisances-and-inconveniences-of-getting-a-dead-woman-to-sign-anything/456738/33 "2008-07-18T18:10:57Z")
[QUOTE=StGermain] **LifeOnWry** - Susan Smith was the NC woman who put her two small children in the back of her car and sunk it in a pond. Then she claimed she was carjacked by a “big black man” and he took her car with the kids in it. Lots of appeals on TV, that sort of thing. It turns out she was having an affair and she thought she’d have a better chance of snagging the guy if she wasn’t burdened down by her husband’s kids. StG [/QUOTE] TOTALLY missed the Susan Smith thing. :smack: The setup sounded like just another interesting Sampiro story. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nuisances-and-inconveniences-of-getting-a-dead-woman-to-sign-anything/456738/34 "2008-07-18T18:34:08Z")
A few years back my grandmother wanted to make some changes to her telephone service (adding caller ID, I believe) and she called the phone company. Problem #1 was that the phone was still in my grandfather’s name. Problem #2 was that he died over 20 years before that day. So I called them to try to straighten things out and the rep said that the executor of my grandfather’s estate needed to act on his behalf to change the phone service. I explained that the executor of his estate was his brother, who is now also deceased. After being placed on hold, I was told that I needed a fricking ORDER from a Circuit Court Judge allowing me or my grandmother to act on behalf of my dead grandfather to get caller fricking ID!!! I hung up, called back an hour later and said, “Yes, this is (my grandfather’s name) and I would like to add caller ID to my phone service”. Took about 10 minutes. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nuisances-and-inconveniences-of-getting-a-dead-woman-to-sign-anything/456738/35 "2008-07-18T18:50:42Z")
Maybe it’s because the CSR’s are operating off a script? You throw them a lulu, like grandfather dead/executor dead/grandmother going senile/house in foreclosure and they don’t know what to do. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nuisances-and-inconveniences-of-getting-a-dead-woman-to-sign-anything/456738/36 "2008-07-19T05:42:03Z")
Hell, I can’t do anything with our utilities under my husband’s name, and we’re both alive and well. I friggin’ hate that. We’ve come a long way, baby, my pearly white ass. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nuisances-and-inconveniences-of-getting-a-dead-woman-to-sign-anything/456738.md?page=1)