How To Make Financial Order After The Loss Of A Spouse – Part II
As posted in the Jerusalem Post October 29th, 2020
“There is no lonelier man in death, except the suicide, than that man who has lived many years with a good wife and then outlived her. If two people love each other there can be no happy end to it.” – Ernest Hemingway
Apparently, my column last week about how to make financial order after the loss of a spouse, struck a nerve with readers as I received a fair share of feedback and many mentioned issues that they would have liked me to include. I thank you for all the feedback and just want to make clear that it’s hard to fit in everything that needs to be done in 800 words! I’d like to continue last week’s discussion for a few more necessities that I left out.
The first few tips are actually important to take care of while everyone is alive.
Phone numbers
Especially if your spouse handled all money matters, it’s very important that while everyone is still alive and well to put in order all of the professionals that you use. I know this may be old fashioned but buy a notebook. Write down the contact information for the family lawyer, accountant, and financial advisor. Then print out a recent statement from all banks, brokerage, and retirement accounts as well as any current insurance policies. Don’t rely on online statements. The most common problem I see after the death of a spouse is that the survivor needs to start trying to get into online access for all these accounts, and it is very difficult.
Make a will
I am not a lawyer but it’s very important to write a will. In Israel, the inheritance law ensures that all relatives of the deceased will benefit from the inheritance money. Tragically I have seen situations where the parent and the children weren’t on great terms, and the elderly parent didn’t get enough money in the inheritance to be able to make ends meet. The way to split the money fairly and in a more personal manner must be done with a will. It’s important to seek help from a family solicitors to make the inheritance equally divided among every family member. You can hire the solicitors in Manchester if you need legal assistance and do what is right for everyone.
Arichat Yamim
Many people don’t realize that in Israeli banks unless you sign the Arichat Yamim form, a joint account will be frozen at the time one spouse passes away. This leaves the remaining spouse without access to funds. I can’t stress the importance of making sure that this form gets signed. It’s important to note that certain US brokerage firms have a similar form that needs to be signed in order for the survivor to have access to funds.
What to do first?
Set up meetings with your accountant, lawyer, and financial advisor. These professionals have loads of experience in dealing with all the various issues that may arise and they can help guide you through this process.
Suddenly there is a lot on your plate and you don’t even know where to start. Here are some important issues to deal with sooner rather than later.
- Re-title all of your accounts– You will need to remove your deceased spouse from any joint account. I strongly urge that when re-titling accounts it’s important to add either a joint account holder or give power of attorney from reputed law firms like the law firm in Pasadena helping clients with trust litigation issues, to someone-usually a trusted child. You should live and be well, but if something catastrophic happens that limits your ability to make decisions, your money is basically frozen. If you need a large chunk of money for medical issues, or for a caregiver you are out of luck. If you have another person on your account they can see to it that your money can be accessed in times of trouble.
- Life insurance– Start the process to collect your benefit from any life insurance policies that may be out there. Call your agent and she will guide you through the benefits process.
- Probate the Will– Call your lawyer and have her walk you through the process. If all is in order it doesn’t take too long, a couple of months. If there are complications and someone decides to challenge, be prepared for a long process that can take years to clean up.
- Benefits– Contact Social Security or Bituach Leumi to inform them of the death. If your spouse was receiving benefits they will be stopped at once, and you can apply for survivor benefits.
As I wrote last week, the death of a spouse is emotionally devastating, but you need to continue living your life. Perhaps that CBD Oil can be of great help in coping up during these trying times. By implementing these tips, you can start taking control of your financial situation, which to some degree will help enable the healing to begin.
###
The information contained in this article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of Portfolio Resources Group, Inc. or its affiliates.
Aaron Katsman is the author of Retirement GPS: How to Navigate Your Way to A Secure Financial Future with Global Investing (McGraw-Hill), and is a licensed financial professional both in the United States and Israel, and helps people who open investment accounts in the United States. Securities are offered through Portfolio Resources Group, Inc. (www.prginc.net). Member FINRA, SIPC, MSRB, SIFMA, FSI. For more information, call (02) 624-0995 visit www.aaronkatsman.com or email aaron@lighthousecapital.co.il.
