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(This is not a how to do a funeral question). My question is asking what comes next for paperwork, with the memory care residence, the state, etc. She herself will be sent to the local cremation society and I will deal with her remains later. There will be no funeral immediately, as this state is not her home.

I assume somebody signs a death certificate and will get back to me so I can do whatever steps there are to close out her accounts, etc. There will be no "estate" to probate because she will likely be on Medicaid by then and have no assets at all.

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Sandwich - great about the crematorium taking care of everything.

- get at least a dz death certificates. The FH should order these for you. Every policy, account will need an original to close and you will not get them back.

- is mom now on Medicaid? or will likely be? Then whomever is on file for her for the program will get an "intent to file a claim" letter from her states MERP (Medicaid Estate Recovery Program). Which will need to be responded to. How that runs depends on your state as each state runs it's Medicaid & MERP program uniquely based on their state laws. Like some states have MERP as a equal placement lien & other states have it as a claim.

- do you live in the same state as mom? This could make a huge difference as some states do NOT allow an out of state resident to deal with the settlement of their estate. You can be the executrix if so indicated in their will but will need an in the state attorney to be the agent for the estate. You need to clearly find out just how your mom's state does this. My mom is in TX but I'm in LA and my mom's probate guy will be in TX as required by state law. (He actually has had my mom's file, will, codicil, etc as he clerked for my mom's estate attorney (now retired) ages ago when she did her paperwork back in the 90's and he's moved her file with him as he had gone on to other firms…..funny & fortunate).

- if there is a home, you need to decide what approach to take. If you live out of state, then I'd suggest either you get a property management company to look out for the home OR a family member you can entrust to do this OR a really good neighbor - and they all get paid to do this. My mom's empty house is looked at by a neighbor and it works well as no family drama and they are able to have their kids park in my mom's driveway & check on mom's mail each day, so it's a win for all of us. Also if there still is a house, please try to start getting rid of clutter and useless items each visit you do.
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Locking up the property--this is a question I've had. My parents' home is large and lovely, and the often talk about how they want funeral luncheon to be there, in their home.....but in my mind, I'm not sure it would be safe to let 4 sibs, their spouses & kids all thru the house, possibly helping themselves to this or that... likewise I don't want luncheon at my house for them all to snoop around my stuff (to see if parents might have given me something--which they have and it's positively good since I do 97.5% of the work).
So I bettr have a locksmith out there and change garage door code right after someone passes.
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Firearms--I heard something on the news about registered firearms must be turned over to authorities within 14 days of the owner's demise, or else you can get arrested (foggy on details) may have been in NY somewhere. So might make sense to check out your local city or county reg's about transfer of firearms. My dad has a small collection mostly historical muzzleloaders and I will have to make sure it's OK to let them go to brothers, maybe there is some paperwork, I honestly don't know, but I'm Executor so will be my job.
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The crematorium or funeral home that first took the body will be able to get the death certificate. They can also help you through the process on what comes next and who is notified. Make sure you have certified copies for insurance companies etc, but also keep a could of just copies as you may need one in the future.
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In this state, the cremation society acts as the funeral home thankfully, as it is illegal to release a body to anyone not a registered FH. I won't transport mom while she's alive, much less after.
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sandwich--- who transports the body to the cremation site? Again you need a funeral director, the NH won't do it, nor can you.
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sandwich, my daughter died in Hospice, but I still needed a funeral director to publish the obit, because newspapers will not accept obits from individuals. The death certificate has to be picked up at the city clerk's office, several copies, which he did for me as well. The body went to a medical school.
She had no Will that we could find, so we had to go to court and I was appointed fiduciary, since she had bills to pay and a small amount of money. Having a Will naming an Executor is very important to deal with banks.
PhilWhi: The Guardian has no say after death. At that point the Executor is in charge of paying the bills first, and that requires waiting for all bills to come in. Here in NY I was told to wait 7 months before I distribute any funds.
Even though the estate was so small it did not need probate, I did need the advice of a lawyer about what order to pay bills in, and I did not know that I had to wait for 7 months before distributing what was left.
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My Mil just died and the cremation company handled notifying social security, medicade and giving us 4 copies of death certificate. additional copies were extra money. we were all on the checking account and our bank suggested keeping it open for a year in case any stray checks came with her name.
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Also, whoever is the trustee or executor will need to file paperwork with Social Security for the death benefit and to close out their account. You can do that yourself, but if there is more than one state involved you will need to find out where is the appropriate office; probably wherever Social Security checks if any are sent.
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If your parents are still capable of signing legal paperwork, get an appropriate lawyer to set up a trust! That eliminates probate and a whole lot of hassle. (Don't do it with someone who advertises cheap trusts.) I didn't have to do anything about the death cert myself after my husband passed, I think the hospital did that. When it's been filed, you go to the county recorder's office to get certified copies. For some things, a Xerox-type copy will work but banks, etc, require the certified copies. Talk to a good estate lawyer and they'll let you know what is required in the area where you are. If there is any property in another state you will need to file a probate in that state if there is no trust.
Good legal advice is important!
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In Hawaii, the assistance of a funeral home is required as they work with the Medical Examiner's office to obtain a death certificate.
They will also contact Social Security and Medicare (if she was enrolled) to let them know of the death for tax purposes and their records.
You can request for as many copies of the death certificate as you need from the funeral home.
Get more death certificates than you think you'll need, as any additional copies need to be ordered and paid for.
When you receive the death certificates, contact all of your Mom's financial institutions; banks, credit unions, and credit cards, and let them know that your Mom passed away, and send them a copy of the death certificate if needed.
Talk to your tax preparer, and let them know so that they can prepare a final tax statement for your Mom for this year, to avoid IRS complications.
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The local funeral home knew what we needed. You are right to plan ahead. We had some problems finding veteran's documents, proof of service, to get my mother buried in the Veteran's cemetary with a space next to her for dad who was still alive.
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Let me clarify - NOBODY DIED YET.

