PSA: How Long to Finish Trust/Estate Admin

[Koolau]

Definitely TMI but you asked. In addition to the deliberate stalling tactic I noted earlier - that’s the most blatant and irritating aspect of all IMO:

• Sister was diagnosed with cancer 5/9, metastatic cancer on 5/25/25.
• Declared terminal on 6/5 by oncologist, given estimated 6 months to live and unable to handle enough life functions to qualify for hospice.
• Qualified and started in home hospice 6/5, continued 6 days/week thru 12/10 when she died. About $8500/month all paid by Medicare Advantage (I make no claim for any of that obviously).
• Moved to assisted living 11/10, died 12/10, cost $8600 all out of pocket.
• We submitted the JH application and first invoice on 11/21.
• Her JH policy was to pay $100/day. She spent $286/day.
• Her JH policy had a 90 day qualification period (policyholder out of pocket until then).
• After months of back and forth, on 2/20/26 they told me they’d pay the claim. Said the qualification period started 9/3, so 90 day qualification period ended 11/30, so 11/10 thru 11/30 was out of pocket, and they’d pay a benefit for 12/1 thru 12/10 only. Nothing whatsoever happened on 9/3 with her status or care, and JH hasn’t given any answer why they chose that date, I’ve asked many times.
• Finally paying me $1000 next week, versus the $3000 they owe in my view - she was under hospice care for more than 5 months before assisted living, much longer than 90 days.

If you’re thinking the in home hospice days don’t count towards the qualification period because Medicare paid for it, 1) they’ve already agreed to count 9/3 through 11/10, and 2) I’ve read the policy and it clearly states in home hospice time counts with no mention of who paid. They’re ignoring 6/5 thru 9/2 towards qualification period, with NO explanation. Again nothing changed on 9/3.

All that said, I’m going to accept the $1000 (vs $3000) after more than 4 months of talking to CSR robots who start from square 1 every time I call. So their ‘stall until the beneficiary gives up’ has worked partially.

Here's hoping there is a special inner circle of Hell awaiting those who employ these tactics against insurance clients. Blessings to you, Midpack.

 

[Midpack]

I gather getting my sisters trust/estate wrapped up in just under 5 months is doing pretty good. Though being successor trustee and sole beneficiary certainly helps. Might be part of the reason it seemed difficult to me, I worked to settle every detail as fast as possible, seemed like the right thing to do with ongoing estate expenses (mortgage payments, utility bills, mobile plan, homeowners insurance, etc.). All that's left for me now paying a couple final utility bills, trading in her 6 Apple devices and cancelling her email account and mobile plan. DW and I treated ourselves to a “closure” dinner last night - well earned IMO.

In the next week or two I am also giving a voluntary one time $ gift from me, not the trust/estate, to her two unadopted stepdaughters per sisters verbal request. Sister deliberately left them out of the trust/will, but that's another story that I'd rather not elaborate on.

 

[harllee]

Wow I am impressed with how fast you guys are getting things done. I figure when my mother dies it will take me a minimum of one year

 

[Koolau]

Thanks for sharing.

Your story encourages me to get cracking on our "exit plan." I feel certain we will use a trust. I'm a procrastinator by nature and I do not look forward to the process but I know it's important.

 

[SecondCor521]

I gather getting my sisters trust/estate wrapped up in just under 5 months is doing pretty good. Though being successor trustee and sole beneficiary certainly helps. Might be part of the reason it seemed difficult to me, I worked to settle every detail as fast as possible, seemed like the right thing to do with ongoing estate expenses (mortgage payments, utility bills, mobile plan, homeowners insurance, etc.).

I think 5 months is way above average.

I found that pressing hard to settle things fast meant I was spending more time and getting more frustrated because others who I needed to do things weren't going as fast as I would have liked. Once I slowed down, the process overall of course took longer, but I was less stressed and spent less of my time.

However, my situation was different in that we did not have as many ongoing expenses to deal with as you did. And I did work very fast on those tasks which eliminated ongoing expenses (his memory care monthly bill, his Amazon prime membership, and his renter's insurance policy).

