Are obituaries useful these days?

[edjames]

After my Mother's death and obituary in the local newspaper I received many unsolicited offer to sell her property.

Be careful about how much information is listed in the obituary as Identity theft even applies to the dead. Write your obituaries with identity theft in mind because the deceased's identity is an irresistible target for thieves. There are tips that you can follow to avoid identity theft.

Con artists will scan the obituaries in their city or town and watch for valuable information that they can use to access bank accounts and personal credit. Long obituaries that give many details give these scam artists more valuable information that they can use to steal the identity of the deceased. The deceased doesn't have to worry about their credit rating, but the family is caused undue emotional stress. Sometimes the thieves want to steal the identity to avoid immigration, legal or financial problems of their own.

The best way to avoid identity theft from your loved ones obituary is to take care of financial and credit issues before the obituary is published. Close accounts, and notify all creditors, banks and credit reporting agencies of the deceased's passing. The next best thing is to limit the information on the obituary so that there isn't a resume of details that list every occupation, award and detail of the person's life.

If you do all of these things you will ensure that your loved one will not be a victim of identity theft after he or she has passed away. It is even better if you do all of this before you publish the obituary:

• Close accounts and credit cards.
  
• Notify Equifax, Trans Union and Experian of the deceased's passing.
  
• Contact Social Security and have them deactivate the social security number of the deceased.
  

If you've already published the obituary and you notice unusual activity on the deceased's accounts, you can assume there is some sort of identity theft and so you must do the following:

• Notify the police immediately.
  
• Contact your bank and freeze accounts.
  
• Contact credit-reporting agencies.
  

The police and credit reporting agencies will have more suggestions for you to keep you safe.

Writing obituaries need not be a daunting task, especially if you have all your financial affairs in order. If you've taken all the steps to avoid identity theft from obituaries, you can rest assured that your obituary can be as long or as short as you would like it to be. You can find out more about writing an obituary at ObituariesHelp.org

[+ nycman]

Sorry about the multiple posts.

 

That’s what I get for tying to post at 38,000 feet over the Atlantic.....lol

[+ Reg]

My mother recently passed away after a long battle with Alzheimer's.

 

My condolences. I also encourage you to write an obituary. I had the same experience as @nycman

 

As an unexpected benefit, I too “enjoyed” writing it and I heard from many people I never knew existed. Indeed, the deceased had a much fuller life than I had ever dreamed and a wide range of friendships over decades that I knew nothing about.

 

In the end, it unexpectedly helped comfort me.

[Beancounter]

After my Mother's death and obituary in the local newspaper I received many unsolicited offer to sell her property.

Be careful about how much information is listed in the obituary as Identity theft even applies to the dead. Write your obituaries with identity theft in mind because the deceased's identity is an irresistible target for thieves. There are tips that you can follow to avoid identity theft.

Con artists will scan the obituaries in their city or town and watch for valuable information that they can use to access bank accounts and personal credit. Long obituaries that give many details give these scam artists more valuable information that they can use to steal the identity of the deceased. The deceased doesn't have to worry about their credit rating, but the family is caused undue emotional stress. Sometimes the thieves want to steal the identity to avoid immigration, legal or financial problems of their own.

The best way to avoid identity theft from your loved ones obituary is to take care of financial and credit issues before the obituary is published. Close accounts, and notify all creditors, banks and credit reporting agencies of the deceased's passing. The next best thing is to limit the information on the obituary so that there isn't a resume of details that list every occupation, award and detail of the person's life.

If you do all of these things you will ensure that your loved one will not be a victim of identity theft after he or she has passed away. It is even better if you do all of this before you publish the obituary:

• Close accounts and credit cards.
  
• Notify Equifax, Trans Union and Experian of the deceased's passing.
  
• Contact Social Security and have them deactivate the social security number of the deceased.
  

If you've already published the obituary and you notice unusual activity on the deceased's accounts, you can assume there is some sort of identity theft and so you must do the following:

• Notify the police immediately.
  
• Contact your bank and freeze accounts.
  
• Contact credit-reporting agencies.
  

The police and credit reporting agencies will have more suggestions for you to keep you safe.

Writing obituaries need not be a daunting task, especially if you have all your financial affairs in order. If you've taken all the steps to avoid identity theft from obituaries, you can rest assured that your obituary can be as long or as short as you would like it to be. You can find out more about writing an obituary at ObituariesHelp.org

Lots of good suggestions in this post. I think funeral homes are required by law to contact the social security office when they are dealing with a deceased person. It’s been a while since I’ve have to handle a death in the family but the funeral home told me that when I was dealing with a family death. Someone who knows more than me will have a more definitive answer though.

