Having learned this lesson the hard way when I was the executor for my sister's estate, I have really tried to point out to friends when they talk about 'making a will' or 'setting up a trust', that they need TO THINK about how the trustee or executor will pay bills, because that's the person who has to hand over the credit card to pay the funeral home or crematorium, in addition to rent/mortgage, car loans, etc. etc.
I tell folks that if the person they are naming doesn't have an extra $5-10K on hand, to set something up so that person can immediately access some much-needed cash.
When my sister died it was (of course!) at a time when we and my other sister were already strapped for cash. If it hadn't been for credit cards and my mother loaning us $5K, we couldn't have gotten through it - and that was for a modest cremation, plus a modest but wonderful service with memorial cards for friends/family.
No fun to learn this stuff while you're grieving, to be sure!
