How will your family pay the bills after you die? In the big picture you surely have an estate plan that lays out who will benefit from your estate. If all of your assets are distributed by a will, probate can be delayed by unforeseen circumstances. Do you have enough cash on hand until the life insurance check arrives?
Your financial institution is duty bound to return any payments made to you after you die from federal programs that pay you earned benefits. This is one of the stipulations that they must agree to abide by when accepting direct deposits (ACH payments) on your behalf. These include pensions, VA benefits and Social Security payments, along with several lesser known programs. It is not inconceivable that a military veteran may also continue a career of service in the federal government. If you are one of these individuals, your family will be at a short term risk without another source of funds.
If your account receives an overpayment, it must be paid back. To limit overpayment, your survivors should be notifying any federal agencies that you are currently receiving benefits from promptly. This also starts the process for your surviving spouse and any minor children to receive survivor benefits, if applicable.
Any other income streams that you have may have restrictions of their own on how payments will be processed when you die. Once you have a better understanding of how the total picture will look, you can plan to have appropriate assets available to your family for the time right after you die. You have a plan for the long term; you need to think short term too.
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