Most families are handed a folder after a loss. A list of phone numbers, a few forms, good luck.
With the Assist Program, your family gets a person instead: a dedicated Family Care Advisor who knows your file, calls them, and works through the paperwork with them until it’s finished.
Who the Family Care Advisor is, and when they call
Your Family Care Advisor is a member of the Leaf team, assigned to your family. When the time comes, the advisor contacts your family once Leaf learns of the loss, whether that’s because Leaf Cremation is already handling arrangements or because a family member calls us.
Your family doesn’t have to know who to call first or what to ask. If you’ve been through the Assist Program sit-down, the advisor already has your inventory: the accounts, the policies, the benefits and where every document is kept. The first call is mostly listening, then a plan.
The checklist
Every family’s list is a little different, but most include the same core items. The advisor works through them with your family, one by one.
Benefit claims
- Social Security: reporting the loss and applying for any survivor benefits, including the one-time $255 payment for an eligible spouse or child
- VA benefits, including burial benefits for eligible veterans
- Pension plans
- Life insurance claims with each carrier, including policies the family may not have known about
Accounts
- Closing bank accounts and credit cards
- Notifying retirement plan administrators so beneficiaries can make their claims
- Canceling subscriptions, utilities and memberships
Property
- Retitling or transferring vehicles
- Retitling real estate, working alongside the attorney or personal representative where probate is involved
Protection
- Placing fraud alerts with the credit bureaus
- Stopping junk mail and solicitation calls in your loved one’s name
The advisor stays with your family until every item on the checklist is finished.
How long it usually takes
In plain terms: most families have the benefit claims filed in the first two weeks; retitling and probate-related items run longer. How much longer depends on the estate, the court and how quickly each office responds. The advisor keeps your family updated, so nobody has to wonder where things stand.
Certified copies of the death certificate come up again and again. The advisor will help your family figure out how many to order so they aren’t waiting on more.
What your family still decides
The advisor handles the paperwork. The decisions stay with your family:
- The service: what it looks like, who speaks, where the family gathers
- Who serves as executor or personal representative, if your will doesn’t already name someone
- What happens to the house, the car and personal belongings
- Any legal question, including probate, which goes to an attorney
The advisor organizes, coordinates and keeps things moving. Your family stays in charge.
Paid for, and handled
The Assist Program covers the paperwork. Burial insurance covers the cost. It’s a small whole life insurance policy that pays your family in days, so the money is there while the advisor handles everything else. Learn about burial insurance.
To make sure the advisor has what they need when the time comes, start now. Get organized while you’re the one who knows where everything is.
Already had a loss and didn’t plan ahead?
You can still get help. A Family Care Advisor can start the checklist with you now, even without a file on record. Families in this situation can also turn to Leaf Aftercare, part of the Leaf family.
Already lost someone? Call us today.