She’s A Hospice Social Worker Sharing Why You Shouldn’t Immediately Tell The Bank When A Loved One Passes Away
One of the hardest experiences in life is losing a loved one. Dealing with the loss is tough enough, but the necessary task of tidying up all affairs complicates the grieving process even further.
You can reduce the stress of the occasion by refraining from informing the bank about how your loved one has passed.
Amy Devine (@yourhospicesocialworker) is a hospice social worker, and she’s on TikTok explaining why you should not immediately notify the bank when a loved one dies.
After the loss of a loved one, you should take the time to grieve. The following few weeks will be filled with plenty of preparations.
Start going through paperwork and gathering information on bank accounts, such as bank statements, so you are aware of all account activity.
For any automatic payments coming out of accounts, make arrangements to inform the people receiving the funds about the change in circumstance if necessary.
Once you’ve paused to gather your thoughts, you can let the bank know and create a game plan about how to manage the affairs moving forward.
Amy states that you should never try to remove any money from the account after a loved one passes away.
When you notify the bank that your loved one has passed, their account will be frozen, meaning no automatic payments will be able to come out.
amnaj – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
In four to six weeks, you will receive a death certificate, which you will have to show the bank.
“Hopefully, they have set up some type of protection on their account, like a payable on death, where you can access those funds. Or maybe they had a revocable trust in place, and you can show those trust documents,” said Amy.
“I know when my mother-in-law died, we did that, and they opened up a new account in the name of her trust and transferred money into that account,” she continued.
She added that another way to deal with bank issues like this is to include a joint signer on the account. If your loved one passes away, the joint signer can manage the affairs on the account.
@yourhospicesocialworker Once the bank is notified that an account holder has passed away the bank freezes the account. This can prevent automatic payments and premiums to be posted. Take some time to gather your thoughts and come up with a game plan. Try to find bank statements so you know what was paid and deposited into the account. Once you have that information go ahead and notify the bank. They will still need a death certificate when that arrives. Do not attempt to take or transfer any money out of that account. There are a few ways to be proactive. – Add a joint signer to your accounts – Add a payable on death to your accounts – Establish a revocable living trust – Write down important information that your family will need to know (I wrote a guidebook for this in my bio) #socialwork #socialworker #MSW #BSW #hospice #homehealth#yourhospicesocialworker #palliativecare #endoflifeplanner #caregiver #caregiving #eldercare #elderissues #advancedcareplanning #homecare #endoflifeplan #futureplanning #death #dying #hospicecare #chronicillness #chronicallyill #hospicesocialwork #healthdecisions #healthcaredecisions #caregiverfatigue #medicare #estateplanning #banking #bank
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