Estate Matters: Selling Real Estate

cremation services in Monticello, FL

After cremation services in Monticello, FL, the executor of the deceased person’s estate is responsible for handling all the matters of the estate. One of these matters may include selling the deceased person’s home and distributing the proceeds from the sale among the beneficiaries of the estate.

Your loved one may have already spelled out their wishes for any real estate they own (including their personal home) after they die. They may have decided to leave their personal home to one of the beneficiaries of their estate. Or they may have specified that their personal home be sold and the proceeds distributed equally among the beneficiaries or given to a specific beneficiary.

What ultimately will be done with your loved one’s house will depend on whether it is paid for, has a mortgage, or has a reverse mortgage. These scenarios may override your loved one’s stated wishes for what they want done with their personal home.

If the house was owned outright by your loved one, and they wanted it to go to a specific beneficiary, then this will be easiest for you. The beneficiary gets the house (it will be titled to them), and they can keep it or sell it.

However, if the house has a mortgage on it, then the beneficiary will need to get a new mortgage in their name to take ownership of the house. If the beneficiary is unable or unwilling to do this, then the house can be sold to pay the mortgage off. Any money remaining after the payoff of the mortgage will go to the designated beneficiary.

If the house has a reverse mortgage on it, then it is the property of the bank after your loved one dies, and the beneficiary (or beneficiaries) get nothing.

Your loved one may have specified that their personal home be sold and the money from the sale split between the beneficiaries. If the house is paid for, this will be a simple matter of selling the house and splitting the money from the sale.

However, if the house has a mortgage, then you must pay off the mortgage before any of the proceeds can be distributed to the beneficiaries.

If you will be selling your loved one’s house as part of your role of the executor of the estate, you should contact a real estate professional as soon as possible after your loved one dies. A real estate professional can give you insights about comparable home prices in the area and they can make suggestions about repairs or upgrades that you need to make that will make the home more likely to sell.

If you are selling your loved one’s personal home as the executor of an estate, you should have the house appraised by a professional appraiser. The appraisal value listed on tax documents does not usually reflect the actual value of the personal home and property.

A professional appraiser can provide you with the actual value of your loved one’s home and its property. You should share this information with the beneficiaries. You also now have a selling price that you can approach a real estate agent with.

cremation services in Monticello, FL

If the proceeds of your loved one’s personal home are to be split among all the beneficiaries, and one beneficiary wants to buy the house, you cannot let that beneficiary buy the house at a price that’s lower than its market value.

This is unfair to the rest of the beneficiaries. A good practice is to use the appraiser’s estate of the home’s value as a starting point to talk with all the beneficiaries about what price they would agree on to let one beneficiary buy the home.

For information about cremation services in Monticello, FL, including grief resources, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Lifesong Funerals & Cremations is here to assist you.

Documents Your Heirs Will Need

cremation services in Havana, FLObtaining death certificates is one of the cremation services provided in Havana, FL after you die. However, there are several documents that you need to prepare now – before you die – so that your loved ones have the easiest time possible taking care of everything after you die.

One document that you need to prepare now is a will or a revocable trust. These legal instruments enable you to designate someone to oversee your affairs after your death and they let you distribute assets and property to whomever you wish.

If you don’t have a will or revocable trust, your estate will go into probate. What this means is that your family will not have access to any assets (unless they are a joint owner or joint signer) until a court determines the value of your estate (assets minus debts) and arbitrarily distributes them according to the next-of-kin laws in Florida. This process can take up to a year or more to be completed.

What this means in practical terms is that your family’s life is in limbo for that period of time. They will not have access to any financial assets that are solely in your name, so they will be unable to use them to pay debts and support themselves. Additionally, they will not be able to make any decisions about property, businesses, etc. that you are the sole owner of.

This can put your family in financial jeopardy and it can put your financial and physical assets that you have spent a lifetime accruing at risk as well.

It is advisable to include a letter of explanation with your will or revocable trust to explain your rationale for how your assets are distributed. If you will be splitting your estate unevenly among your immediate family members, you should talk with them now about why you have decided to do that to ward off hard feelings that are likely to surface when it is revealed after your death.

Another document that your heirs will need is a list of all your financial accounts and the names of the beneficiaries on those accounts. This will include bank accounts, retirement accounts, and investment accounts. You can assign a beneficiary or name someone to whom the account should be transferred when you die (known as a transfer on death, or TOD, provision) to these accounts now.

It’s important to remember that the beneficiaries on these accounts will supercede any beneficiaries named in your will or revocable trust, so you need to make sure to keep your beneficiaries current.

cremation services in Havana, FLIf, for example, you named an ex-spouse as the beneficiary on an account, but named your current spouse in your will or revocable trust, the ex-spouse, not your current spouse, will get whatever is in the account.