I am planning ahead to make sure I have what I will need in the future - whether it's next week or in 10 years.

I planned ahead for a long time before I moved mom in 2013 - that's just who I am. I'm a planner.
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My father will be assigned a Non-Limited Guardian Next month at our County Probate Court. My question is, does the guardian have power over my father's Executor of his will? Also, if there were any gifts given to a family member/friend prior to my father's sickness, ie; his collection of firearms. Does the letter which was signed by both my father and family member/friend still binding?
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I didn't have to do much as everything was in my name. But you do have to Income tax returns for next year! Everything else had been done. I just had to take his name off our account.
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Contact a funeral home or cremation service [you can prepay but it will likely be more expensive that way] and they will contact social security, get the death certificates -- yes, they take care of that -- and send them to you, pick up the body and make all arrangements, ship the cremains wherever you wish. Aside from filling out info forms for the crematory/funeral home I know of no other paperwork required -- just went through this myself.
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Ask the memory care facility what happens when she dies (usually a funeral home comes to retrieve the body and death certificate is issued - unless there is a suspicious death), and if she is on Medicaid, ask your state's office what they require because each state has different rules. Medicaid usually asks for reimbursement such as a sale of a home. Probate is still required unless there is a trust.
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Hi Sandwich, Sorry to hear about your lost. The funeral home Directer will help you with everything. As in what to do next, where to go do this or that and so on. Then you go to the county court house to probate court. The people there will help you with any probate papers and so on. Those two places will help you with every question, paper and thing you need to do. Start with funeral home first. One there has to get things worked out, for the death. To transport and so forth, they really can help you best for your area. Good Luck and I am really sorry for your lost.
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You will also need to contact the state's Asset Recovery team. (The state means the one that has been providing Medicaid payments for mother's long-term care. Go to that state's official Medicaid web site, and look-up their Asset Recovery Rules. Also, using the "Contact Us" from their web site, send them an e-mail with your Asset recovery questions. Do not rely on just any Medicaid worker's opinion at a local or regional office as they do NOT know the rules of Asset Recovery. This process took me about 1-1/2 months to accomplish. Hiring an attorney to close the estate is much easier on the family as this can be a very emotionally draining experience. Best wishes . . .
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Make certain there is a will.
Make certain the will is filed with the probate court.

Make certain the property is locked up and only the executor has key.

Have a good lawyer to help you if your executor.

I lost one of my sisters a year or so ago.
Her daughter used cremation services.
No will was filed with court
Daughter has no public contact information, no phone, no address.
All we have is the Internet notice of her passing.
Town where she lived is of zero help
All we know is she died.

My brother inlaw died in New Hampshire his executor lives in Mass. so NH required a NH lawyer be the exceutor.
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Most funeral homes are excellent about helping you through this process. Take advantage of the services they offer.
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I went through this with Gordie. The funeral home looked after the things needed right after death including the death certificate. . Glad is right about needing many copies of the death certificate. Your job is to notify all institutions she does business with - banks etc. about her death. If you are executor, you disperse what remains of monies and belongings according to her wishes and close out/wind up any accounts or other business. You will need to do final taxes as well. I suspect you can find a list of the duties of an executor on line. Are you anticipating anything soon or just getting your ducks in a row? I plan on paying someone to do the job of executor when mother dies to avoid issues with my sister who already has shown unfounded mistrust, and, I strongly suspect, would cause me all the trouble she could think up.
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I just went through the death certificate stuff. The hospital, hospice or whoever will take care of the details of that for you and notify the state. It takes a week or two to receive the actual certificate, and you will want to order ten or twelve of them. Each institution that you deal with will need an original copy in order to close accounts, etc. Utilities, banks, etc, any where she has any sort of an account. Hopefully you have POA, which will make it easier, through POA's expire upon death. Is there a trust, or a will, anything?
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To plan. I was a young teenager when my dad passed nearly 30 years ago, and it was in another state. I only vaguely remember parts of what we had to do.

I have the "body" part of the plan put together already. The cremation society will pick her up, cremate her, and return the remains to me. I'll probably have some mementos made to send back to her family.

I'm really lost about what to do to get a death certificate and what to do with it when I have it! I picture a tsunami of paperwork no matter what.
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Sandwich are you asking for planning purposes or has somebody already passed?
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