Cross posted on Politics

Have you ever had to help settle a loved one's estate? Are there things you wished they had done while living that would have saved you time and frustrations?

I'm writing a brief article to share with clients and I'd be grateful for your tips. What do us living need to know to help our beneficiaries more?

Thanks in advance,

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Misread the op.

From my experience
Plan out as much of the funeral as possible. I mean down to pictures, clothes and music.
Where and how you want to be disposed of (in f my parent shadnt written down that they wanted to be cremated I would have sent them back to their home town.

Also consolidate accounts down to the fewest possible.

I made my parents record every account and password in a book that is kept in their safe. So I can get into their accounts if need be.

I just went through it as an executor and it went pretty smoothly since she had a will and there was only one beneficiary. The only thing that woukd have made it easier is if she used a lady bird deed for the house and had written down all of her asset accounts. Hopefully I found them all as she had a 6 figure CD I might have never known about but I was checking her mail and there was a letter saying it had matured and was rolled into a new one.

As far as the number of death certs and letters testementry to get, I ordered way too many. I only surrendered one death certificate and still have all copies of the letters. I was able to sell a house and a car with photocopies after they saw the original and the only place that kept an original was the bank that had her safe deposit box, and I am pretty sure they would have given it back to me if I asked them to.

My only other suggestion is for you to let your executor keep the original copy of the will you signed. If an original isn't available the court might assume it was revoked.

Make all bank accounts POD.

Make a list of all accounts and insurance policies and other assets.

Couple of things NOT to do:

My grandmother put all five of her kids on the deed to her house (without telling them until after the fact) before she died, thinking this was the most "fair" and "easy" solution. She was sick with an extended illness and things went south with three of the siblings. For a variety of reasons, my dad wanted NO part of the house. But getting his name off was not easy. He wound up having to transfer his 1/5 to the brother he was on speaking terms with.

Also, my uncle had financial POA. But before my grandfather died, he put the youngest kid's name on all the accounts my grandmother inherited at his death. When she became incapacitated, even with the POA, the banks refused to talk to my uncle because the other sibling (who was alive and well) was on the account. The bank wouldn't even give him account balances. Sadly, nothing was left anyway.

Get a professional executor and somehow cut them out if the contest any part of the will

Have a list of all subscriptions, utilities, warranties, and other payments and accounts that are managed online along with the logins and passwords. A lot of seniors have all their payments and billing online and it can be difficult to get all the auto pays stopped without access. This may even include bank accounts. Access to their email and things such as their Apple ID account is very valuable when they are gone.

If they have someone they trust, giving them access to all accounts is valuable and it can be better if they have two people they trust and those people trust and support each other, i.e. two siblings.

Also lady bird deeds and a trust to put all titled property in makes transfer or liquidation simpler. It is beneficial if the trustee can be one person eliminating the need for multiple signatures at closing or transfer.

AggieBiker said:

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Have a list of all subscriptions, utilities, warranties, and other payments and accounts that are managed online along with the logins and passwords. A lot of seniors have all their payments and billing online and it can be difficult to get all the auto pays stopped without access. This may even include bank accounts. Access to their email and things such as their Apple ID account is very valuable when they are gone.

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My mom passed away a couple years ago and this was probably the biggest headache. She was extremely paranoid about getting her accounts hacked so paid everything she could by check. Then you had my dad who couldn't tell you a single bill they had or who to pay. I had to basically print out a year of bank statements and highlight the recurring ones. Then logged into those accounts to set up auto pay.

She also had a paper full of online accounts and shorthand notes to remember the password and login. But those didn't mean squat to me. Luckily I had her email and phone so was able to reset all the passwords then set up my dad with last pass and get everything saved in his phone. I mean I had to teach him how to access his bank account online. He was floored when he found out you can deposit a check by taking a picture.

Give your executor your bank/broker's signon and password.
Assign transfer on death while living to every non-retirement account. Takes precedence over PoA, no probate.
Assign a PoA to the retirement accounts, if you're incapacitated and someone needs access to the money to care for you it is extremely hard to do if you're not lucid. That PoA expires the moment you die.
Have a will, state your burial preferences in it as kids may fight over how to dispose of you.
You'll need a Letter of Testamentary or Muniment of Title to convert some accounts, that requires a lawyer.
Different counties/states have different rules, my house in Weatherford was in joint name, my wife died and to get her name off the deed Parker County required me to probate the will. That cost about $3000.
10 copies of the Death Certificate are more than enough.
Don't pay any bills with your money, if the deceased has bills the estate can pay them, if there's no money and the deceased has none let the creditor sue the estate. Most won't. But if the estate has bills and the beneficiaries get money and the estate hasn't paid bills the beneficiary may get sued. FWIW USAA has a great estate section and they are great with advice.

So to summarize when my wife died it took a trip to my broker to change titling on all of our accounts (my broker is also my banker, Merrill Lynch), a letter to the state to change the car titles, a trip to the county courthouse to schedule a probate hearing and another trip to actually attend the hearing, The hardest part was setting up a service because we didn't have a church and even though wife didn't want a service the kids did and a LOT of people showed up. I also re-did all my wills and hospital directives, another $1500 or so,