Death is an agonizingly slow avalanche of paperwork and chrome plated staplers

[Buster Highmen]

Fuck this grinds on. The bitch of it all is that all the $ has to be redirected as quickly as possible for my moms care and bills are piling up.

The best response has been from the government states and counties for all the certificates.

The worst response has been from the private sector: insurance companies.

[PNWbrit]

Vibes.

MIL's probate stuff was a nightmare.

[hutash]

Die poor, it saves a lot of headaches.

[Cruiser]

Took 2.5y to completely wrap up my grandmother's estate from 2013. Took well over a year to handle my dad's not much later.

Get an attorney who specializes in this stuff, not just one who dabbles in it. Then buckle up and try not to stick your limbs outside the car while it's in motion, ya know?

[Cruiser]

For anyone else contemplating dying soon there is an organizer to help your family sort out and wrap up your affairs.

https://www.amazon.com/Important-Inf.../dp/1441317996

[XXX-er]

less than 10 months to clean up Mom's estate including making her condo purty enough to sell/listing it/selling it

I think the key was that my older sister the senior banker had almost all the ducks in a row before mom passed, all 3 kids were made joint owners of all moms investments so they were already ours soon as she died, and we got the wills/probate pro lawyer who is head of the association sure it cost 6 K but it was very fast

I'm up here sis is down there so she did the work for which she got a % and all I had to do was cash the checks and wonder wtf to do with all the money

[Skidog]

My parents already moved all those type affairs to my sister and myself. Hoping this makes things easier when the day comes.

Vibes op for the rough times.

Sent from my XT1650 using TGR Forums mobile app

[ThreeRidges]

Planing helps. When dad died, it was a nightmare. Years later, when mom went suddenly, there was a file on everything and it was a lot easier.

[XXX-er]

And when you are tossing ashes get a boat captain who follows orders ( I think the last guy was Russian) to head up wind or you end up lookin like Jeff Lebowski covered in ashes

[bigdude2468]

I am not sure why more people don't use Transfer on Death (TOD) and Payable on Death (POD for estate issues. My dad did this so when he died it automatically went to mom. When she died it went to my sister and me, incredibly easy. Costs nothing to have banks, investments set up this way. The title to our home is set up this way. So bank accounts are POD allowing our two sons to walk into our banks with a death certificate in hand and they can literally get the money, two checks issued one to each boy, close account. Investments, real estate etc are TOD. For example my dad had worked for Illinois Bell Telephone long before the baby bells so he had significant holdings in Verizon & AT&T. The stock was in their investment account at Wells Fargo. Gave WF the death certificate and in the matter of days they had the stock reissued with my sister and I each getting 50%. Stock or real estate you want to have set up TOD so as to not force heirs to sell it. No reason to have to sell stocks bonds etc that can be used for their retirement.

[old goat]

I am not sure why more people don't use Transfer on Death (TOD) and Payable on Death (POD for estate issues. My dad did this so when he died it automatically went to mom. When she died it went to my sister and me, incredibly easy. Costs nothing to have banks, investments set up this way. The title to our home is set up this way. So bank accounts are POD allowing our two sons to walk into our banks with a death certificate in hand and they can literally get the money, two checks issued one to each boy, close account. Investments, real estate etc are TOD. For example my dad had worked for Illinois Bell Telephone long before the baby bells so he had significant holdings in Verizon & AT&T. The stock was in their investment account at Wells Fargo. Gave WF the death certificate and in the matter of days they had the stock reissued with my sister and I each getting 50%. Stock or real estate you want to have set up TOD so as to not force heirs to sell it. No reason to have to sell stocks bonds etc that can be used for their retirement.

That sounds like something specific to your state.

I handled my mother's estate. No problem. The secret is to be retired.

If that is not a practical option--most creditors will understand that it might take a while to get access to the cash. They can't go after you personally--only can go after the estate and that won't get them anywhere. The worst they can do is ruin your mom's credit rating, which would be a good thing when some hacker tries to use her SSN.

[hutash]

This is way old folks should set up living trusts and no wills. Costs more up front, way cheaper and easier in the long run.

edit to add: Not just old folks, but just about anybody with any assets and/or dependents will do better with a trust. Wills and probate sucks balls.

[powdrhound]

This is way old folks should set up living trusts and no wills. Costs more up front, way cheaper and easier in the long run.

edit to add: Not just old folks, but just about anybody with any assets and/or dependents will do better with a trust. Wills and probate sucks balls.

I just got a batch of docs for converting mom's side of their trust. At 3 1/2 months so far. I'm already a trustee.

[old goat]

Everything re estates varies by state. In CA the big differences are that it's a lot faster to get control of the funds with a trust than through probate and the lawyer's fee for setting up a trust is a fraction of the fee for going through probate. After a death you still usually need a lawyer for a couple of things with a trust but it's still a fraction of the cost compared to a simple will. In order for a trust to work all the assets, except for retirement accounts like 401K's and insurance policies, which name the heirs as beneficiaries, need to be in the name of the trust. Otherwise you need a lawyer to transfer ownership from the deceased to the trust--more time and money. Especially important for real estate.

Very important to notify Social Security so the checks stop coming when an older person dies (there may be survivor benefits that continue). The Feds don't like sending money to dead people.

Make sure and keep the deceased on the voter rolls. It really fucks with Trump's head.

[powdrhound]

I'm not sure that the $255 survivor benefit was worth the process.

[Buster Highmen]

Yeah, well when the old man was more sane (and everything is way relative here (pun intended)), he had lots of his shit in a trust. But as he eroded and got even weirder and passive aggressive to the max, he moved shit around so that it wasn't in the trust. But yeah, duh, SS got notified right away, same with his pension (he had been chairman of a physics department, dean of a graduate school and vice chancellor, etc) and that is going OK, slow, but OK.

It's the long term care insurance provider for my mom that's being a bitch and inconsistent about what they need to make the changes so she gets her care.

My brother died 2 years ago so I have to produce certified death certificates (from the department of redundancy department).

Next I have to do battle with the FL banks.

All in all, it's weirdly refreshing to have something concrete to work on instead of quailing under the gargantuan potential of the inevitable collapse.

[bigdude2468]

That sounds like something specific to your state.

I handled my mother's estate. No problem. The secret is to be retired.

If that is not a practical option--most creditors will understand that it might take a while to get access to the cash. They can't go after you personally--only can go after the estate and that won't get them anywhere. The worst they can do is ruin your mom's credit rating, which would be a good thing when some hacker tries to use her SSN.

The SEC recognizes TOD for securities (stocks bonds etc) and explains it on their website. No indication that any states do not allow this. Some states do not allow the transfer of real estate via TOD but 27 do. Check to see if your state is one of them. I cannot imagine there is an easier way to do it.