A Reddit post about a family struggling to trace a deceased father’s investments has sparked conversations online about an often-overlooked aspect of financial planning, which includes organising and communicating important financial information to family members.
In the post, uploaded a month back, the user shared that despite his father being financially disciplined, the family spent nearly four months to identify bank accounts, fixed deposits, insurance policies and other assets after his death.
“After my father died, we thought the hard part would be the grief. It wasn’t. The hard part was the paperwork,” the Redditor noted.
Investments unknown to the family
The person also detailed how the father had two banks accounts that the family was previously unaware of, while a fixed deposit only came to light after a letter arrived at their old house address.
Apart from bank account and deposits, the family also discovered later that the deceased father had a that had been active for 22 years. The user added that they learnt about the insurance policy only after the deceased father’s insurance agent contacted them.
A family’s 4-month struggle to access financial assets
The Redditor described how the family spent nearly four months navigating paperwork and repeated bank visits to access the deceased father’s financial assets. The process involved producing death certificates, succession certificates, notarised affidavits, while the user’s mother had to travel to bank branches in another city twice.
Reflecting on the experience, the user added that the father was not financially careless or disorganised. “He was actually quite careful about money. He just never thought to tell us where everything was. Or maybe he thought he had more time,” he wrote in the post.
What experts advised to avoid such a situation?
According to Alay Razvi, Managing Partner at Accord Juris, every earning individual should organise certain financial documents for their family in case of unforeseen situations such as death. These include:
- Keep a will and essential identity documents such as, Aadhaar card, and property papers organised in one place.
- Maintain records of bank accounts, loan agreements, fixed deposits, and other financial documents.
- Store investment statements of shares, mutual funds, fixed deposits, as well as EPF and PPF.
- Keep all insurance policy documents, including life, health, and vehicle insurance, along with nominee details and policy numbers.
- Prepare a consolidated list of all assets and liabilities to help family members quickly trace and assess the estate.
- Include details of digital assets such as email accounts, online investments, subscriptions and password access instructions.
- Store physical documents in a fireproof locker and maintain an encrypted digital copy as backup.
- Share basic access and instructions with a trusted family member or executor, which would ensure smoother handling in case of death.
According to Rohit Jain, Managing Partner at Singhania & Co., families can reduce delays by ensuring every bank account, locker, insurance policy, demat account and mutual fund folio has updated nominations. He added that joint accounts should carry clear survivorship clauses such as ‘either or survivor.’
“RBI advises that banks should settle /survivor claims with minimal documents and without insisting on succession certificate/probate in such cases. SEBI similarly treats nomination as the mechanism enabling claim of securities/MF proceeds,” he noted.