My mom's Death Cert contains her legal name, her maiden name, her Soc Sec number, her sex, her birth date, her place of birth. The next section has her date of death, place of death, county, marital status, spouse name, her parents names, the funeral home name, and "disposition" which refer to either burial or cremation (or hold for autopsy, or donate body to science I imagine). The 3rd section lists cause of death, and underlying condition(s), manner of death (natural, vs. Homicide, accident or suicide), her doctor name who pronounced her dead and their address. The entire certificate is Officially filed & signed by the State Registrar and it has the official State Seal amd watermarked security paper. Hope this helps with what a Death Certificate is. Once someone dies you cannot "do" anything without this document, keep it in a very safe place and do not dispose of it. Banks, loans, insurance etc often times require an original Certificate before issuing funds to Beneficiary or to sell car or home titled in the Decedents name.
The death certificate needs to be corrected, as it will impact Social Security and Medicare, and other benefits. It gets sent to Social Security which is connected to Medicare, Medicare and other services. Also, tax wise a last tax filing is required to be done for the deceased, the death certificate needs to have to proper name on it. Your dad has to appoint you POA, if he does not have this already documented on papers. Usually, parents do their POA at the same time, and appoint each other, and then they have another person appointed if either becomes incapable. Either way an Elder Care Attorney can help and they can make sure you are safeguarded in other ways.
I think the death certificate confusion is because the original question was asked with the idea that since Mom's death certificate had Dad's name on it, now that Mom is dead, who takes charge of Dad. Mom's death certificate (at least in my state) would have Dad's name as surviving spouse. That's not relevant to the POA question. And I cannot imagine a funeral home having a death certificate with an incorrect name of the deceased and not getting it corrected!
1- Go to an Elder Care Estate Planning Attorney. Have him put in place for your dad a POA for Finances and Health Care they are different, Health Care Proxy, Living Will. Never sign any papers when admitting your dad into a hospital, even if you take your hand and have him put an x there, Be careful signing papers for nursing homes etc. You can be held liable for the costs if there are any financial issues. If you parent may need Medicaid, an Elder Care Attorney, Not a Company should assist. There cost is allowed to come out of your family members money. They will make sure that you file everything on time, this is a very time sensitive situation. As far as any name issues, if the death certificate has the wrong name on it, you need to go to the doctor or facility that created it and change it. If your parents used different names that appear on their Will vs other documents, you can have a Same Name Affidavit created. My mom and dad had different names on their marriage certificate than their social security card, and other documents. This happened allot when people came from overseas or for whatever reason they were given nick names that stuck and were actually used on legal documents. I am not an attorney but have been through allot with both my parents, and some of what I experienced was a nightmare, this is why I suggest you see an Elder Care Attorney, one that also knows Medicaid, and that may also do litigation. Good Luck.
sorry vicksky, I missed that. I "assumed" it meant that HER death certificate named him as next of kin. But I've never seen a death certificate so don't know.
To go back to the original question, 2nd part, which is: "The funeral home had her death certificate with his name on it?" I do not understand this question. Death certificate names have zero to do with POA. So i hope the original poster can please clarify the 2nd part of question for us all.
right, not effective after the person the POA is for dies, but doesn't mean there can't still be one if the POA person dies but not automatic transfer to someone else; has to be designated ahead of time, like in my beneficiary case; I could have been named as an alternate or named after mom died, or after I got dad's POA could have done it but none of that was done
A POA is not "power over." Nor does POA automatically transfer to someone else. For everyone's future reference: My sister was her husband's POA. Their elder law attorney prepared a document that she signed which made me his POA if she became unable to do it. Then she died. When I needed to represent him, I would produce both documents. Usually, there was resistance from people like bank tellers who knew that POA is not effective after death. When I would persist, they would go to their legal department and find out this was all correct. My point is, if your loved one is reliant on a POA, there needs to be another person legally designated to take that POAs place if necessary. And it should be done NOW, because it can't be done when the need arises--that's too late.
I see nothing unclear. Mom had POA over Dad. Mom died, now who is POA? Is it next of kin? From the answers here, sounds like children do, but what if there is more than one. Leads to another question for me - If there is more than one POA, and they disagree then what.
and possibly check beneficiaries as well; my dad had my mom listed as one on some paperwork and then she died first and he wasn't able to understand changing it and, honestly, I've just now thought that when I got his POA I possibly could have done so then, but since didn't, hard a hard time getting all that straight when he passed away
I'm afraid I dont completely understand the original question-- first part seems to ask about POA (it ends upon moms death, unless there is a successor POA, check the poa document). The second part of the original question seems to be saying the mom's name on her death certificate was erroneously listed as the dad's name (?). Does anyone else understand the 2nd question?
