the magic box

The first thing you need to do after being named PR is to set up a tax ID number (like a social security number, but for businesses) with the feds; a fairly simple process you can accomplish over the phone. This is necessary because you'll need it to open an estate bank account. The disbursements of any financial products of which the decedent's heirs are not listed as the beneficiary by name will have to go into the estate account for later disbursement to the heirs upon closing of the estate proceedings. Additionally, any revenue generated from sales of any property of the decedent will be deposited in the estate account as well. This will also be the account that you'll use to settle any debts, like final payments for utilities, court and legal fees, etc. You'll want to get as many certified copies as possible of your PR appointment document in addition to the same of the death certificate (a service of the FH as mentioned previously) because you'll be sending out one of each for just about every account you'll need to close, from banks to utilities.

My mother had never run a household on her own before my father died and the organization of all her personal business papers kind of reflected that. Ever since I was little girl, I remember this box (the same box where the safe deposit box keys were eventually discovered) being used as a repository for important materials and I wasn't allowed anywhere near it.


So, said box is now in my possession after a lifetime of being given the evil eye to stay away from it. Ah, the irony of life is deep.

Because my mother had sort of listened to me when she asked for assistance with my dad's estate (in a cursory fashion, of course), I knew that there were a few accounts of which she had been the beneficiary that would need notifying and possibly final distribution to her heirs, if applicable. I was in luck, after a thorough examination of the box, I was in possession of most of what I needed to start the proceedings. You're going to spend a great deal of time on the phone, so it's best to have everything you need in front of you to get the wheels moving, such as:

• Your parent's social security number
• Their complete address
• The estate tax ID
• Identifying information for any other heirs besides yourself.

You'll also need access to a fax machine and if you're really lucky, a scanner. Things can move a great deal faster if the businesses you're dealing with will accept PDFs of the necessary documents via email.

I had extra steps here, as my father was a military man and some of my mother's health insurance was courtesy retired veteran benefit programs, not to mention she was also the beneficiary of my father's military pension. The natural segue to this is also notifying the Social Security Administration of their death, because while the creation of the death certificate and FH involvement apparently trips the SSA notification automatically, you still don't want to leave it to chance. Another tip: after you've scrounged around and found every account possible, have your parent's mail forwarded to you. I can guarantee that accounts you never dreamed existed will pop up within months via the mail, but even with that safety net, you will still miss at least one. For example, I ended up having to purchase an entirely new homeowner's policy on the house because someone somewhere dropped the ball and didn't inform the insurance company of my responses to the bank's request that I inform them of the status of the property.

All sorts of these happy little landmines will continually pop up on the landscape throughout this madness. I think they call it "learning".

Next: bills, bills, bills.