Lowmans Arizona Funeral Home, Inc.
“Worth Repeating”
Greetings fellow Villagers! We’ve written about the importance of pre-planning, living wills, trusts, getting affairs in order, as well as the grieving process itself. We thank all of you for your feedback, compliments and encouragements as we continue to strive to become the best in serving you, the community. We have also addressed much of what is contained in this article; however, we still come across a phenomenal number of families that find themselves in the following situations, so we would like to address, again, a hodgepodge of information that has been shared with us by families we’ve served. We believe that you will find this information valuable as well.
Many of us get married and it’s just a natural thing, to have all of the utilities put in one name. This doesn’t seem, at the time, that this could become a problem. WRONG!! We have learned that there is much wisdom in putting the electric, gas, telephone, and cable bill in both names.
Why? Because even if you have been married to the deceased for 1-60 years, once the person named on the utility bills die, there is a “turn off” fee, a “turn on” fee and a “security deposit”. Because none of the statements were in the survivor’s name, no credit with the utility or Telephone Company has been established by the survivor. Needless to say, this adds insult to injury, especially at a time of loss. So for the last 5 years we’ve been encouraging families, that come in to pre-plan, (or anyone that will listen), to take a look at how they are being billed from these companies. If both names are not on the bills, we strongly encourage you to get that accomplished. It can be done simply by having the person that is named on the bill, contact the company by phone and have the spouse added to the statement. This simple call will save you a few hundred dollars. Especially in today’s economy, many, out of financial need, leave the utilities in the decedent’s name. With Arizona being #1 in identity theft, (and it worsens with the economy), we always encourage our families to get the name and social security number of the deceased out of circulation. Failure to do so can attribute to undue added “grief”. This concept should also be exercised with the credit cards. If a spouse never worked outside the home, or never had credit in his/her name, life, after a death occurs, can be even more devastating.
Other valuable pieces of information that have been called to our attention are to turn in both the driver’s license and the voter’s registration card of the deceased to the Department of Motor Vehicles. This can be done when a family member brings in the car titles to have them changed after a death has occurred. Much of the “junk mail” we all receive is acquired from these to lists. Although it will not completely stop the junk mail from coming in the deceased name, it will help to minimize the amount of junk mail the surviving family will continue to receive. For many, it is a bit unsettling to get mail in the name of the deceased. This happens a lot but it is usually because the several “mailers” have not been contacted and informed that the death had occurred.
When I lost my uncle in August of 2008, I learned that we even must be ‘leery” of the Social Security office! Please know that you only give the Social Security office your social security number if you are the beneficiary of the Social Security benefits. In other words, only a surviving spouse or a dependant child’s social security number should be shared with the Social Security office. If you are an adult child, niece, grandchild, uncle, aunt, grandparent, friend, significant other, etc.., do not give your social security number to the office you are reporting the decedents information.
Yes, even though this is the field in which we serve, we continue to learn on a daily basis. Our prayer is that this information will save many from added heartache at an already difficult time.
Thank you for taking the time to read this information. We value your comments and feedback, as well as ideas. As always, Bill and Ingried Lowman are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at (602) 276-3601, toll free (877) 276-3601, and fax (602) 276-1889.
