What to Do When Your Spouse Dies

What to Do When Your Spouse Dies

Kiplinger’s recent article entitled “A Checklist for What to Do (and NOT Do) After Someone Dies” provides some worthwhile information to help you if you are faced with a death in the family and must organize the next steps.

Contact the funeral home. You need to make arrangements and ask them for 10 additional copies of the death certificate.

Call your attorney. They can help with the process.

Contact Social Security. Your Social Security benefits may change after a spouse’s death, so you’ll need to notify them.

Cancel their health insurance. If insurance is provided by the spouse’s former employer, you will need to contact them post death.

Contact the spouse’s pension company (if applicable). Depending on the pension plan option originally selected by your spouse, you may be eligible to get payments.

Contact the life insurance company and file a claim. This is a very easy process. Do this right away to receive the proceeds of the policy.

If your spouse one was a veteran, contact the Department of Veterans Affairs. Check with the VA to see if there are any benefits payable to you upon the death.

Notify all your financial institutions. Contact banks to change account names; credit cards to remove spouse or close accounts; mortgage companies, insurance companies and all other important bills to change them to the surviving spouse’s name only.

Contact your CPA. You will need to discuss taxes for this year.

Contact your financial adviser. You will need to change account titles, file beneficiary paperwork for IRAs, 401k(s) and other retirement accounts.

Retitle assets. Assets like real estate or cars in the spouse’s name should be retitled.

Prepare and probate the estate. If the estate doesn’t qualify for simplified procedures, then the assets must go through probate. Ask an attorney to help you.

Reference: Kiplinger (Aug. 24, 2022) “A Checklist for What to Do (and NOT Do) After Someone Dies”

Holiday Gatherings Often Reveal Changes in Aging Family Members

Holiday Gatherings Often Reveal Changes in Aging Family Members

A look in the refrigerator finds expired foods and an elderly relative is asking the same questions repeatedly. The same person who would never let you walk into the house with your shoes on now, is living in a mess. The children agree, Mom or Dad can’t live on their own anymore. It’s time to look into other options.

One of the biggest questions, according to the Cherokee Tribune & Ledger-News’ article is “How to pay for long-term care.”

The first question involves the types of facilities. There are many different options but the distinctions between them are often misunderstood. Assisted living facilities provide lodging, meals, assistance with eating, bathing, toileting, dressing, medication management and transportation. However, a skilled nursing facility adds more comprehensive health care services. There’s also the personal care home, which provides assisted-living type accommodations, but on a smaller scale.

The next question is how to pay for the residential care of an elderly family. This weighs heavily on the family. That elderly person is often the one who did the caregiving for so many years. The reversal of roles can also be emotionally difficult.

There are a few different ways people pay for care for an elderly family member.

Long-term care insurance, or LTC insurance. Few elderly people have the insurance to cover their residential facility stay, but some do. Ask if such a policy exists, or go through the piles of paperwork to see if there is such a policy. It will be worth the search.

Veteran’s benefits. If your loved one or their spouse served during certain times of war, is over 65 or is disabled and received an honorable discharge, he or she may be entitled to certain programs that pay for care through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Private pay. If your loved one has financial accounts or other assets, they may need to pay the cost of their residential facility from these assets. If they don’t have assets, the family may wish to contribute to their care.

Another route is to apply for Medicaid. An elder law attorney in their state of residence will be able to help the individual and their family navigate the Medicaid application, explore if there are any options to preserving assets like the family home, and help with the necessary legal strategy and documents that need to be prepared.

Meet with an elder law estate planning attorney to learn what the steps are to help your elderly loved one enjoy their quality of life, as they move into this next phase of their life.

Reference: Cherokee Tribune & Ledger-News (November 30, 2019) “How to pay for longterm care.”