hi everyone Chris Stanton here from the
law firm of clump and Stanton in Mendota
Heights Minnesota this is my fourth
educational video for your enjoyment so
hopefully you'll learn something today
what we're going to discuss is what to
do when a family member passes away many
of the things that I'm going to talk
about are common sense but are often
overlooked during this painful and
traumatic time now the first thing that
you need to understand is nothing needs
to be done right away with the estate
oftentimes I'll have a friend or a
relative of the deceased person call me
the day that their loved one had died
wondering what am I supposed to do
legally well the answer is nothing needs
to be done right away take care of the
personal affairs including funeral and
burial and then contact me in a couple
of weeks and then we'll get into what
needs to be done after the personal
matters have been dealt with you'll need
to begin taking care of some busy work
and legal matters that come with a
family members passing today we'll be
discussing mostly busy work and we'll
leave the legal matters for a different
time busy work involves mostly calls or
visits to different governmental offices
and/or organizations associated with
your loved one now there are 17 tasks
that are going to need to be taken care
of there's probably more but here's 17
that you're going to want to take into
account when handling your loved ones
affairs the first thing you need to do
is order duplicates death certificates
you'll need may need 15 to 20 of them
depending upon the circumstances to
complete the upcoming test your funeral
director usually gives you a hand with
this or you can order them from the
Office of Vital Records at the Minnesota
Department of Health in mutten Minnesota
each certified copy will cost $13 you
may ask why so many certificates well
the main reason is because all of the
financial institutions government
agencies creditors unions membership
groups are
other organizations won't talk to you
about your loved ones financial affairs
let alone take any action until you
produce one so you'll need many death
certificates before you start contacting
banks investment companies and other
firms so number one order quite a few
death certificates to notify a local
Social Security office of the passing
typically the funeral director will
notify the so notify Social Security of
your loved ones death if not you can
call one eight hundred seven seventy two
one two one three or contact the local
office if your loved one was receiving
benefits at the time of death it's
important to stop additional payments
from social security because
overpayments will require a complicated
repayment even a payment received for a
month of the death may need to be
returned if the deceased has a surviving
spouse or dependents ask about the
eligibility for increased personal
benefits and about a one-time payment of
two hundred fifty five dollars to the
survivor number three you're going to
want to consider whether your loved one
was in the military or other government
agency if the deceased was formerly in
the military you should consider
contacting the Veterans Administration
and defense Finance and Accounting
Service for benefits or burial if your
loved one was a federal civil service
employee contact the office of personal
management for benefits and finally if
the deceased was not a US citizen then
you need to contact US Citizenship and
Immigration Service should you be on the
list that should be on your list of
things to do so one contact Veterans
Administration - defense Finance and
Accounting Service three office of
personal management or the US
Citizenship and Immigration Service
number four you want to handle Medicare
if your loved one receive Medicare
Social Security will inform the program
of the death if the deceased had been
enrolled in Medicare prescription drug
coverage Part D Medicare Advantage plan
or had a Medigap policy contact these
plans at the phone numbers provided on
each plan membership card to cancel the
insurance okay
so that's the fourth thing so far five
want to check into employment benefits
okay if the deceased was working contact
the employers Human Resources Director
for information about pension plans
credit unions and Union death benefits
if the deceased was not working at the
time check anyway with the former
employer to see if there are any
benefits to be had sometimes you'll find
surprise benefits you will need a death
certificate for each claim some of the
typical employer benefits include health
spending accounts life insurance
pensions 401ks cash balance plans profit
sharing or bonus plans or your loved one
might have had some paid time off that
hasn't been recouped yet number six we
want to notify health insurance company
or employer about the death so notify
the health insurance company or the
deceased employer and the coverage for
the deceased but be sure coverage for
any dependents continues if needed now
here's one thing to keep in mind if one
partner in a marriage dies and he or she
provided insurance for the family
through an employer with twenty
employees living dependents who were on
the insurance policy may qualify for
what is called COBRA coverage
Cobra coverage gives the dependents the
right to continue group health benefits
provided by the group health plan for a
limited time after the loved one passed
away the typical employer will notify
the insurance plans administrator within
30 days after the employee's death then
the surviving partner will receive a
notice from Cobra of the eligibility and
the rates by mail the surviving partner
will have 60 days
then to decide whether he or she wants
to continue insurance coverage through
Cobra and 45 days after electing
