How do you advise executors (or those under their direction) with regard to computers of decedents?

[britechguy]

This is not exactly a computer business issue, nor a legal issue, but is a bit of a combination of both.

I just received a call from a potential client who's brother very recently died and who is the executor for his estate. She asked me to come and to completely erase the contents of her brother's computer.

When I got her on the phone, and spoke with her directly, I strongly advised her against this course of action. I was an executor, two times over, in 2021 and all the attorneys I dealt with pretty clearly stated that all "important papers" andyou/or anything related to purchases, payments, etc., that were ongoing at the time of death should be maintained for a minimum of 1 year after the date of death. They also advised that any money that was to be distributed to heirs should also be held that long (at least here in Virginia) because challenges to any will can only be made for 1 year after the date of death, and were someone to challenge a will and succeed in doing so, it is on the executor to get all monies back and to distribute them under the terms the court dictates in response to the challenge. No one in their right mind wants to be on the hook for doing that.

As a result of my own experiences and legal advice, I advised this client NOT to delete or change anything in regard to her deceased brother's computer for at least 1 year, and that, if she has the various login credentials, she should be monitoring things like email to see if new bills are arriving, etc., so that these can be paid and services terminated as needed.

What do others do in this circumstance? Are there any specific pieces of advice you give based on your own personal experiences, or experiences with clients in this sort of circumstance in the past?

 

[Markverhyden]

Just one time. When my Dad passed in 2019. I imaged his drive to a disk image but still held off nuking and paving for a few months. Already had all of his login credentials so was able to forward all notices to me. His mail is still live but planning on killing it at the end of 2024. Created a Estate checking account to move cash into and pay bills, etc.

On inheritable items, like cash, furniture, etc, we just followed the layers advice. Seem to remember that in NC if you publish the death in local periodicals there was a smaller time window than one year. But by the time the dust had settled it was still close to a year except for life insurance policies. All of his were bought in the 60's/70's and pointed to a trust that didn't exist anymore at a bank that didn't exist anymore. All of which had been superseded. His VA policy was relatively easy to change. The other 2 were almost 3 years to complete.

 

[britechguy]

@Markverhyden

My mother passed in August 2021, and I just finally closed her email account a few weeks ago. In her case I could have closed it earlier, as she never (literally) used it herself. I established it when I moved her to be near me secondary to dementia so that I could keep "her business" completely separate from "my business." I did the same thing, but after death, for a dear friend where I was her executor. I wanted all estate related business to be handled through a dedicated email address, not her original one nor my own personal one.

Clearly, I am a big believer in having "files" for everything and filtering into those as appropriate. One mountain at a time, in a place, is enough to deal with. A mountain range embedded in a single space?! Ugh!

What's funny is that in Virginia there is a statute that established what is called a Small Estate Affidavit, for use with estates with $50K or less in liquid assets, but if you use it, even if you are named executor in the will, because it eliminates the need to get the "letter of qualification" you essentially become *not* the executor, at least in the eyes of banks, as I was not able to open a standard estate account for love nor money. I ended up establishing a separate account, in my own name, with the consent of the heir, so that there was a separate "storage bin" for the estate's funds that was completely separate from my actual own funds. I think I actually wrote to my state representative after that asking for something to be done so that the banks could not refuse to open estate accounts for those operating in the role of executor under a Small Estate Affidavit but who are, as a result, not legally considered a true executor. Using the SEA made life far, far, far easier in not having to give any accounting to the courts regarding the settling of the estate, but made things more difficult in doing things "the usual way" as far as keeping estate funds in an account that is clearly designated for same.

 

[Blues]

Beyond service to attempt to recover and access data of the deceased I would similarly be inclined to encourage the records be maintained until everything has been fully settled and if the computer asset needs to be liquidated as part of the process than recovery and backup would be a the recommendation.