Settling An Estate As An Executor

My name is Brian Scribonia and on this episode of the Common Sense Financial Podcast, if your loved one owned a small business or professional practice, a discussion with business partners and clients may be necessary, as well as consulting with the company attorney who has advised the business. If there is a child in college, it may be a good idea to contact the financial aid office to inform them of what has happened. Depending on the school and the financial situation, the surviving child may qualify for more assistance. Foreign.

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There's a difference between what's real and what's true. You're listening to the Common Sense Financial Podcast. I'm your host Brian Scribonian. Thanks for tuning in and let's get into today's topic. The loss of a loved one can be an overwhelming experience and to make matters worse, through the grief there are important decisions that have to be made. Having a clearly defined process in place for managing an estate can help avoid the emotional drain of making important decisions. Of course, it's completely natural for emotions to run high when a loved one passes and to have some confusion around what to do and when to do it. And when you are in this type of situation, it is all too common to have well intentioned friends and family members who want to come out and support you and care for you, offering you their opinion and advice. And while this can be helpful at times, the downside of acting on this information without a well thought out plan can potentially lead to problems and regrets. After everything is said and done, there may be a sense of urgency to settle the estate, but it's important to be mindful of the fact that this is not a process that should be rushed. An executor is acting as a fiduciary and you are likely working through a lifetime of someone's financial life with that, you will want to ensure the estate is settled properly, which can only be accomplished with a well thought out plan and process to follow. I often recommend working through this process and steps to help avoid many of the common problems that may surface when attempting to take on too many things too quickly. Setting some expectations for yourself and the beneficiaries of the estate is a great first step to help minimize the confusion and questions around how long it will take to settle the estate. This process can take anywhere from two months to several years, depending on the type of assets that are owned and the size and complexity of the estate. Inevitably, there will likely be somebody in the mix of people you are communicating with who has their own expectations of how long this process may take, and getting out in front of this will save a lot of time and a lot of energy. To help you navigate through the important decisions you need to make and provide clarity about what needs to be done, you can download a checklist I put together titled A Checklist to Help Manage the the Loss of a Loved One. I will place a link to this in the show Notes One of the first contacts you'll make is to a funeral home to arrange a viewing, cremation or burial in accordance with the wishes of the deceased. Now, you have likely already done this, but you should know that the funeral home director will often help obtain death certificates. Of course, you will need these before any claims can be filed, which will most often require originals. Once submitted, you may not get these back, so it's always a good idea to request maybe 10 or 12 original documents to have on hand as you work through submitting death claims. If the funeral home director, for whatever reason, cannot assist you with this, you can always call or email the county clerk or the recorder for assistance before rushing to check things off your list and quickly make decisions. It's important to first locate the deceased will trust or other estate documents they have on file. If none of these exist, you could have difficulties settling a person's estate, which will most likely require an attorney to assist you through the probate process. You will want to check to determine if the person may have left a letter of instruction behind. A letter of instruction is not a legal document, but it's a letter that can provide more personal intentions and information regarding an estate. It's important to begin gathering an itemized list of all known financial institutions where money is held and life insurance companies for filing a claim. It's a good idea to put the list together before jumping into making calls because you'll want to keep track of phone conversations and other instructions. A really good practice is to keep a journal of all the conversations or even an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of everything. You'll really want to avoid the method of wanting to write on the back of envelopes or scrap pieces of paper. That can really become unmanageable and just add to the confusion. One of the things to think about is that some checks received for the estate may be payable to the deceased and therefore will require a bank account to deposit the money. If you get too far out ahead of yourself in this process and end up closing an account, you could find it a little bit more difficult to cash the check. You will want to notify Social Security that a death has occurred as well as any pension provider to have payments stopped and any eligible benefits paid to the estate. To do this, you will need their Social Security number. If you are uncertain about what to do, you can always contact the Social Security office for further assistance. If your loved one served in the military, you may be eligible for Veterans benefits. You can get more information about these Benefits by visiting www.va.gov. if they receive pension benefits, you would need to contact the provider to inform them of what has happened and receive instructions for filing the claim and learning about any survivor benefits. Now. Over the next one to three months you will want to be screening incoming mail, both physical and email to look for and gather bills, statements and notices relating to various types of accounts and insurance policies. You will want to review credit card statements to identify subscriptions or other reoccurring charges. To follow up with the service providers about cancellation, notify creditors and credit card companies that were part of your loved one's credit history. Creditors may want to know when existing debts will be paid either by you or your loved one's estate. You can notify the big three credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and Transunion of their passing, which can usually be done online over the phone or by letter. You will want to locate where they filed important documents to find deeds, titles to real estate, car titles or lease agreements, as well as storage space keys and account records. And lastly look for a computer file or printout with digital account passwords. Prior to many people's passing, some family members may try to centralize all this information or state where it can be found. You will want to log into known social media platforms to disable accounts if applicable. If the person was still working, contact the human resources office at their place of work to inform them of what has happened. The HR officer may need you to fill out some paperwork pertaining to retirement plans, health benefits and compensation for unused vacation time. If your loved one owned a small business or professional practice, a discussion with business partners and clients may be necessary, as well as consulting with the company attorney who has advised the business. If there is a child in college, it may be a good idea to contact the financial aid office to inform them of what has happened. Depending on the school and the financial situation, the surviving child may qualify for more assistance. There are many opportunities here for mistakes when attempting to transfer assets out of the estate. Before rushing into this process, you should consider speaking with their financial advisor and attorney. Investment retirement plans, brokerage accounts, and insurance policies should have beneficiaries or transfer on death instructions. If your loved one died without a will, you may need assistance learning how the probate process will work and to what degree you might become liable if your loved one had any outstanding debt obligations. This is an area where it may be best to work with an experienced financial professional team to learn about the possible tax implications of inheriting these assets. A financial professional can help update the financial plan based on available benefits and can discuss changes in the short term while managing any long term needs. They can also guide you on state and federal taxes that may be owed before distributing assets out to the estate. Working through this with the assistance of a professional team of advisors can help minimize the complexity and support you with the responsibility you have for settling the estate of your loved one. If you're searching for an experienced team to help guide you through this process, you can always request assistance by our team, but by reaching out to us on our website@scriboniafinancial.com that concludes today's show. I am Brian Scribonia. Thank you for listening to the Common Sense Financial Podcast. Thanks for listening to today's show. If you liked what you heard, be sure to subscribe on YouTube and Spotify so that you can receive notifications when we release new episodes. Brian I'm Brian Scribonia and this is the Common Sense Financial Podcast.

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