coverage to pay the initial premium
Cobra will help the surviving partner
retain insurance company for 36 months
after the death of a loved one after
that though the surviving partner will
need to obtain another health insurance
policy through an employer or purchase
an individual plan all right very
important these days with the cost of of
health care to make sure you keep your
insurance number seven you want to
notify life insurance companies about
the death okay so if your loved one had
life insurance appropriate claim forms
will need to be filed the beneficiary
will probably want to get the claim
process students started sooner than
later you'll want to find out answers
though before you get started the
following questions what type of
insurance policy is it is there a term
policy a whole life or a variable life
second was there any credit insurance in
other words to pay off credit card
balances or sometimes amounts owning on
major purchases such as furniture or
mortgage insurance to pay the mortgage
so you need to find out what kind of
policy is and what the special benefits
are on it where the policies still
enforced at the time of death obviously
very important who are the beneficiaries
and then how much will the company pay
as a result of your loved ones passing
to claim life insurance benefits the
beneficiary should contact the insurance
company's local agent or check the
company's website some companies ask
beneficiaries to start by sending in a
form that merely reports the death and
then they send the beneficiary a packet
of forms instructing them how to proceed
generally a beneficiary can apply for
proceeds simply by filling out an
insurance company's claim form and
submitting it to the company along with
the certified copy of a death
certificate if more than one adult
beneficiary was named it should submit a
claim form if the primary beneficiary
died before the policy holder did then
the alternate or what is
contingent beneficiary can claim the
proceeds an alternate will need to
submit the death certificate of the
primary beneficiary in addition to the
death certificate of the policyholder
all right so life insurance needs to be
dealt with the eighth thing
contact insurance companies consider
adjusting or terminating other insurance
policies okay that includes amongst
others homeowners automobile long-term
care and so forth caller 8 your
insurance agent or provider and let them
know him or her know that you want to
end the coverage and when you want to do
that don't just let the policy end
without notifying the insurance company
otherwise the carrier will continue to
send bills and likely follow those up
with phone calls or letters that will
eventually stop but the insurer could
mark the account for non-payment and
report this to the credit agencies so
you need to be in contact with these
folks and if your loved one you know was
driving well obviously you'd end the
auto insurance for your loved one but on
the other hand if you're still living in
the house you need to adjust it for the
homeowner so take a look at the
different kinds of policies and figure
out the best way to handle those number
9 you're going to want to make a list of
outstanding bet debts and bills there's
a lot of different things that could
fall in this category mortgage
electrical autumn Oh automobile
cable credit card water bill health club
bill insurance cell phones other loans
you need to make a list of this and pass
this along to the administrator whether
it be an executor of a will or if there
was a trust in place you'd want to get
this information to the trustee so make
a list of the outstanding debts and
bills of the loved one number 10 you're
going to want to inventory the estate of
the deceased to discernment determine
what assets were owned at the time of
the death so typically you would contact
the bank and the financial advisor and
the stock broker as well as the CPA and
other professional advisors of the
deceased to the term
and what there is in the way of assets
there's a number of reasons to do that
you're going to want to do it for
purposes of getting step-up in basis or
getting the tax returns done and that
sort of thing so all of the professional
people that your loved one was working
with you're going to want to contact
them so that you can get an idea as to
what we're talking about in the way of
assets number 11 we want to close credit
card accounts of the deceased for each
account call the customer service phone
number on the credit card monthly
statement or the issuers website let the
agent know that you would like to close
the account of the deceased relative
upon request submit a copy of the death
certificate by fax or email if that's
not possible send the document by
registered mail with return receipt
requested once the company receives the
certificate it will close the account at
the date of death if an agent doesn't
offer to waive interest or fees after
that date be sure to ask keep records of
all the accounts you close and notify
the executor of the estate about
outstanding debts okay so that goes
without saying you need to contact the
credit card companies and close certain
accounts number 12
contact credit reporting agencies you're
going to want to provide death
certificates to three major firms
Equifax Experian and TransUnion to
minimize the chance of identity theft
provide copies of the death certificates
to these three major firms as soon as
possible so the account is flagged four
to six weeks later check the deceased
credit history to ensure no fraudulent
accounts have been open this happens
quite often so you need to make sure
that you follow through with number 12
these days an open unchecked credit file
