This checklist should make the processes you
have to deal with after someone's death easier.
It is helpful to keep all important
information in one place and let the person close to you know where you
keep it. It is helpful if the information is updated as soon as something
changes.
Immediate
steps:
1. Contact close family and friends.
2. Contact the deceased's treating physician.
3. Contact the deceased's lawyer.
4. If deceased had minor children or other dependents,
arrange care for them.
5. Arrange care for pets if any.
6. Locate will/letter of instructions- this will go to the
layer.
7. Locate durable power of attorney and/or living will.
8. Locate instructions for funeral or memorial services.
Next steps:
1. Order (at least 5) certified copies of death certificate.
The copies can be requested by funeral director, local department
of Health or State department of health or the Vital Statistics
office of the state. Usually one copy is needed per each transfer of each major
asset (like car, land or bank account) but also insurances or annuities. Ask if
non-certified copy is sufficient or if a certified copy can be returned.
2. Locate list of all assets (bank accounts, insurance
policies, annuities).
3. Locate deposit box.
Safety deposit box access after death in TN:
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T.C.A. § 45-2-905
(c)
Upon the death of the sole or last surviving lessee of a safe deposit box,
access is authorized as follows:
(1)
The duly qualified executor or
administrator of the lessee may have access to and remove contents from the
safe deposit box, without inventory unless
an inventory is required by the lessor or by court order;
(2)
In order to search for and remove any written instrument purporting to be the
lessee's last will and testament, or any writing relating to a burial plot or
burial instructions, or any writing purporting to be an insurance policy on
the life of the lessee, a lessor shall permit a person named in a court order
for that purpose, or if no order has been served upon the lessor, the
lessee's spouse, parent, adult sibling or adult descendant, or a person named
as executor in a copy of the lessee's
purported will provided to the lessor, or any person with a right of access
to the safe deposit box immediately prior to the death of the lessee, to open the safe deposit box with an officer or
employee of the lessor and remove the documents. A record of items removed from the box by the
person authorized entry shall be made by the lessor and the other
person. If a purported will is found that does not name as executor the
person conducting the will search with the lessor's representative, the
lessor may make a copy thereof and mail or deliver it to the executor named
therein, or to the court having jurisdiction of the decedent's estate
according to the decedent's domicile as declared in the instrument; and
(3)
If an executor or administrator of the lessee's estate has not requested
access to the contents within sixty (60) days following the lessee's death,
the lessor may then permit access by the surviving spouse or any next-of-kin
of the lessee for the purposes of inventory and the removal of contents.
Prior to removal, an officer or employee of the lessor and the surviving
spouse or next-of-kin of the lessee shall inventory the contents of the box and
prepare a record thereof to be retained by the lessor.
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4. Forward mail.
5. If you are the executor of the will, locate all documents
necessary for paying the property taxes and the final tax return. The
administrator of the estate must pay any taxes owed by the decedent at his
death or owed by the estate until it closes.
If there anything going through probate, in TN the executor cannot
represent himself in probate court and you will need help of probate attorney.
There is no
time limit to file the will with the probate court in TN.
The executor:
1. Has responsibility to inventory the estate and provide that inventory to the
probate court.
2. Pay all bills and obligation the estate has pending before distributing
assets.
3. TN does not require all wills to be probated. The probate will be necessary
for all assets which are solely in descendants name.
4. See link for probate exceptions (non-probable assets).
List of documents to locate:
Legal papers:
1. Will/Trust
2. Final instruction letter, durable power of attorney, living will
3. Pre-paid funeral contracts
4. Social security number or card
5. Birth certificates of all family members
6. Marriage certificates
7. Driver’s license / passport
Access information:
1. Passwords to computer, cell phone
2. Home security system information
Deeds and titles:
1. Real estate property deeds
2. Mortgage document
3. Any loans
7. Vehicle titles and registrations (car, RV)
Insurances:
1. Insurance policies (life, accidental, disability with death rider)
2. Employers or pension insurance
3. Health, dental, long term care insurance
4. Property insurance (car, home)
5. Annuities
If you can recover insurance documentation, use TN online recovery services
Financial accounts:
1. Bank accounts (checking, savings, CDs)
2. Investments/brokerage accounts
3. Retirement accounts (401k, IRAs)
4. Stock and bonds certificates if any
5. Credit card accounts
Keep monthly bank statements of all individual and joint accounts that
show the account balance on the day of death which will be needed for the last
individual and for the estate tax return.
Other accounts:
1. Professional memberships
2. Magazine and other subscriptions
3. Social media accounts
4. Honorable discharge papers for a veteran and/or VA claim number (if veteran)
Organizational:
1. List of all recurring bills with
due dates and how they are usually paid
(electricity, heating, water, garbage, lawn care, cable, Netflix, house
alarm, cell phone, land line, car and home insurance)
2. Loans (mortgage, car loans)
3. All credit cards
4. Cancel services which are no longer needed (cell phone)
Executor:
- Keep detailed records of all bills
paid
- Contact probate attorney. With
the will and the executor named, the attorney will have the document
admitted to the probate court. If you have probatable assets inventory of all assets will be made and will be filed with the
probate court.
Cancel:
1. Cancel no longer needed services (cell phone ect)
2. Credit and debit cards (after cancelling services or transferring recurring bills to your accounts).
3. Driver’s licence
4. Email and social media accounts
Change:
1. I the deceased was beneficiary on your bank and
investment accounts, insurances, annuities and retirement accounts
(401k, IRAs) change the beneficiary.
2. Change utility bills in your name (if applicable).
Who do you need
to notify and ask for death or survivor benefits if available:
When calling keep records of date called and requirements.
1. Social security
administration (notify of death and apply for death or survivor benefits.
The payment of the month of the death must be returned, contact the bank to
return that payment. That will be prorated to reflect only the lived portion of
the month. There is also a one-time payment of $255 to the survivor).
2. Medicare (If deceased received Medicare the Social Security
office will notify it. If the deceased was enrolled in Medicare
Prescription Drug Coverage (Part D), Medicare Advantage plan or had a Medigap policy,
contact these plans to cancel). Medicare
in TN: (TennCare) estate recovery - submit form (money used by
TennCare for care you received while you were living will be recovered
from the estate with Estate Recovery program).
3. Health insurance
(make sure the coverage of the dependents continues).
4. All insurance
companies (car, life, long term care, disability... ask for any unused
premium to be returned to you).
5. Employer (ask
for any possible death benefits or pensions and ask if pension benefit
includes survivor payments).
6. If the death was result of criminal act, contact Criminal
Injuries Compensation Program which helps with costs of
medical services, loss of earnings, burial costs, and other financial losses
incurred as a direct result of personal injuries sustained by a criminal
offense. Eligible crimes generally include, but are not limited to, homicide,
aggravated assault, sexual assault, robbery by force, and drunk driving.
7. Credit
Bureaus (Equifax, Experian and Transunion) - no benefits, just notify
Estate Taxes:
Federal government imposes an estate tax on the value
of estate property (except trusts). Starting in 2016 the IRS requires
those with estates exceeding $5.45 million in assets to pay estate taxes.
Starting in 2016 there is no state
estate/inheritance tax in TN.