 

[Midpack]

I found that pressing hard to settle things fast meant I was spending more time and getting more frustrated because others who I needed to do things weren't going as fast as I would have liked. Once I slowed down, the process overall of course took longer, but I was less stressed and spent less of my time.

+1, I think you’re right, live and learn. It was very frustrating but pressing to resolve all the issues was probably a big reason why. Again, I pushed to minimize her estate expenses reducing assets. And I did read the NOLO book The Trustee’s Legal Companion on trust administration which recommends successor trustees to tell other beneficiaries ‘to be patient, the process will take 4-6 months.’ So I thought that was normal.

In retrospect I probably should have slowed down some, especially since I was sole beneficiary. I would think if there were many beneficiaries there would be some expectation to proceed at a reasonable pace as their inheritance is ebbing over time. Glad I didn’t have to “show my work” to anyone, but I’m prepared if needed.

 

[audreyh1]

Thanks everyone for sharing the details. My estate executor duties were dragged out by the covid pandemic plus a farm to settle. It kept me busy during covid, lol. We couldn’t travel for pleasure then anyway (did travel between TX and GA by car several times for estate business and spent long periods in GA), and neither could family. So most of it dragged out to about 2.5 years when the final estate tax return and K-1s were filed. We just took our time, not knowing when family would finally be able to gather as some were overseas. Would probably have taken a year otherwise.

There were only 2 accounts, TOD on one and I was joint on checking. A life insurance policy with beneficiaries recently updated. That all went relatively quickly. Then the farm with house and personal property went through probate, this was actually fast and minimal expense but the settling of it took longer. I had already been managing the farm and DF’s expenses for a few years since he transferred to assisted living.

 

[Scrapr]

Wow I am impressed with how fast you guys are getting things done. I figure when my mother dies it will take me a minimum of one year

That is what I'm preparing for w/MIL. We (I) decided to go through Probate for her. Have all the assets exposed to the 3 other beneficiaries. I didn't want them crying ....that's not fair!! No indication that they will. But $$$ does strange things. I am a beneficiary too. We (I) just moved MIL to a very nice care home. So that will eat at her stash. But she has plenty. The one thing I need to do is have her go w/me to the bank to move her savings accounts to her checking accounts. This will ensure she doesn't exhaust her checking account & simplify the Probate (?).

She is a paper person so not much online presence

 

[pb4uski]

^^^ How will moving money her money from savings to checking simplify probate? Enquiring minds want to know.

 

[Scrapr]

^^^ How will moving money her money from savings to checking simplify probate? Enquiring minds want to know.

Fewer accounts.....it's a small thing. She has enough in her checking account for a couple months. If she is incapacitated I'm a bit worried that the credit union will make my life heck in moving the money. I have POA but they have rules excuses.....procedures

She will have 1 checking account, her brokerage accounts (Fischer....ugh...but whatever) and the house. Lawyer will walk us through the probate

 

[audreyh1]

Can she set up transfer on death (TOD) on her brokerage account so that it will bypass probate?

 

[pb4uski]

You may want to have her make you joint on her checking account. When she passes the POA ends and you will want access to pay her unpaid bills, etc. Do the brokerage accounts have beneficiary designations? Is the house in a state than can be TOD or Lady Bird?

Probate is a PITA in many/most states so I would do anything reasonably possible to avoid probate.

 

[anethum]

I imagine that settling each estate has its own issues. The most time-consuming task for me as my mom's successor trustee was clearing out my parents' house where they had lived for 66 years. They were not hoarders and the house wasn't huge, but you accumulate a lot of stuff in 66 years. I live nearby and I had done some cleanup while my mom was still alive. I had POA while my parents were alive and was joint on their checking account, the only asset outside of the trust. Being joint on the checking account was immensely helpful.

My mom had dementia in her final years and had 24/7 caregivers to remain at home. My sibling & I let the caregivers take almost any household items & furniture they wanted, since there was little that my sibling & I wanted for ourselves.

