The Administrative Side of Death - The Paperwork

Earlier this year, a friend of ours served as executor for an estate. From what I've heard, this is a herculean effort that requires a lot of time and patience, especially if the estate has to go into probate.

The roll of executor is to carry out the terms of the will and to settle the estate. The process can be difficult, or it can be less than difficult depending on the size of the estate and the amount of preparation the testator (the person who wrote the will) puts into it.

In our friend's case, the burden was made easier because the person for whom he served as executor had prepared for the administrative side of death. Not just in stating his wishes for his funeral and in writing his will. He made a list of all of his financial accounts and titles, and had placed the paperwork together with his will. Having all the paperwork in hand helped our friend settle the estate and close out accounts faster, easier, and more accurately than he could have had he been forced to search for the information.

How about you? If something were to happen, do you have a will in a safe, secure place, and can your executor or family find it? Is your insurance, bank, retirement, property, vehicle, debt, etc. paperwork in place with your final will? Will your family/executor even know what accounts you have that must be settled?

What about your social media accounts? If something should happen to you, can a loved one get into your accounts to close them?

This is on my mind because this past year alone, we've known of several people who died unexpectedly. My husband officiated at a few of those funerals. We've spoken to our daughter, who will serve as executor of our estate, but we have yet to gather all the paperwork she'll need to carry out our wishes. It will be a tedious task, for sure, but writing down our wishes for our funeral (even if we don't expect that to happen for another thirty years, D.V.) and preparing all the paperwork ahead of time, updating as needed, will make life easier for our children.