SURE WE CARE ABOUT ESTATE AND TAX PLANNING
BUT, MORE IMPORTANTLY, WE CARE!

Settling a loved one's estate is emotionally difficult, especially in the initial weeks after the person was deceased. Nevertheless, there are a variety of critical tasks that bereaved kin must undertake. Here is an orderly process:

• Obtain death certificates, and request a few extra in case they are needed.
• Confer with the professionals you’ve hopefully surrounded yourself with, especially a credible attorney seasoned in such estate matters.
• Inform the post office and provide a forwarding address for the deceased's mail.
• Open a separate bank account and obtain a taxpayer I.D. number for the estate.
• Collect all bills, brokers statements, financial statements, etc. to determine the extent of assets and liabilities of the deceased.
• Before paying bills, determine which services should be cancelled, and to conserve the estate assets for payment of taxes.
• Inform the Social Security Administration of the death, and return any checks received for the month in which the person died.

Since people may be too overwhelmed with grief to handle these matters and to handle the deceased's financial affairs, we are often asked to deal with these tasks as part of the overall estate planning and settlement services we provide. Syracuse University and Temple University taught Marty Abo and Pat Sharkey accounting. Our parents taught us to care. We like to think caring, that concern to help, in any way we can, is something everyone at Abo and Company is just so good at.