More Work for the Widow

A recent story in the AARP Bulletin caught my eye.  The heroine had upgraded her computer and then couldn’t connect to the internet.  Her late husband had set up the system and she did not know the password and the answer to the “secret question”.  Note to self: -- add “secret questions and answers” to the list of passwords and usernames.

Our heroine eventually found a computer guy to help her get into her email – but this was with a price tag.  She also had to search for The File that she knew contained important information about their financial life however she was never told, nor did she ask, the file’s name.  She eventually located it.

After she filed the will for probate, she received phone calls from suspicious people because the estate process was advertised in the local newspaper.  The heroine was smart and did not fall for schemes.  Her son was wise to notify the credit card companies of his father’s death.  This meant that the heroine could not use the joint credit card anymore since the husband was the owner of the card and she was merely a user.  Reminder: always have a credit card in your own name.

The heroine wrote about a widow who had to sell her husband’s gun collection and she spend nearly a year locating the paperwork for each gun, then selling the guns and finally dealing with the proceeds as part of the estate. 

An interesting bit of information in the story: when she called her auto insurance agent to tell him of the passing of her husband, she was told her premium would be increased as a single driver; married couples sharing a car are apparently less of an insurance risk. 

These anecdotal incidents continue to focus on the need to “get your stuff in order”.  Make a date with yourself to “just do it”. 

Send me an email and tell me how you are going about organizing your important hard copy and digital papers.