Banking question! I am settling my father's estate and there is a draft for an insurance premium. How can I find out where this is coming from?

The bank will know where the money is going. Ask them. Even if there is not identifying info on the statement, the bank can trace where the funds are headed.

I am Personal Representative of my Mom's Estate and I have kept all of her checking accounts "OPEN" and set up an ESTATE ACCOUNT also. All of Mom's life insurance, health insurance, and long term care insurance policies were automatically withdrawn from one of her checking accounts. (She had three separate checking accounts: one account for daily expenses; one account for the farm that she owned and one account for the farm that she had as "life estate".)

Mom’s Long Term Care Insurance quit withdrawing premiums when they started paying benefits for her stay in the nursing home. The Supplemental RX Insurance stopped withdrawing premiums immediately—I did not have to notify them of her death.

Mom’s life insurance and health insurance companies did withdraw premiums from her personal checking account for a couple of months until they were notified by me that she had died.  I had to send a copy of the “Letters of Personal Representative”, a “Certified” copy of the death certificate and complete a form that the insurance company(s) sent to me. Any premiums withdrawn after my Mom’s death have been reimbursed and deposited into her ESTATE Account.

Keep copies of ALL “Notification of Death” forms that you complete and return to a company as proof that you have completed the required paperwork.

Because my Mom had two farms, I will have to keep her Estate “Open” until I receive all of the Federal Farm Program payments for this year and because I sold the 2018 harvest during 2019 which means “the Estate” has to pay income taxes for 2019.

I would ask the bank. There’s no phone number or website for the payee on the bank statements?

Talk with the bank. They'll tell you what you need to know.

I'm no expert, but, you might check his previous tax returns, records, to see if there is anything on them. Or, call his doctor's office and see if they processed any claims for any company to get their name and contact number. And, you might call your state's Department of Insurance for help identifying who they are. With a death certificate, they should refund any premiums taken out after his death. Plus, you can halt the automatic draft immediately with the bank as the Executor. I'd want to get the refund from the insurance company though. If it's life insurance, there may be a claim to file.

The bank should be able to send a payment suspended with an inquiry form to the bank that has the auto debit account.

You need a bank officer to do this & you’ll need your Letters Testamentary naming you Executor to get bank to do. As the Letters gives you legal ability to do this. The form will kinda be like a fraud inquiry form.

If the auto draft is new..... like it hasn’t been there in his bank statement for years, for same amount, same date, I’d be concerned that it’s spanking new fraud. I’ve been Executor x 3 and it’s a whole vast new ripe for the picking world now for after death “bills” & “debts”. Once they die, SSA does a retired SS# list & it’s way waaaay way kinda easy to find out other data once you have the SS#. If it’s fraud, be on the lookout for other stuff to surface. Scammers quite clever.

If its for real & life insurance, you then know who to send your beneficiary payout request to!
if it’s health insurance, that gets cancelled and premiums hopefully refunded. Crappy health insurance co. may have it that you have to notify them in writing within a set timeframe of death to get any premium back paid after death.

Sometimes the contact information is actually visible on the bank's computer but not the statement. The bank will be able to get the information for you because this transaction should've been processed thru an automated clearing house (ach debit/credit) or via a 3rd party debit card processor. Have bank do a return of funds and stop pay on this account. Your best bet to avoid other future issues is to close this account and open an estate of account with you as signer. Did you contact supplemental medical insurance and perscription insurance and inform of passing? Did they have a long term health insurance policy that was on auto pay? Did you locate any insurance policies at their home or in a safe deposit box? Were they still insuring autos or home that was set up on auto pay? Also freeze their credit so no one can use their ss#.
I'm sorry for your loss and yet the stress continues. Best of luck to you.

A month and no death certificate? Man, most funeral homes have to have them before they will bury someone. I'd look into that pronto. So odd.

Kaye, I wouldn't close any accounts and create NSF, this could be a life insurance policy and that could get it cancelled. They will return premiums drafted after death.

I would contact the medical examiner and find out how you get a death certificate.

If it is some ignorant doctor not doing the required thing then I would call the media and ask them to help expose this jerk. I would also call him and explain that it has been a month and if you don't have a legal death certificate within 48 hours you will be filing a complaint with the AMA and have the media investigate how many other families have gone through unnecessary hell because he won't do his job.

I am shocked that the funeral home hasn't done it's job of ensuring that a death certificate is created. I would be on their phone line as well, no one wants that kind of publicity, "Local doctor and funeral home causing grief at the hardest stage for families, no death certificate."

Be a squeaky wheel and get a death certificate. Order a dozen, it is easier than getting them from the court house.

Went through this recently getting my Mom on Medicaid. 3 drafts coming out to 3 differently named entities yet they were actually under one large group umbrella. Turns out they were for accidental death & disability insurance premiums. The insurance was offered free for one year with the bank account & then had to be cancelled in writing or payments would continue forever. The bank stopped the drafts once they knew Medicaid application was in place. Then they closed the account & put the balance in her SS representative payee acct.