A personal inventory is another document your heirs will need when you die. While your will or revocable trust will usually tend to distribute your personal possessions in broad strokes (using words like “all” and “everything”), a personal inventory will let you make sure that everything you own is accounted for. Don’t forget about personal possessions that may be stored somewhere else that your heirs may not even know about.

Be sure that you have life insurance policies, real estate records, tax returns, and digital account information stored with your will or revocable trust, your list of financial accounts, and your personal inventory. By keeping all your important papers in a single place, your heirs will have access to everything you want them to have after you die.

For more information about cremation services in Havana, FL, including grief resources, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Lifesong Funerals & Cremations is here to assist you.

COVID-19 Reopening: Safest Activities

We don’t want you to use our cremation services in Quincy, FL any sooner than you have to, so here are some guidelines about the safest activities you can engage in during COVID-19 reopening. These guidelines are based on these factors:

  • cremation services in Quincy, FLEveryone is wearing a facemask;
  • Social distancing is being practiced;
  • Local infection rates are no higher than moderate;
  • COVID-19 testing is readily available and is being done.

The safest conditions in a reopening phase are when cases of COVID-19 or 5% or lower.

In general, outdoor activities are safer than indoor activities. Additionally, short-duration activities are safer than long-duration activities. Any activity that doesn’t include large crowds of people is safer than activities that take place with a lot of people present.

You should have what the experts call an exposure budget. What this means is that you do not immediately return to doing all the usual things that you did before the pandemic began. Try to space activities out as much as possible to limit the possibility that you can be exposed to the virus.

It’s important to note that any activity can be more or less safe depending on whether facemasks are being worn, social distancing is being practiced, and proper handwashing is being practiced by all the participants.

Epidemiologists who are researching this have created an activity score from 1, with one representing the lowest risk, to 10, with 10 representing the highest risk.

The most risky activities (listed from highest to lowest and between 7 and 10 on the scale) include:

Attending events with large gatherings, including political events, social events, and sporting events (if people are allowed to be present);

  • Going to crowded beaches;
  • Going to bars;
  • Going to airports and traveling by planes;
  • Going to amusement parks;
  • Going to gyms;
  • Going to houses of worship;
  • Playing sports where people are in close contact (basketball is highest);
  • Going to public pools;
  • Going to casinos;
  • Going to barbershops or hair salons;
  • Going to theaters.

Activities with a moderate risk (listed from highest to lowest and between 3 and 5 on the scale) include:

  • Attending a dinner party;
  • Eating inside a restaurant;
  • Staying at hotels;
  • Bowling with masks and social distancing;
  • Going to museums and libraries;
  • Eating outdoors at a restaurant;
  • Going to work in an office;
  • Going to crowded indoor shopping areas.

Activities with the least amount of risk (listed from highest to lowest and between 1 and 2 on the scale) include:

  • cremation services in Quincy, FLGoing camping using your own tent, camper, or recreational vehicle;
  • Getting groceries;
  • Getting takeout food or having food delivered to your home;
  • Golfing;
  • Going to a medical office;
  • Playing tennis;
  • Walking, running, or biking outdoors;
  • Filling your vehicle with gas.

Attending events with large gatherings is ranked 10, which makes it the riskiest activity that you can engage in during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Going to bars has an activity risk of 9. There are several reasons why this activity can be so risky.

One reason is because bars are naturally very crowded and people are very close together by design (to socialize). The other reason is because alcohol lowers inhibitions. So, although people may come in wearing masks and trying to do all the right things, after they’ve had a few drinks the masks and other safety measures go out the window.

For your safety and for the safety of your family and other people you are around on a regular basis, you should avoid any high risk activity during COVID-19. Your life may depend on it. Even if you get COVID-19 and have mild or no symptoms, you are exposing everyone around you to potentially much more serious symptoms and even death.

For information about cremation services in Quincy, FL, including grief resources, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Lifesong Funerals & Cremations is here to assist you.

What Happens When a Person is Dying?

Tallahassee cremation servicesBefore Tallahassee cremation services, you may have a loved one who is dying from a chronic illness or a terminal illness. It can be helpful to understand what the general stages of the dying process are so that you can be there for our your loved one all the way through to their last breath.

Although there can be some variations, the following stages of dying are experienced by the vast majority of terminally ill patients. If you familiarize yourself these stages, you’ll be able to recognize them, understand them, and then help your loved one as they make their way through each stage. Rather than viewing this progression of death as something unusual or even fearful, you will be able to see it as a normal and natural process instead.

The first stage of dying that you will observe in your loved one is their gradual withdrawal from the world around them. During this stage, your loved one slowly becomes less interested in the outside world and the things and people it contains.

You will notice this happening even with things that may have previously given your loved one great pleasure or may have been very important in their life. This slow disengagement by your loved one is not something to be alarmed by.

