[trixie11]

My life has been taken over by finding out that the agent hadn't done what she told me she would do months ago. I have been working from 5am to midnight since Monday morning every day all day trying to get this straightened out and nobody will help me. The State office that is supposed to help is out of the office until next week and every other agency or entity I have contacted said it will take at least 14 days to investigate it. I have to know what to do before midnight on July 1. I don't need a probate attorney. This is just about the insurance policy.

My father had continuous homeowners insurance with the same company for decades. Perfect payment history, no claims, no late payments, way over-covered, very conservative financially, took no risks, made sure everything was in order and on track. When he died, I notified (in writing) both the insurance company and the local agent listed on the policy. I have never dealt with any of these things – never used an agent, never owned a house, never had homeowners insurance, never been an executor, etc….and I told them both this and said I would be relying on them to tell me what I needed to do and I would do it. The only thing I said was imperative was that there absolutely could not be any loss or lapse in coverage between the time of my father’s death and the end of probate when the names on the title/deed and with the county courts had been changed. I sent the documents they told me to – the death certificate, the copy of the will showing me as executor and I even included my driver’s license with the insured address showing I had been living there full-time since coming to be my father’s caregiver. Got an email saying they received the documents. Thought it was done. Then a couple of weeks ago I got a renewal bill which was great because I wanted to just renew it and keep everything as it had been. But upon looking at it – nothing had changed from how it had been for years while my father was alive. No mention of me, no mention of “estate”, no mention of any added or additional insured. So knowing that the policy coverage ended at the end of June (I had started notifying them way back in early March so that there would be time to deal with any surprises), I started to grow more and more anxious at not getting any replies or responses. I must have sent 30 emails and made 30 phone calls and nobody ever got back to me. Finally – last FRIDAY at 430pm when all the insurance offices and agents offices were closing for the weekend – with less than 1 week to go before the policy ended I get a short rude generic email from some woman I had never heard of saying that the policy would be canceled due to non-payment at the end of this month. So from Monday morning at 9am all the way through this minute – including being so upset that I got no sleep at all since last Thursday and had to worry about it all weekend – I have tried to get a clear answer and/or explanation of what the problem was, and what I am supposed to do and/or what I should have done differently. Nobody will tell me a damn thing – they all say that they can’t discuss the policy with me because I am not listed as an insured. This, even after having provided them with all the documents they asked for. I am under extreme pressure from the other beneficiary and the HOA here to provide proof that I am fulfilling my obligations as executor by not allowing any loss or lapse in coverage. Nobody will help, the people whose job it is literally to know about this stuff and help answer questions – won’t give me any advice and now as of the latest all-day-hell of sitting here by the phone waiting for them to call back – they say they still need more time to “investigate” and they will call back by the end of business tomorrow. My question is – How am I supposed to get coverage on this house – which I MUST have – as the executor? And how can I get the current company to provide me with either documentation that the house HAS BEEN continuously covered from the time of my father’s death until now OR a pro-rated refund if it has NOT? Since they will not even tell me anything and won’t recognize me as being authorized to deal with them on this policy? The most pressing question is - should I pay the premium bill in the next 24 hours or not? I don't want to have the policy canceled due to non-payment, but I also don't want to send the company $6000 for no coverage and not know what happens to it.

[SanyBelle]

What city are you in? If Miami, I could give you a name of a great insurance agent.

btw, it was hard reading your post. Maybe redo it and put paragraphs in? That might be why no one has replied to you today here on C-D.

Sorry you are going through this.

[Parnassia]

Walking into this thread a bit late trixie11 so maybe it's a moot point now, but I recall trying to answer some of your other probate/estate-related questions in another forum.

First off, did you ever establish check-writing/withdrawal authority on any of your father's bank accounts? If you presented your executor's credentials to the bank you should be able to withdraw funds for purposes like this, even using his own checks on an account he would have used to pay bills like homeowners insurance. That would allow you to keep current on any of his home's utility bills during probate.

If I was in your shoes, I would have sent the renewal payment to the insurer before the deadline, not wait for some response from what might be a totally different office of the insurance company. After all, one hand doesn't always know what the other hand's doing. If there ends up being a problem, at least you can prove you acted in good faith and that should buy you time before something as draconian as canceling the coverage happened. I'd also send a photo/copy of the check to the HOA and anyone else who demands that the insurance doesn't lapse. You could have saved yourself a lot of anxiety.

FWIW, I had to pay various utility, tax, HOA, and insurance bills for my father's house for over a year while probate dragged on. No one ever refused my payments.

When you sign the check/authorize the payment you include a notation under your signature identifying you as the representative for your father's estate exactly as it is named in your court documents. Then track the check so you know if/when it was redeemed by the insurer. No real reason why they wouldn't accept a check on a verified account and it would have prevented the stress fest situation you are in now.

[Parnassia]

Originally Posted by ajshirle2

Parnassia, is there any steps I need to take BEFORE I die so that my daughter (only child) is not dealing with a mess? I am aging and reading Trixie's post concerns me greatly. Thanks

First, discuss your wishes with your daughter so both of you are on the same page and she has some idea what might lie ahead. It can relieve a lot of anxiety for everyone. Does your daughter have POA for you now? Do you want her to? Talk about it in case you become incapacitated. Be aware that any POAs you set up will expire the day you die.

Do some research on your state's inheritance and probate laws. Your district court probably has a very useful website that describes these requirements. You might want to talk to a family law attorney. An initial consultation could ease your mind, help you set up a plan going forward, and be well worth the small expense. An initial consultation doesn't mean you need to put anyone on retainer or use them for anything in future.

Using all this information, prepare a state-acceptable will (different states require different language, witnessing or notarizing) that designates your executor and lays out what you want them to do on your behalf. Depending on how complicated your estate might be, a will doesn't necessarily need to be complicated, just clear. Unless you won't have any assets that will require probate. You can bypass a lot of that either using a trust or by designating direct beneficiaries for various assets. Setting up a trust will cost you and may not be worth the trouble just to avoid probate. An asset like real estate may or may not be required to be probated. State law varies. Find out.

Find out how you can designate direct beneficiaries on your investment/bank or other cash value accounts. Each institution will have slightly different procedures. Your executor/heirs won't need probate to access those funds. Technically they could get them almost immediately.

Make a list of assets and bank account information, keep it current, and file it with the will. NOT in a bank's safe deposit box. No bank is open 24/7/365. Store it where your executor can find it. If you want to keep a copy at a bank fine, but make sure your executor will be able to access it (include them on the bank's signature card).

FWIW, my dad wasn't keen on designating direct beneficiaries or POD/TODs on any of his accounts and he never got around to setting up a trust. I had read about POD/TOD designations and finally convinced him to set one up on a money market account for me. It enabled me to pay his final bills, make funeral arrangements, travel back and forth from home to deal with the estate, engage an estate attorney who represented me in court (I lived 2000 miles away), keep up on utilities, taxes, car registration, insurance, pay for home maintenance and repairs, security, housekeeping, pay realty fees when we put the house up for sale, on and on.