When do accounts close for a deceased person?

My father-in-law passed away 5 years ago.  His will left everything to my mother-in-law (my wife's step mother- not adopted).  She's 90, and failing.  She has no natural heirs.  At one point her will was set up to divide things between 6 people- her 2 step daughters, and her 4 nieces and nephews.  We have no knowledge if this will has been altered.

One nephew (Michael) has been managing her affairs since her husband passed away, and communicates basically nothing to my wife and her sister about the finances.  Nice guy who has been very committed to caring for her, but I don't trust him on financial matters.

My mother-in-law says she still gets checks in her deceased husband's name, and that Michael "must" sign them because he is her husband's "trustee".  This is likely convoluted.  I suspect she doesn't know what a trustee is, and is misusing the term.  Michael MAY have been the executor.  (My wife and her sister are really far out of the loop- its embarrassing how little they know).

I can't figure out why any financial institutions would still be issuing checks to a person who died 5 years ago.  Sounds fishy.  There were significant investments, but no complications that should have made the estate hard to settle.  Shouldn't these accounts have been settled by now?

Neither my wife nor her sister know how large their father's estate was.  They don't have copies of the wills.  They don't know who the executor is, or who the accountants are, or the lawyers, etc.  They don't know if tax filings were prepared.

My wife doesn't want to make waves, but I think she is about to get cut out of the inheritance.  She asks questions that don't get answered, and doesn't know how to get better answers from 1000 miles away.  I have no facts- just a bad gut feeling.

What questions should be being asked?  What red flags are there?  What suggestions do you have for proceeding?

The county tax office, specifically here it is "recorder of wills", will have things on file, provided they paid taxes after the death as they legally should.

Inside that years tax return should be copies of any wills or trusts.

Sometimes this is available online, sometimes the family member has paid extra to black everything out so you have to  physically go to the courthouse to find out your family was nothing but a bunch of lying berkeleys. 

I would get into whatever county he died ins website and look for a recorder of wills or tax office. You should be able to search by name, possibly date, and find anything tied to the person. When I was trying to figure out where my inheritance was, I found everything, marriage certificates, late wife's stuff, the full trust and will instead of the abridged version that was delivered to me. 

So, the applicable will and trusts would be inside the tax return for the year he passed away, and filed at the recorder of will's office?

I guess we also need to figure out about my mother-in-law's will (I would not be shocked if it has been changed)

My uncle passed due to Covid this summer. I handled all the affairs. For the CC debt, mortgage, other utility bills, I sent them  the death certificate. The mortgage was transferred in my Aunt's name. 

Life insurance, pension, benefits and social security checks for both kids under 18, all was squared away.

All mail, checks, bills, in his name has completely stopped as of October. 

Good luck!

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

Yeah, my Dad passed away in March. I was the executor. I was surprised how easy it was to get everything stopped. Almost completely automatic. 

In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :

Yup. Almost too easy. Like they just erased the person off the face of the Earth.... sigh. 

At my Dads funeral my sister wasn't thinking as she is on his checking account and she paid for the lunch using his Discover card - he had her use the Discover card for everything.  
 

She never got a bill so she called and mailed the payment in.  I thought it was all an automatic stop on this.  

Half a year or less should take care of accounts. But junk mail is forever. At least it feels like it. We still get my wife's mom's garbagemail 4 years later... 

Jay_W said:

Half a year or less should take care of accounts. But junk mail is forever. At least it feels like it. We still get my wife's mom's garbagemail 4 years later... 

My mom's father passed in 04, I still get catalogs for him.

In reply to Jay_W :

That's kinda what I thought. Can't think of any reason why checks would still be payable to him 5 years after he passed away. 

Either write the inheritance off, or go ask some hard questions.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

Don't mind asking hard questions. Just trying to figure out what questions, and of whom. 

The original situation smells like 3 day old fish.  Is it possible to talk to M-I-L and ask who the executor is?  I'm betting it's the nephew and he may be up to no good.  We have a friend who has been going through hell with her sisters over their  mother's estate.  She took care of her mother the last few years and sisters refused to help.  They have been as hateful as they can be since their mother died.  I don't understand what possesses people during this time, except greed. 

if he has been signing the FIL signature than at least you have something on him .....

Were  there any rental properties ?  2nd trust deeds  that are paid monthly , insurance policies  ,  stocks and bonds ?

I am not sure what is public information ,  but that would be some things to look for , 

Good Luck

SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

So, the applicable will and trusts would be inside the tax return for the year he passed away, and filed at the recorder of will's office?

I guess we also need to figure out about my mother-in-law's will (I would not be shocked if it has been changed)

To get back to this, kind of. When an estate is settled there's a final tax return filled for the deceased that should contain all of that information. 

If an estate is not settled, even years out, there still should be a tax return history of the estate. Whether than contains all the paperwork or not I'm not sure. 

I just got a mortgage settlement check at my house for a man who lived here before, but died in 2010.

One would think they would have gotten a clue before 10 years.

RevRico said:

SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

So, the applicable will and trusts would be inside the tax return for the year he passed away, and filed at the recorder of will's office?

I guess we also need to figure out about my mother-in-law's will (I would not be shocked if it has been changed)

To get back to this, kind of. When an estate is settled there's a final tax return filled for the deceased that should contain all of that information. 

If an estate is not settled, even years out, there still should be a tax return history of the estate. Whether than contains all the paperwork or not I'm not sure. 

Thanks for the clarification.  That makes more sense.

Sorry for your loss, but it sounds like it's time to visit your MIL's lawyer.

Big warning for us all. 

Be sure you have copies of all wills of your parents and also be sure all your children have copies of your wills.. 

I had to send copies of my wife,s death certificate to two credit card companies ,we had seperate accounts , to prove that she was dead,  I was not liable.

        I still had to tell them that there was no one able to pay.

Most income accounts have a beneficiary listed

I would start with a Google search such as : in the state of the deceased's residence is a will a public record? What is required for probate in State X?

With answers in hand you could talk with the executor about the will. If there are no satisfactory answers you'll probably need legal advice from a lawyer familiar with probate in state X.

Heres a thought.

If the estate is small and Michael has been doing a great job helping with M-I-L  then maybe just roll with the flow.   He has earned what little there is.

But... if the estate is large, you need to get the facts.  Then decide.   The bit about checks still coming in 5 years later sets off alarm bells.

I know there is a legitimate fear of lawyers.  But, sometimes they are a godsend.  Many will listen for free for 1/2 and hour and give you some idea of a direction.   Look for one that deals with family law as a specialty.

I was an administrator of an estate one time, it got ugly.

The amount of the estate is unknown, but I believe it is quite sizable. 
 

It's also very possible Michael has been drawing it down for his own use for a long time. 

I'd lawyer up.

YMMV

Sometimes one certified letter from a law firm will change the picture.

Family can help her - you will need a death certificate and her power of attorney.  In addition I would work with her to setup as many of her assets and accounts as TOD Time of Death Transfer to avoid as much of the state/fenderal crap as possible.  Can talk via IM if need be as just did this dance with Mom passing last year.