P.O.A. last only as long as the person is alive - the bank is executor for mom & the man I deal with [& who will be her executor] told me to do a pre-arranged funeral because I would have no standing with the funeral home otherwise - he pointed out that if mom died just going into a holiday weekend it could be days before we could do anything through him otherwise we could be footing the funeral home bill ourselves Reread that death certificate - it may say your mom's name & add she was wife of your dad otherwise that has to be cleared up soon if they made mistake with your dad's name on it - do it soon as my uncle had a hard time with misinformation on his marriage certificate because church records were lost in a fire a few weeks later
Poa only good while person is alive. After that the executor of estate takes over. If no will the next of kin will have to apply to court to have an administrator appointed.
I agree with "Rainmom" and I am sorry for your loss. Once a person dies, all legal contracts (which is what a POA is) dies with that person. I would recommend you check out the definition of a POA which you can access online. There are attorneys online which can explain what happens when a person dies.
All of the above answers are on target. My question for you is do you have the Statutory Durable Power of Attorney document that was originally executed? Your answer may be in there. If you cannot find a hard copy, maybe they filed it with the County Clerk? I file documents like that to make sure I always have a certified copy. Second question, what is your father's situation? Is he able to care for himself and make decisions?
If he can not appoint you as POA your option would be Guardianship. IF he is competent at this point he can appoint you or someone else as Financial POA and he should also have a Healthcare POA. They can be the same person. But a POA does not pass from one person to another like an heirloom.
A POA is only a document when people are alive. The Will will name an Executor to settle the Estate. POA's usually outline a secessor if your Mom was your Dad's POA and she has passed away. Your Dad's POA would need to name you in his documents. Next of kin and POA are no t the same thing.
Well let's step back a bit. Mom died and she had a Will. Who is the Executor? If it was Dad and he is incapacitated, the next of kin should ask the court to appoint someone else. The next of kin in the following order: (a) Child or children; (b) father or mother; (c) brothers or sisters; (d) grandchildren; (e) nephews or nieces. Since you have to go to court for probate, also ask for a motion to appoint a guardian/conservator for the incapacitated Dad.
Power of Attorney can be anyone your Dad appoints, it could be you, another relative, a good friend, even an attorney. And it has to be in writing, witnessed, and notarized. Now your Dad would need to be able to understand the legal document he is signing.
This is one reason why it is important to have two names, if possible, on a Power of Attorney. When I had my parents redo their Power of Attorney, the Elder Law attorney had my parents be each others POA, and my name as second in line for each one.
It was a good move, as when Dad had gone into the hospital, my Mom didn't want to go to the hospital because she could barely hear or see. Thus, I then represented my Dad when he couldn't make decisions for himself.
POA can not be passed from one person to another nor inherited- it must be given by the principal. If your father is still mentally competent he can have the position given to you by the usual legal process. Otherwise it would be necessary to file for guardianship of your father. I'm sorry for the loss of your mother.
The 3rd section lists cause of death, and underlying condition(s), manner of death (natural, vs. Homicide, accident or suicide), her doctor name who pronounced her dead and their address.
The entire certificate is Officially filed & signed by the State Registrar and it has the official State Seal amd watermarked security paper.
Hope this helps with what a Death Certificate is. Once someone dies you cannot "do" anything without this document, keep it in a very safe place and do not dispose of it. Banks, loans, insurance etc often times require an original Certificate before issuing funds to Beneficiary or to sell car or home titled in the Decedents name.
I "assumed" it meant that HER death certificate named him as next of kin. But I've never seen a death certificate so don't know.
I do not understand this question. Death certificate names have zero to do with POA. So i hope the original poster can please clarify the 2nd part of question for us all.
My point is, if your loved one is reliant on a POA, there needs to be another person legally designated to take that POAs place if necessary. And it should be done NOW, because it can't be done when the need arises--that's too late.
Reread that death certificate - it may say your mom's name & add she was wife of your dad otherwise that has to be cleared up soon if they made mistake with your dad's name on it - do it soon as my uncle had a hard time with misinformation on his marriage certificate because church records were lost in a fire a few weeks later
IF he is competent at this point he can appoint you or someone else as Financial POA and he should also have a Healthcare POA. They can be the same person.
But a POA does not pass from one person to another like an heirloom.
This is one reason why it is important to have two names, if possible, on a Power of Attorney. When I had my parents redo their Power of Attorney, the Elder Law attorney had my parents be each others POA, and my name as second in line for each one.
It was a good move, as when Dad had gone into the hospital, my Mom didn't want to go to the hospital because she could barely hear or see. Thus, I then represented my Dad when he couldn't make decisions for himself.