get your ducks in a row - Handling the inevitable

Handling the inevitable

Ensure your will is in order and signed by yourself and two witnesses.
Ensure your next of kin knows where your will is kept.
Appoint an executor for your estate and record this in your will. Ensure your next of kin has the executor's name and contact details.
State in your will whether you wish to be buried or cremated.
Ensure that a trusted next of kin has access to your online bank account to transfer funds to their account before your accounts are frozen.
File all your important documents (hard copies) together in one place (will, ID, passport, marriage certificate, antenuptial contract, funeral and other life insurance policies). Inform a next of kin about them and where they are kept.
Make sure a next of kin knows who your financial advisor is, if applicable.
List all your monthly deductions and debit orders at the bank and inform a next of kin of them.
List all your monthly direct electronic payments (EFTs) and inform a next of kin of them.
Keep a list of all your insurance policies and where they are kept. Ensure a next of kin knows about them all.
Ensure a next of kin knows about all your investments and where they are kept. List them.
Make sure a next of kin has your cellphone PIN.
Ensure a trusted next of kin has your computer login and password.
Inform a next of kin about all your social media accounts and logins so they can close them or post an obituary if they wish to do so. List them.

Call other next of kin, family, and friends to inform them.
If death was due to unnatural causes (accident, assault, etc.), call the police. They will investigate and remove the body.
If death was due to natural causes (illness, age, etc.), call the funeral director of your choice. They will collect the body.
Make sure the house and pets are cared for.

Make arrangements for the funeral or cremation.
Register the death with the Department of Home Affairs.
Obtain a death certificate as soon as possible and make enough certified copies (at least 10). The funeral director can issue a temporary one.
Locate the will and other important documents (ID, marriage certificate, antenuptial contract, funeral policy if applicable, and insurance policies).
Meet with the executor of the estate.

Arrange for a memorial service.
Log into the deceased’s online bank accounts and transfer all funds from all accounts to your own account, including any overdraft facility in the cheque account and credit facility in the credit card. This is important, firstly to have cash for what lies ahead, but also to reduce the size of the estate (and therefore pay less estate duty). Once the bank is notified of the death, all the deceased’s accounts will be frozen and it will be too late to transfer funds.
Then notify the deceased’s bank, pension fund (if applicable), insurers, SARS, and creditors. A death certificate will be required.
Arrange for all essential debit orders and deductions to be transferred to someone who will pay them in the future. See list. Some may be reduced, e.g. medical aid contributions. Cancel others.
Decide which monthly direct electronic payments (EFTs) should continue. See list. Arrange for these to be paid.
Contact insurers and arrange for policies to be paid out. This includes pension and provident funds, as well as any annuities. Check whether short-term insurance has a death benefit. A death certificate will be required.
Contact the financial advisor to take care of the above, if applicable.
Go to the offices of the local municipality to arrange for the transfer of the rates and taxes account.
Handle the social media accounts. See list.

Make an inventory of all assets and debts.
Hand this to the executor for submission to the Master of the High Court.
The executor will distribute assets according to the will after all debts are settled.