When a loved one dies, getting their finances in order is likely the last thing on your mind. However, it’s an important step to take to ensure that the deceased’s last wishes are followed and that their assets and obligations are properly managed after their death.
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To help you manage, here’s a list of the most important financial moves that you need to make immediately after someone dies.
The first step after a loved one’s death is to tell important friends and relatives. While not technically a financial step, it’s a necessary one, and it can help avoid financial snafus down the road.
After relatives and friends, a funeral home should be your next call. Not only will a funeral home help make the whole process easier, as they are experienced doing it, but they can also assist you with necessary subsequent steps, such as getting death certificates. A funeral home will also handle most of the steps that most people aren’t prepared for, such as retrieving and preparing the body.
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Whether your funeral home helps you or you contact your state’s vital statistics office, you’ll need several death certificates to process anything financial regarding the decedent’s estate. Although some financial institutions may accept a photocopy, most will require an original document.
Depending on whether the decedent had a will or a trust, the process after death is different. With just a will, an estate needs to go through probate, which is a public court process. The executor of the will is granted the authority to process the decedent’s estate, distribute assets and settle debts. With a trust, an executor can simply follow the directions of the trust without having to involve the courts.
The decedent’s important documents are a road map you can use to track down all of their assets and debts. Collect all of the financial statements you can find, from checking and savings accounts to investments, credit cards, insurance, pensions, loans, and so on. Be sure to check for both electronic and hard copies, as some decedents may only keep one or the other.
Once you have all of the decedent’s financial statements in hand, the next essential step after someone dies is to contact all of their financial institutions. This will allow you to get the full picture of the decedent’s assets and liabilities and begin the process of settling the estate. This may include retitling of accounts, distributing assets, paying off outstanding balances and closing certain accounts.
If your funeral home doesn’t contact the Social Security Administration on your behalf, it’s imperative that you do. It’s a simple phone call to make, but it’s critical to stop these government benefits as soon as possible so that the estate doesn’t receive payments to which it is not entitled. You’ll also want to claim the decedent’s death benefit.
Unfortunately, when someone dies, their assets and accounts often become the target of fraudsters. Contact the credit reporting agencies immediately and inform them of the death so that they may freeze the credit report of the decedent and protect the estate from identity theft.
One of the more potentially difficult tasks to undertake after someone dies is to file their last tax returns on their behalf. Without first-hand experience with the decedent’s income and expenses, it can take some legwork to collect all of the relevant information to file a proper tax return. This is a step that you may consider undertaking in conjunction with a tax professional, especially with all of the other tasks that you’ll be performing after someone dies. Note that if a decedent has assets in a trust, you may have to file both personal and trust tax returns on their behalf.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 9 Financial Moves You Need To Make Immediately After Someone Dies