[Guest]

Lots of good suggestions in this post. I think funeral homes are required by law to contact the social security office when they are dealing with a deceased person. It’s been a while since I’ve have to handle a death in the family but the funeral home told me that when I was dealing with a family death. Someone who knows more than me will have a more definitive answer though.

Yes, the funeral home said they would be notifying social security, although the booklet we received from the hospice people told us to call. I read one of those Q and A articles in the last AAFP newspaper in which a widow asked whether she had to return a few months' worth of social security auto-deposits she collected after her husband's death! Some people are really shameless... Thank you for those of you who left their condolences.

Edited May 14, 2019 by Unicorn

[OneFinger]

My parents died years ago. My only sibling (sister) died in February. In the 3 local papers we only submitted a death notice which was linked to the mortuary obit (free). That met our needs.

 

Since I no longer have immediate relatives to take care of my burial, I've spent this month determining and PAYING for my burial. My sister's family is very close to me. But, I didn't want to burden them with the details and cost for my burial. In my area, the mortuaries will NOT plan services without payment in advance. There is no way I could put this burden on them. So, I've planned and paid for my burial in advance and am designing my own headstone.

 

For me, this has been a sense of healing. I have some serious health issues and don't know how much longer I have. I currently live 2,000 miles away from sister's family. So, I wanted to be sure what they needed to do if I died out-of-state. That's already taken care of and they have a single point-of-contact when I die.

 

My next task is to write my own obituary. And, I plan to have it submitted in the first person.

[Despardo]

Obits have been useful to me in trying to find old acquaintances.

[+ purplekow]

Yes, the funeral home said they would be notifying social security, although the booklet we received from the hospice people told us to call. I read one of those Q and A articles in the last AAFP newspaper in which a widow asked whether she had to return a few months' worth of social security auto-deposits she collected after her husband's death! Some people are really shameless... Thank you for those of you who left their condolences.

If you do not return them, the government will extract the overpayment from the account to which it was deposited. Before my wife died, we applied and eventually received Social Security Disability but by the time the application was processed, she had already passed. SSI deposited about 7 months of benefits, of which 5 were due and 2 occurred after she passed. It should be noted that you are not entitled to the last month's payment. In any case, by the time I contacted social security, they had withdrawn the fill seven months worth of payments, causing all sorts of checks to bounce. While I finally was able to have them repay the 5 months they owed, the penalties for the bounced checks were all my responsibilty.

[JayCeeKy]

Yes, write the obit as a family (not by one person) and publish. It helps the family to acknowledge the loss, reminisce and celebrate her life, and document her life for generations to come.

[+ WilliamM]

Obits have been useful to me in trying to find old acquaintances.

 

I mentioned here that it was surprising that my fifth grade teacher lived to age 100, and earlier became principal of a grade school.

[rvwnsd]

Yes, the funeral home said they would be notifying social security, although the booklet we received from the hospice people told us to call. I read one of those Q and A articles in the last AAFP newspaper in which a widow asked whether she had to return a few months' worth of social security auto-deposits she collected after her husband's death! Some people are really shameless... Thank you for those of you who left their condolences.

I think I forgot to express my condolences previously. So...

 

My condolences for the loss of your mother.

 

I notified Social Security, credit cards, etc myself and advise you to do the same. Social Security was easy (one phone call which was answered by a very nice lady). My dad died on the fifth of the month, so we were able to keep his last payment (he was still alive when it was sent). Regardless who calls, they will eventually find out once other public records catch up (it takes a few months).

[Rudynate]

some people are really shameless... Thank you for those of you who left their condolences.

 

 

Not at all. The widow is usually entitled to receive her husband's full benefit. She would of course have to have followed the correct bureaucratic procedure in making her claim, but she was correct in assuming that the money was hers.

[Guest]

Not at all. The widow is usually entitled to receive her husband's full benefit. She would of course have to have followed the correct bureaucratic procedure in making her claim, but she was correct in assuming that the money was hers.

She wasn't asking about the death benefit (to which she was entitled), but rather about monthly checks she kept receiving, because no one had notified the social security administration.

[Rudynate]

She wasn't asking about the death benefit (to which she was entitled), but rather about monthly checks she kept receiving, because no one had notified the social security administration.

 

 

 

Disagree. The ins and outs of death benefits are complicated. As the widow, it wasn't unreasonable for her to wonder if she could keep the checks.

[Guest]

Disagree. The ins and outs of death benefits are complicated. As the widow, it wasn't unreasonable for her to wonder if she could keep the checks.

[spider]

Not quite an obit, but the NYTimes spent several inches today in the death of Grumpy Cat.

[+ bashful]

If you do not return them, the government will extract the overpayment from the account to which it was deposited.

 

Yes. I called early after the death. SSA warned me if another Disability deposit occurred, it would be withdrawn out of the account.