Time for another episode of WWW (Weber's Words of Wisdom).
So I have learned a major pain life lesson with the passing of my Dad, and I would like to share what I learned so that maybe others won't have to deal with this in the future.
It has to do with estate planning, and how it can affect your loved ones after you pass.
I have to start off by saying that I thought having a trust was the way to go, but reality is, most of us don't need one as we just don't have large enough estates to have to worry about it.
That said, everyone should have a Will, an extensive Power of Attorney (POA) and a Advanced Health Care Directive (AHCD) in place that are for the state you currently live in. I also recommend you write a letter of instruction to your family and put together a list of all your accounts and passwords and place them in a secured location that your family can access. Also make sure all your beneficiaries are correct and up to date.
I would also recommend that if possible, you should pre-plan and pre-pay for your funeral in advance. My dad did this and it was very helpful. I am in the process of doing this now.
Here is my BIG key advice. The best thing I can recommend to you, from having to deal with this for over the last 20 months is, get on your loved ones bank, credit and utility accounts as a secondary member, but for sure do not close their primary bank account for about a year, or until you are confident ALL financial transactions are complete.
My dad and stepmom had a trust made just after they were married. They included POA's and AHCD's. My dad was a very organized man, but even he didn't keep some things updated and some personal and financial records were absent, missing, or destroyed early. His list of accounts and investments was not up to date and there was not a clear understanding of some things that needed to get done.
The huge problem was that their trust said that at the time of one of them passing, the trust was to change to a new name and to place all assets into the trust for the survivor. This being said, I closed his account, got on as second member of my stepmoms accounts and opened a new account in the new trust name. I then proceeded to close all his credit and bank accounts, investments, etc....
That is where it all went south. Most agencies, banks, credit companies, utilities, etc have their own rules for how they deal with clients that are deceased. A most of the ones I dealt with were accommodating and with a copy of the Death Certificate and POA, I was able to get business done. HOWEVER, some of them also sent refunds, checks, insurance payoffs, etc.. to me in HIS name or in the name of HIS "estate."
The problem was, his name doesn't appear on any bank accounts. The account was changed to the new trust name when he passed. Now I have a pile of checks that can't be cashed because the bank won't accept them because there is no such person and no such trust account name, even with a copy of his DC and the POA. A few that I am dealing with, are his CA tax refund, some refund checks from utility accounts and a federal agency that has their head where the sun don't shine.
So my advice is, if possible, put two names on utilities, bank accounts, investments, deeds and for sure do not close their primary bank account until you are confident that all refunds, rebates, monies owed have been taken care of. Had I left my dads account open longer than 30 days, I would not be boring you with this rambling post.
God bless and I hope everyone is well.
Tom
