stephenh
Bronze Member
I only read page 1 of this so sorry if I repeat stuff. My wife's brother died suddenly at 61 and left everything to her. He was a major packrat and the house was seriously stuffed with anything and everything. His place was across the country from us, a different state than we live in, and I had no clue as to the legal and financial requirements of dealing with an estate there. A friend of my wife's there told us about dealing with her mother's estate, and she recommended an estate attorney. We hired the attorney right away, and she laid out the process and procedures the courts require.
I decided right away to pay off his credit cards and other bills. If we did not, the attorney told us the creditors could come after the estate and delay the process for years. I did not want to hassle with this sort of thing, it could be a nightmare and cost lots of legal fees for the estate, so I right away contacted all creditors and paid them in full. He was even a few months behind in his medical insurance and I paid that up. His mortgage was through a credit union, and we began paying his monthly payments, even though the attorney said we could blow them off and the payments would come out of the sale moneys. However, again, I did not want the hassle of creditors bothering us. Then, about six months later, still dealing with things, the credit union was told by the Social Security Admin' about the death and they demanded immediate payment of the remaining mortgage.
The funeral home contacted Soc Security, had no idea they did that stuff, but they did. Somehow SS contacted the credit union and so forth. His job had been at a college which had the credit union, so everyone ended up knowing about the death anyway.
His mother, by the way, had died a couple years prior. She had received her SS check during the month of her death, and used the funds. After she died, he had to pay back that last check. I was just getting onto SS at 62 at the time and I asked SS about his. Was told that, well, does not matter if one dies on the very last day of the month, you owe back that month's check, period.
When all was done, and the judge had granted probate, the attorney told me that the judge had been very favorably impressed that I'd taken care of everything, even though we might've been able to get by not paying this or that bill. You can make your own decisions on that, some friends told me we were crazy to pay off those cards. Again, we did not need the hassle and there was enough from the sale of the house that we got the money for those bills back from the money from the house.
By the way, in that state, the attorney said many judges will not grant probate if there are any outstanding moneys owed, credit cards or anything else.
I decided right away to pay off his credit cards and other bills. If we did not, the attorney told us the creditors could come after the estate and delay the process for years. I did not want to hassle with this sort of thing, it could be a nightmare and cost lots of legal fees for the estate, so I right away contacted all creditors and paid them in full. He was even a few months behind in his medical insurance and I paid that up. His mortgage was through a credit union, and we began paying his monthly payments, even though the attorney said we could blow them off and the payments would come out of the sale moneys. However, again, I did not want the hassle of creditors bothering us. Then, about six months later, still dealing with things, the credit union was told by the Social Security Admin' about the death and they demanded immediate payment of the remaining mortgage.
The funeral home contacted Soc Security, had no idea they did that stuff, but they did. Somehow SS contacted the credit union and so forth. His job had been at a college which had the credit union, so everyone ended up knowing about the death anyway.
His mother, by the way, had died a couple years prior. She had received her SS check during the month of her death, and used the funds. After she died, he had to pay back that last check. I was just getting onto SS at 62 at the time and I asked SS about his. Was told that, well, does not matter if one dies on the very last day of the month, you owe back that month's check, period.
When all was done, and the judge had granted probate, the attorney told me that the judge had been very favorably impressed that I'd taken care of everything, even though we might've been able to get by not paying this or that bill. You can make your own decisions on that, some friends told me we were crazy to pay off those cards. Again, we did not need the hassle and there was enough from the sale of the house that we got the money for those bills back from the money from the house.
By the way, in that state, the attorney said many judges will not grant probate if there are any outstanding moneys owed, credit cards or anything else.