The sales contract gave me about 7 weeks to clear out the house before settlement. I knew my brother & sister-in-law would do nothing to help although like me, they lived nearby. As I expected, the house would be torn down and replaced with a McMansion, just like most houses sold in the neighborhood. I spent hundreds of hours filling trash bags, recycling bins, shlepping items to various charities, and taking certain items (e.g. solvents, paints) to the county dump/recycling center, as required in the sales contract. Another charity came and took much of the furniture the caregivers hadn't wanted. I wasn't required to completely empty the house since it would be torn down.

I did find a few interesting things in the house that I had never seen before, such as my mom's childhood diary from the 1930s. There was a sweet letter from my paternal grandfather to his future daughter-in-law (my mom) written 2 months before the wedding. I found my other grandfather's naturalization papers and learned he was born in a different country from what I had been told.

Truist Bank mistakenly returned my mom's final Social Security & federal pension payment back to the government. Truist was absolutely awful to deal with. I hadn't even notified them that my mother had died. It took me 5 1/2 months to get both payments returned and wasted a lot of my time. Social Security will only make the payments directly to the children of the deceased. OPM, however, would only resend the pension payment back to Truist. An OPM employee finally got Truist to sign and return a document the government needed before repayment could be made. BTW, a person at OPM who called me told me she had a whole stack of similar pension check repayments on her desk, all due to Truist erroneously returning final checks.

The house's final water bill didn't get sent until 4 months after my mom died. I had to keep the water on until the settlement date because I was working in the house every day. Electricity and gas were much faster sending the final bill.

Verizon was unpleasant to deal with. I canceled service and quickly returned all of the set top boxes after my mom died and was given a receipt. I received an email a couple of days later stating that everything had been returned. But much later, I was forwarded a letter from Verizon claiming there was still another set top box to be returned. Not long before my mom died, Verizon sent her an invalid bill for $100 to my mom, and I had to involve the local consumer protection office to get it cancelled. Truist or Verizon, who do I hate more? That's a tough question.

Distributions from the trust were made over two calendar years, so I had to file two 1041 trust tax returns and generate K-1 documents each time. That was in addition to the final federal & state tax returns. I had been doing my parents' tax returns at their request for more than a decade. I completed the final 1041 more than 18 months after my mom died and my work was finally completed.

 

[Midpack]

Not for everyone, but after taking a few sentimental keepsakes and her Apple devices for myself (to keep many of her accounts/transactions in her identity) and gifting a few items to friends & acquaintances - I turned the entire contents of the house over to an estate sale. He sold everything, and I mean everything, in one day - and only kept 30% of the proceeds. May sound high until you reflect on how long it would take to organize, display and price a house full of things, and having the connections to attract real buyers. He also left the house completely empty and broom clean, ready for the new owners. The alternative was me selling everything piece by piece (from 1200 miles away) which was NOT happening OF paying 1-800 GOT JUNK to get rid of everything. We also did an estate sale when my last parent passed away in 2018. I’m a big fan of estate sales as a possible solution in such situations.

 

[anethum]

Not for everyone, but after taking a few sentimental keepsakes and her Apple devices for myself (to keep many of her accounts/transactions in her identity) and gifting a few items to friends & acquaintances - I turned the entire contents of the house over to an estate sale. He sold everything, and I mean everything, in one day - and only kept 30% of the proceeds. May sound high until you reflect on how long it would take to organize, display and price a house full of things, and having the connections to attract real buyers. He also left the house completely empty and broom clean, ready for the new owners. The alternative was me selling everything piece by piece (from 1200 miles away) which was NOT happening OF paying 1-800 GOT JUNK to get rid of everything. We also did an estate sale when my last parent passed away in 2018. I’m a big fan of estate sales as a possible solution in such situations.

Glad that worked out for you. However, there was an estate sale at one of my mom's friend & neighbor's home after she died. My mom & I walked over to see it. This was before my mom developed dementia. The estate sale operator brought in lots of other stuff that never belonged to the neighbor, and many things didn't get sold. That neighbor traveled the world and collected lots of stuff. I'm guessing the estate sale folks took away whatever didn't sell and brought it to their next estate sale. The daughters told me they didn't net that much. However since both lived thousands of miles away, it made sense for them to go the estate sale route, just as it did for you.