can be an invitation for identity theft
protect the loved ones identity by
alerting these companies of the spouse's
death it's best to put this request in
writing your letter should include your
name address phone number and email
address plus the full name social
security number and most recent address
of your spouse your letter should also
include the
earth date the date of death be sure to
identify yourself as the surviving
spouse if you are the surviving spouse
and include a copy of the deceased death
certificate in your letter letter you're
going to want to request that the
deceased notice and statement do not
issue credit be added to your spouse's
credit report to further safeguard your
loved ones credit file request to be
notified immediately of any new credit
applications have been made in your
spouse's name that way you'll be alerted
if a thief tries to open a credit
account using your spouse's name it's
also a good idea to request that a copy
of your spouse's credit report be sent
to you so you'll have a record of all
your spouse's open credit cards or
credit card accounts send the letter by
certified mail and keep a copy for your
records the next step is contacting your
spouse's creditors and alerting them of
his or her death okay so you need to
contact these folks identity theft is
running rampant these days and you need
to make sure you follow through with
that next we want to cancel your loved
ones driver's license the phone number
in the state of Minnesota is six five
one two one five one three to eight
clearing the the driver's license record
will remove the deceased names record
from the Department of Motor Vehicles
and once again prevent identity theft
contact contact the State Department of
Motor Vehicle for exact instructions you
may have to visit a customer service
center or do it by mail either way
you'll need a copy of the death
certificate number 14 we want to close
email and website accounts you know for
some of the older generations that might
be living to this listening to this you
may not know what a lot of these are but
for those of you that are familiar and
do work with this you need to cancel the
email and website accounts it's a good
idea to close social media and other
online accounts to again once again
avoid fraud or identity theft the
procedures for each website will vary
for instance Google Mail will ask you to
provide a death certificate a photocopy
of your driver's license and other
detail
information from email to shout to
shopping to entertainment to social
media there's a multitude of online
accounts that you may want to shut down
so you got to figure out who's those are
any account that has the deceased credit
card information should be closed
immediately to prevent identity theft or
fraud common accounts to close include
some online businesses like Amazon
PayPal or eBay uh when it comes to email
there may be what's called Gmail or
hotmail yahoo mail or AOL met email and
then there's social media which include
Facebook or Twitter or thing called
LinkedIn there's also Flickr Picasa and
there's dating sites when it comes to
entertainment you might belong to
Netflix or Hulu might be PlayStation
Xbox box or other gaming accounts to
find other websites that may had had the
deceased credit card information check
recent credit card statements that will
direct you or put you in the right
direction to close out these accounts
because you'll see them on the credit
card alright now we're up to number
fifteen canceled memberships in clubs
and organization reach out to sororities
fraternities professional organizations
the deceased belong to and find out how
to handle his or her membership status
it's also it's important to do that to
cancel the account so you need to
contact these folks so that they can be
taken off the list number seven sixteen
I should say contact a CPA accountant to
prepare individual and estate tax
returns a return will need to be filed
for the individual as well as for an
estate tax return depending upon the
size of your estate keep monthly bakes
bank statements on all individual and
joint accounts that show the account
balance as of the date of death yeah
CPAs will always always want data
death values as one CPA puts it that I
work with he wants a picture of the day
that your loved one passed away so what
was the account value on the date of
death of the bank what was it in the
mutual fund roughly what's the value of
the house on the date of death and so on
they will need all of this information
in order to prepare final income tax
returns and/or estate tax returns all
right next in line number 17
you're going to want to contact an
estate attorney to handle the legal
issues relating to the death of the
family member I certainly can help you
out with that I've been in practice for
24 years now all the work I do is
related to wills and trusts I work
primarily with financial advisors and
their clients but certainly you don't
have to be affiliated with any
particular financial advisor I'd be
happy to help you out and/or direct you
to a competent one if you if you need
one
certainly call me with questions if you
just you know want to bounce something
off me or you need some sort of
direction don't hesitate to call me I'm
not going to nickel and dime eeeh I'll
guide you you know through the process
and get you going in the right direction
but a bunch of the things that I just
listed here is common sense things but
you need to get going on that when you
feel up to it but again always go by the
first rule that I said nothing needs to
be done right away take care of your
personal matters and then you're ready
seek help again my number is six five
one three one Oh 1,400 and my name is
Chris Stanton and we'll see you next
time
