Being an Executor of an Estate: Part III
This one is about processes.
There are many moving pieces with this process.
1. Paperwork: the will; identification papers; deeds; car ownership; insurance papers; military discharge papers; birth, marriage, and death certificates, and more. Only an organized person should do this job (or someone with a private secretary who is organized).
2. A set of file folders, an accounting system (preferably spreadsheet program), and a calendar for appointments are needed.
3. Get extra copies of the death certificates, even if it costs. Five or ten might be needed, depending on how complicated the estate is.
4. Be prepared to find out things about people you wish you wouldn't have to know. In one case, the deceased's will indicated something that was probably not what she wanted to happen, but the lawyer had misunderstood and written it up a certain way, or the deceased had misunderstood. It can't be changed.
5. Along with going to court, you may need to open up a bank account for the estate. This is a protection even if a nuisance.
A thought on paperwork. My place of employment informed us we would have to prove our relationships with the persons on our health insurance. I have to prove I am really married to my husband of 38 years. Well, I didn't have a marriage certificate, after all those decades. So I called the courthouse where we were married and got two copies. I should have done that a long time ago. I did not have a real copy of my birth certificate until I was 40 and wanted to get a passport.
It's amazing what we take for granted. Nowadays, take nothing for granted.
Do not put anything in an email that someone might use against you eventually. Email is forever.
There are many moving pieces with this process.
1. Paperwork: the will; identification papers; deeds; car ownership; insurance papers; military discharge papers; birth, marriage, and death certificates, and more. Only an organized person should do this job (or someone with a private secretary who is organized).
2. A set of file folders, an accounting system (preferably spreadsheet program), and a calendar for appointments are needed.
3. Get extra copies of the death certificates, even if it costs. Five or ten might be needed, depending on how complicated the estate is.
4. Be prepared to find out things about people you wish you wouldn't have to know. In one case, the deceased's will indicated something that was probably not what she wanted to happen, but the lawyer had misunderstood and written it up a certain way, or the deceased had misunderstood. It can't be changed.
5. Along with going to court, you may need to open up a bank account for the estate. This is a protection even if a nuisance.
A thought on paperwork. My place of employment informed us we would have to prove our relationships with the persons on our health insurance. I have to prove I am really married to my husband of 38 years. Well, I didn't have a marriage certificate, after all those decades. So I called the courthouse where we were married and got two copies. I should have done that a long time ago. I did not have a real copy of my birth certificate until I was 40 and wanted to get a passport.
It's amazing what we take for granted. Nowadays, take nothing for granted.
Do not put anything in an email that someone might use against you eventually. Email is forever.
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