My brother & I were happy to let mom's wonderful caregivers take what they wanted. The remaining household stuff went to a local charity which gives it to formerly homeless people who are getting housing. The medical charity got a wheelchair, walkers, transfer bench, and hundreds of adult diapers which had just been ordered by hospice. The medical charity gives all of that away.

 

[Midpack]

^^^ standard practice for estate sales operators to bring other items, usually larger or more broadly appealing, to an estate sale to a attract buyers. Buyers don’t know or care what was part of the estate or not - they’re looking for bargains they can resell mostly. Many estates aren’t that interesting, mostly routine stuff that appears at every sale - far less “valuable” to anyone outside family.

 

[Slim11]

You did good. My aunts took almost 2 years. One of the problems was locating one person named to get a share of money, and donating to a few local charities, one was a hospital that changed names and another was a local animal shelter. The lawyer had to get all of the people to agree what places would get the donations. So, if you do this in your Trust, maybe a address to go with the buisness is a good practice.

 

[pb4uski]

^^^ For the charities in my aunt and uncle's trust, each charity is named with an address and EIN. Ditto for the beneficiaries of their IRAs.

There is also a provision that provides that if the trustees decide, at their discretion, that a charity is no longer in existence that the trustees may, in their sole discretion, distribute said share to a suitable alternative of similiar character and purpose and if the trustees determine in their sole discretion that a charity is no longer in existence and that there is no suitable alternative of similiar character and purpose, then the trustees shall distribute said share of trust in equal shares to the then living and existing beneficiaries.

 

[frank05]

The thing I found disposing of my parents estate is that few people want solid wood furniture unless it is antique. The only thing you could count on selling are tools, the bigger and heavier the more it was desired. Car tools was very hot.

 

[badatmath]

Would never have crossed my mind to cancel a Microsoft account or similar. Credit cards, utilities, sure. The others not so much. But that sounds very fast to me actually have had a friend working on an estate for 2 years. . . and there was a trust. And nothing to speak of sold in her estate sale.

 

[Midpack]

Would never have crossed my mind to cancel a Microsoft account or similar. Credit cards, utilities, sure. The others not so much. But that sounds very fast to me actually have had a friend working on an estate for 2 years. . . and there was a trust. And nothing to speak of sold in her estate sale.

My sister had more than 50 online accounts, I think many were just diversions. I was able to cancel almost all of them without issue, a few didn't "co-operate" but I'm not going to worry about that.

 

[Koolau]

I'm picking up a lot of pointers in this thread. Thanks to all. Hoping to actually "do it" this year - get our trust(s) done!

 

[Midpack]

Just closed out my spreadsheet, a total of 124 transactions to settle the Trust/estate, probably 3 times that in phone calls/emails. I never would have imagined there would be that much to settling a Trust - especially for a sole beneficiary.

 

[SecondCor521]

Wow! How many accounts / major items were there to deal with?

My Dad's estate involves about eight, but there are twelve beneficiaries so it's a different situation.

 

[Midpack]

Wow! How many accounts / major items were there to deal with?

My Dad's estate involves about eight, but there are twelve beneficiaries so it's a different situation.

Home: realtor, appraiser, mortgage company, title company, gas, electric, water, TV, internet, tax assessor, home insurance, pest control, HVAC service, HOA, sprinkler repair, floor replacement, microwave install, etc.
Financial: 2 Vanguard Accts, checking acct, LTC policy, Morgan Stanley stranded 401k, local bank trust checking, SSA
Medical: Medicare, Humana, hospital, ambulance service, hospice care, assisted living, in home personal caretaker, several doctors
Other: Estate sale, charitable donations, gifting her car, probate attorney (for checking acct only), mobile plan, postage/mailing, travel expenses, funeral, miscellaneous, Apple device trade-ins

Again, the phone calls & emails were multiples of the number of transactions.