Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
What should you do when someone passes away? When someone dies? Well, it depends on what
your role is. If you are a loved one, a family member, but not the spouse of the deceased,
maybe you're an adult child of the deceased, you've got to always stop, look, and listen.
Of course, funeral arrangements are important. Prior to funeral arrangements it might be
a good idea to look around and see if the deceased left any instructions on how they
wanted their funeral to be handled. Sometimes people make the mistake of putting their funeral
instructions in their will, and the will is not found until after the funeral. Sometimes
people make the mistake of putting their funeral instructions with their will in a safety deposit
box that nobody even knows exists. And they find that safety deposit box with the will
after the funeral. So, have the funeral instructions clear, assuming that they're done and accessible,
and people need to know where those are at. The second thing that needs to happen after
someone passes away, after funeral arrangements have begun, is to make sure the property is
properly secure. By that I mean if it's now going to be an empty house, a vacant house,
it might be a good idea--probably would be a very good idea to go ahead and change the
locks. But again, if you're not the named executor in the will, or you don't have everybody's
agreement to do this, you may be going off to do something that you don't have any authority
to do, and you're going to get yourself in trouble and you're going to start a fight.
So be careful about that. If you are the surviving spouse, you have the right to do that more
than likely. If you are the named executor in the will, you have the right to do that
more than likely, but you're not the executor until the court appoints you the executor.
You're just kind of the nominee. You're the heir apparent, or the executor apparent. So
you want to make sure you understand that you don't really have legal authority until
you're appointed by the court. Secure the property, look for funeral instructions, take
care of your family, make sure they're all right, then work on the details of actually
getting the will to the court, getting to a lawyer, making sure things are started from
a legal process perspective.