10 Final Tasks to Complete with When You’ve Lost Someone
You’ve gotten to a point where the tasks that still need to be completed do not have a deadline. The worst is over. After you’ve taken some time to decompress and have a bit of extra energy it’s time to complete the final tasks.
If your loved one owned a home, it’s probably time to sell it. Once the house is sold, the proceeds go into the estate account. The money is then divided according to the will.
The Executor needs to confirm that the life insurance check was issued. This doesn’t go into the estate account - the Executor needs to give it directly to the beneficiaries.
Confirm that all investment accounts with beneficiaries have been distributed.
Did your loved one have a Safety Deposit Box? If so, do your best to investigate that. Learn more here.
Get your loved one’s drivers license back from the coroner and cancel it.
Memorialize or close social media accounts.
Did your loved one have a spouse or ex-spouse? If so, give them a death certificate and final W2. It’s their responsibly to call the Social Security office to see if they’re eligible for benefits.
Send death certificates to Equifax, Experian and Transunion to prevent identity theft.
Publish an obituary - you can usually publish it for free with your funeral home. You can also pay to post on Legacy.com.
Give away sentimental stuff that you don’t want (or don’t have space for) to people you love who will appreciate it.
For example, we inherited huge fish mounts. Neither of us have space in our homes for giant fish, so we donated them to a local seafood restaurant that our dad loved! Now we see them every time we go to dinner at Pappadeaux. We inherited taxidermy animal heads from Africa. They didn’t mean much to us, but they meant a lot to our friend who has a professional taxidermy business, so they went to him. We inherited whiskey glasses that we gave to our friend who is a whiskey enthusiast. It’s easier to part with things when you can share them with someone who can appreciate them.
6 months after the fact, go through the stuff you kept and downsize
You likely kept lots of stuff you don’t actually need. It’s hard when you loose someone suddenly and you don’t know what objects in their home where special to to them and what wasn’t. At the end of the day, you’re probably never going to know, which means you have to decide what is special to you? Hold each item in your hand and ask yourself, does this spark joy? If it just make you feel sad, get rid of it. Learn more about the downsizing process here.
After about a year, it’s time to close down email accounts.
This is an important step for fraud protection, but don’t do this until you know you’re done using them.
Spread ashes if applicable.
Distribute the money in the estate account.
Leave about $10,000 in the estate account to cover the last of your estate related expenses. If you don’t spend all of this money, you will distribute it to beneficiaries before you close the estate. I kept this money in the account until the last minute to pay the CPA (for our dad’s last round of taxes) and to pay the lawyer any outstanding fees. If you don’t leave this emergency cash in the estate account and you encounter a last minute expense, you’ll have to pay it out of your own pocket or ask the beneficiaries to cough it up - which they may or may not do.
Close the estate
There are 2 ways to close the estate. Most people will have their lawyer formally close the estate after about a year has passed. We closed the estate informally, for a few reasons. That took about 2 years. Once the estate is closed, it can no longer be contested. Learn more here.