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Scenerio.
All of my monthly bills are sent and paid online . I die, daughter has all my passwords so can pay them IF credit cards/ bank accounts aren't shut off quickly.
On average, how long does this take? I know SS gets notified automatically.Does anybody else?
I know some will say she doesn't have to, but most should be kept current to, for instance, keep the power and water on.
No, the credit cards, shutoffs, cancellations all have to be done separately. I assume you have a lawyer who put together your will so your attorney could do the rest too. I have heard of funeral home directors providing this service too as part of a package deal.
Make it known to all of your family what you want to happen upon your hospice or death so they know who the "go-tos" are.
My FIL passed with about 40k in CC debt, my MIL (Wifes step mom), who is now living in her late sons house and being taken care of financially by monies from her son with no worries has decided to take on FIL debt with his SS and Pension using Debt Consolidation. I'll likely get roasted here, but I advised her to send the CC companies FIL Death Certificate, and let the debt go. I know she feels guilty leaning on hers sons $$, and the only way to not "Lean" on his $$ is to let go of FIL debt, it's done all the time.
You got lucky. According to the Social Security website, the person must have survived the entire month to be entitled to that month's payment:
If the deceased was receiving Social Security benefits, you must return the benefit received for the month of death and any later months. For example, if the person dies in July, you must return the benefit paid in August. https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10008.pdf
I dunno. We just did as instructed by the SS personnel I spoke to about my mother's check. As I had mentioned, she died Sepember 30, and they did not take back her Sepember benefit. They did take back the October benefit.
I guess they figured surviving to the very last day of the month qualified her to receive the September check. Or something.
There's an old saying: "If you die with more than $50 in the bank, you are a failure."
Most credit cards will not come after their money if a descendant of the debtor sends them a death certificate. If no probate estate is opened as to the descendant, few folks owed funds will come after the money.
Well if you die owing money to people but manage to stiff them and give instead to an heir, that's a failure. An ethical failure. Also taking out debt with no intention to ever repay it is an ethical failure.
All credit cards in your name will be immediately closed. Also any automatic payments you have instigated to be drawn from your account will be stopped.
If you are worried about her being able to repay - just go ahead and put her as joint owner on your checking account. My only surprise when my husband passed in June was that all of his cards were closed as soon as social security was told of his death. I had to scurry around and change automatic payments to the one card I still had. Social security had already been notified by the funeral home when I called them.
I went ahead and paid the remaining balances on the closed cards because it is the right thing to do.
Who notifies Social Security? I thought the executor or next of kin had to do that, and I notified SS of my mother's death the day afterwards.
For us it was the mortuary service. This is from the SSA.gov website:
In most cases, the funeral home will report the person's death to us. You should give the funeral home the deceased person's Social Security number if you want them to make the report. If you need to report a death or apply for benefits, call 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778).
This is not so. Any unpaid bills of the decedent become the responsibility of the estate.
My aunt passed with several balances on a credit card and a 5 year car note. There was no money in the estate to pay. The car was repossessed and the credit cards closed with not one attempt to come after the family.
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