we were chatting with some extended family members,
and was wondering about some death issues...

So - what happens when a person dies with respect to their accounts.
Not related to taxes... but you can comment... more of avail & access.

How do the financial institutions learn (if at all) that a person has died.
Is it related to the Death Certificate - does it have a SSN
that winds up getting shared with the financial world ?

It appears that "bank" accounts, like checking or savings,
might have a primary holder (I'm guessing the reporting SSN)
along with any "signature" holders.... or are they joint ?

So, when a person dies, the other sig holders may still write checks on the
account,
but does it ever get "frozen".

Mutual Fund accounts with joint tenancy should just continue since it is
"joint".

The bank needs the death certificate. They don't peruse the obits

If the account is a transfer on death, pay on death or joint account
then the surviving person presents the death certificate and the
transfer occurs - it could be as soon as instantly or maybe in weeks
time.

If the account is governed by a will or trust the executor/trustee needs
to present the death certificate and the will or trust and or other
documents that establishes they they are they are the will or trustee.

If by trust you are thinking about something like an IRA (where the
financial institution is a trustee or custodian), then the financial
institution is acting as trustee in accordance with the terms of the trust.
Specifically, the trust distributes the assets to the beneficiaries (or
estate if no beneficiaries named). The beneficiaries need to present a
death certificate and possibly inheritance tax waiver. That's it. If the
estate is the beneficiary, then the executor/administrator needs
certification from the state, as with a will.

But if the financial institution is not the trustee for the trust, the fact
that the trust is supposed to pay out because of a death is of no concern to
the financial institution. The institution simply deals with the trustee.
So long as the trustee is not the deceased, I don't believe any
documentation is required by the financial institution - nothing has changed
in the relationship between trustee and financial institution. On the other
hand, if it is the trustee who has died, then it's a little hard for the
trustee to provide documents .

From personal experience, when my first wife died, the three
institutions where she held accounts naming a trust as a beneficiary

In article <g9cbfb$hba$1@aioe.org>,
"Mark Freeland" <nNeEwTs@nyc.rr.com> wrote:

big snip
But if the financial institution is not the trustee for the trust, the
fact
that the trust is supposed to pay out because of a death is of no concern
to
the financial institution. The institution simply deals with the
trustee.

From personal experience, when my first wife died, the three
institutions where she held accounts naming a trust as a beneficiary
all wanted to see the death certificate (none kept it,) and the trust to
see that I was indeed the trustee.

tnx for the various comments on what happens afterwards.
I've run the simple path after my mother died a few years ago.

This was more about..... the financial institutions finding out,
if you don't walk in carrying the certificate & red flag the account.

Basically - after a person dies, there is really nothing in the "system"
that would pro-actively search this out and flag the account.
Therefore - until you personally raise the issue, the accounts just keep
rolling along
until maybe end of year tax time, or a statement address gets bounced.