Legal And Estate Guidance
Do you have a will in place and/or your final wishes documented? No matter your age, this is an important step that everyone should take. From a will designating who gets what (estate planning) to the pre-planning of your funeral, there are many things that you can do ahead of time – before an emergency situation arises and people are left wondering.
At American Heritage Cemetery Funeral Home Crematory, as a family-owned funeral service provider, we perform our duties with empathy, sympathy, understanding, and efficiency. We are aware of the legal ins and outs involved in the passing of a family member and can help to make the process of bidding them a final farewell a little easier to get through.
Much the same as everyone should have a will created, the pre-planning of a funeral can be equally as important. Among other things, it saves headaches and heartaches for your friends and loved ones left behind. Rather, they can concentrate on honoring your memory and celebrating your life, instead of getting wrapped up in all the processes presented by end-of-life situations.
About Legalities and Estates
When someone dies, there is a legal process that is followed. The execution of a will (part of a legal process) is referred to as probate. At a city or county probate court office, this should occur. The purpose here is to make sure that all the liabilities and/or debts of the person who passed away are taken care of. It also makes sure that, to the beneficiaries, remaining assets are transferred.
An estate can consist of many things including the following:
- Real estate
- Automobiles
- Cash
- Artwork and other collections… and more
From a person's estate – after death – their debts are typically settled. As dictated by the person's will, anything left over will be distributed. State intestacy laws will go into effect if no will exists.
How American Heritage Cemetery Funeral Home Crematory Can Assist in Legal and Estate Guidance
American Heritage Cemetery Funeral Home Crematory would like to offer you this helpful checklist for after a death.
1. If someone passes away, their home, pets, dependents, and more should be at or near the top of the list when it comes to things/people to take care of.
2. Additional immediate steps include contacting friends/family and locating final instructions of the deceased. Wills, Donor Cards, Designated Agent specification – etc. should be located and gathered. A death certificate will need to be ordered (it's best to have several copies of this).
3. All valid paperwork must be located including legal papers, financial records, financial accounts, insurance policies, deeds, wills, personal information, etc.
4. A personal representative may have already been designated or will be chosen to take care of unpaid bills, property taxes, rental payments, etc. At the time of death, there may have been a power of attorney named to take care of the deceased person’s affairs.
5. Death notification will need to be carried out once lawyers, doctors, friends, and family have been filled in. Companies and agencies to notify include the following:
- Employee benefits and pensions
- Insurance companies
- Rental, nursing home, assisted living, landlord
- Social Security
- Office Of Financial Recovery
- Credit card companies, financial institutions, banks
- Veteran affairs
- Credit bureau… and more
6. Finally, cremation, burial, funeral services, etc. must be arranged unless pre-arrangement was done by the deceased. This kind of information will likely be found in the deceased person’s final wishes, a will, or other paperwork.
Why Work with American Heritage Cemetery Funeral Home Crematory for Legal and Estate Guidance?
At American Heritage Cemetery Funeral Home Crematory, we want every one of our client’s final wished to be carried out, to the letter. Additionally, we’d like everything to run as smoothly, trouble-free, and efficiently as possible. This is one reason the pre-planning for your passing is such an important part of life. You tell us what you want – we even have a convenient online form for pre-planning – and we'll see to it that everything goes according to your plan.
Remember, you can also prepare your obituary in advance so that you can be assured all bases are covered and that everything that needed to be said… is.
We would like to assist you in pre-planning your funeral so that your friends and family don't have to bear the burden. If this sounds like something you'd like to do, reach out to us today. We can be called at (432) 653-0643 and emailed at [email protected]. American Heritage Cemetery & Funeral Home is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
