jolobo Asked June 19, 2024
What do you do after your last parent dies and you need to access the bank account to pay for cremation and bills, etc?
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What do you do after your last parent dies and you need to access the bank account to pay for cremation and bills, etc? I am the executor of his will. I know you aren't supposed to alert the bank right away. There is no one else jointly on that account
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The Funeral establishment will noticy SS right away and they usually will freeze bank accounts if SS recover needed of funds. There is now no POA as that ends with death. The executor sees an attorney at once when the death certificate arrives. Attorney will go online at once and get you the tax EIN and then the account gets put in the new tax number. This is one of the quickest things to get done once you have death certificate.
Someone at the funeral establishment can help advise you on this. So can your bank officer.
Is there a trust? Now it's irrevocable and there's procedures online how to go about this.
If no trust, get a copy of the death certificate, any paperwork you have assigning you as executor, and proceed to the probate court in your jurisdiction.
My husband recently found this out after his father’s death earlier this year. And since there was no beneficiary listed , my husband by default inherited the other half of the account. The account did not go in probate , but inheritance taxes had to be paid on the 1/2 that he inherited. Actually there were two joint accounts , a savings and a checking account at one bank . He moved all his Dad’s cash from Florida to a bank near us when we moved his Dad to be in AL near us.
This serves as a cautionary tale as my husband did not want joint accounts and the bank did not explain . They just said they couldn’t do it the way my husband wanted , which was to just be able to sign and pay his father’s bills. My father in law was with my husband at the bank so they ended up doing joint accounts.
What we have figured out is that at the time the bank accounts were opened , my husband didn’t have POA papers , it’s a long story , but his Dad had lost them and could not remember the name of the lawyer . Then it took forever to get the new lawyer to draw up the papers , 5 months from the time they met with her in fact until she had them ready. We now assume not having POA papers is why the bank said the only way my husband could pay his Dad’s bills was to be on a joint account .
This serves as a cautionary tale because since the money did not go in probate it all went to my husband . But he knew that was not his father’s intentions . So my husband being the honest person he is , split the money per the will instructions with his sibling and step siblings. In order to do this my husband had to gift the money to his sibling and step siblings . The estate attorney handling probate did tell my husband that legally it was all his to keep . Husband still did the gifting. It was a very substantial amount of money . We have to now hope that nothing catastrophic would happen in the next 5 years where one of us would need Medicaid because of the look back . My father in law had other investments that are in probate . To top it all off my FIL did not split it up evenly between his biological children and his step children , a slap in the face as he favored his step children , meanwhile we are the ones that made sure he got care and was safe .
Is it a joint account ? Or were you a signatory on the account ? if you were simply allowed to do banking as POA then you were a signatory . I’m not sure but I have heard that the bank will keep $10,000 for funeral expenses available for POA or maybe it’s for Executor of the will ? but will lock up the rest of the account for probate . Ask the bank .
My father in law prepaid his funeral .
Also condolences on your loss and having your aunt’s issues to deal with as well .
The executor will need to bring the death certificate to the bank plus the Will (proving the identify of the Executor), plus photo ID of the Executor. I don't know the reason you would not notify them right away...?
I read it as OP was jointly on the account with parent and “ no one else” . But OP could mean no one at all.
I didn't notify any of my mother's financial institutions about her death until after I made an appointment with her accountant. And there was absolutely nothing nefarious about my intentions. I wanted to have the new tax ID number when I made the notifications so that I could make a seamless transfer of her accounts. The new federal tax ID number was as necessary for her financial institutions as her death certificate.
In my mother's case with her funeral costs: the funeral home had told me that there was no rush on paying the bill. They understand that, in many cases, the family has to wait for finances to be released/insurance claims to be paid, etc., and that many times the money just isn't immediately at hand. However, in my case, my mother had insisted on signing some blank checks a few months before she passed, so I would "have them at hand" should I need them - which I thought was somewhat silly at the time - but I used one of those to pay for her funeral. I wasn't worried about anyone accusing me of "stealing" money, because 1) I had all necessary receipts and 2) I did all of this with my sisters' knowledge and agreement.
Insofar as the cremation costs, were I you, I would reach out and ask them directly. You will be far from the first person who doesn't have immediate available funds to pay outright for funeral costs, especially since accounts DO get closed after someone dies and the money is "frozen" for a time. Regarding your aunt, does she not have income of her own to cover the utility bills? It is a relatively simple thing to change the automatic payment on something from one account to another, that's usually just a phone call. The utilities should realistically be switched to her name at this point anyway, for as long as she is still living in the house.
I hope you can get some answers from the cremation people.
Your not an Executor until you present the Will for probate. Which in my State cannot be done until 9 or 10 days after death. Once probate excepts you, you will be given a short certificate so you can handle finances. I too have heard once a bank is notified of a death that accounts can be frozen until the short certificate is produced.
IMO, Funeral directors probably do not get their money right away. I would think some people need to wait for insurance payouts or the Executor to get access. I would think It all depends how a bank acct is set up to if it gets frozen or not.
Also, if there is no Will you still need to go to probate to get a short certificate. At this point, you will be made an Administrator who is alllowed to pay bills and if there is an estate take on the responsibilities of an Executor. The State determines who inherits. In my State anything under 20k does not need to be probated but a short certificate is needed for paying of bills.