Instead, this withdrawal is a sign that your loved one is becoming more introspective and attentive to things inside themselves. This disconnection by your loved one is a natural part of the journey they must travel to accept death and be at peace with death.

In the next stage of the dying process, your loved one will begin to lose interest in eating or drinking anything. Although at first it can be troubling or even somewhat sad to witness, it’s important to remember that this, too, is a normal. As your loved one begins dying, they no longer need the fuel for energy that they did when they were still more active.

In this stage, your loved one will feel less uncomfortable and less distressed if you do not try to cajole or force them to eat or drink. At this late stage, doing this is not only unnecessary, but it also can create pain for your loved one.

The lowered intake of food and fluids will result in physical changes in how your loved one processes the output of waste. For example, urine will appear darker or cloudy, or your loved one may become experience bladder and bowel incontinence.

When this happens, keep in mind that this is very common in this stage of dying. If your loved one is embarrassed about their incontinence, you can comfort and reassure them that this, too, is merely a natural part of the dying process.

During the next stage of dying, your loved one may begin talking about visions they are seeing or conversations they are having with people who aren’t there. Many times, the people they are seeing or talking with are important people in their lives who have already died.

Your loved one may talk about taking trips and may even invite you to go with them or ask you to help them get to their destination. Listen carefully and converse with your loved one about the trips they want to take, because this is often a sign that death is close (with a matter of days or a week or so).

Tallahassee cremation servicesDuring the final stages of dying, your loved one will begin to lose color or appear “bruised” as circulation slows and the extremities cool. They may be mostly unresponsive, except to your voice or to the mention of something important to them.

Near the end of the dying process, your loved one’s breathing will become irregular and increasingly shallow. This may last for a day or two or for a few hours. At the very end of the dying process, your loved one’s breathing slows – and its rhythm may suddenly change – until it stops altogether, and a pulse is no longer discernible.

If you want to know about the full range of Tallahassee cremation services, our compassionate and experienced staff at Lifesong Funerals & Cremations can help.

Handling Life Insurance Payments after a Spouse’s Death

Tallahassee cremation services

After a spouse’s cremation in Tallahassee, FL, you, as the surviving spouse, will need to take care of your deceased loved one’s financial affairs.

One component of these financial affairs is life insurance policy payouts (if you don’t have life insurance, please consider purchasing a policy so that your spouse will have a measure of financial security after you die).

Life insurance policy payouts can often be for a substantial amount of money that is paid in one lump sum. It’s important that you know how to allocate this money so that you have long-term financial security and it’s important that you hire a qualified professional to help you make the wisest allocation choices.

So, how should you proceed?

It is possible that you have a friend or family member who is either a financial professional or who is well-versed and experienced in financial planning. If this is the case, then you can ask for their assistance or their referral to someone who would be willing to advise you in financial matters.

Even if you feel certain that you will be able to successfully manage your finances on your own and navigate through the changes that your new financial circumstances will bring, it’s still very important for you to get guidance and support from someone with expertise in handling life insurance policy payouts.

The reason for this is simple. A financial planner with life insurance policy payout experience will not only be able to provide an objective analysis of your financial situation, but they will also be able to advise you on other aspects of your financial outlook as well.

This would encompass things like identifying new financial priorities, new expenses that need to be considered (such as retirement funds or tax liabilities), or whether your current investments need to be reexamined in light of the life insurance proceeds.

When you are still processing and grieving the death of your spouse, you may discover that you have more difficulty making sound and well-thought-out decisions regarding you and your family’s future. So, if you get good financial guidance immediately, you’ll be able to avoid any surprises or pitfalls later.

Once you have a financial adviser, you need to do an accurate assessment of your current situation so that you can present a comprehensive picture of your financial situation as possible. Rather than tackling everything at once, focus first on those things that need to be paid immediately.

This will include things like funeral arrangements, hospital bills, living expenses, tuition payments, etc. After you’ve identified these, it will be easier to develop a new, comprehensive budget that encompasses all your finances, including monthly bills like mortgage or utility payments and any other debts, like credit cards and car payments. You should also look into whether you or your dependents are eligible for social security benefits as well.

When you take a realistic look at your debt, you can prioritize the things that should be paid off first, such as credit cards with a high interest rate.

Then you need to ask some questions:cremation service in Tallahassee

  • Can I afford to stay in my home?
  • Do I have what I need to put my children through college?
  • Can I retire the way I planned to?

Answering these questions and developing a new financial strategy may seem impossible at first, but by acquiring sound and steady financial guidance, you will have everything you need to make sure you have what you need when you need it.

For more information about life insurance and cremation in Tallahassee, FL, including grief resources, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Lifesong Funerals & Cremations is here to assist you.