How to sort the letters that arrive after a death

How can the letters be sorted?

Letters can be sorted by reading the top of the first page: who sent it, and the date printed on it. Then the letter goes in a pile.

A letter that June's Help has read shows the sender and the dates printed on it and, for the four kinds read in plain words, what the letter asks. The family still decides the pile.

The June's Help three-pile checklist

1. Read who sent the letter and the date printed at the top.
2. Look through the letter for dates and amounts, and mark them.
3. Keep pile: anything from a bank, a life insurer, an agency or a court, and anything with a date or an amount.
4. File pile: statements and notices that only give information and ask for nothing.
5. Ask pile: anything unclear, and anything that asks for a payment, a signature or a reply.
6. On a sticky note or a notes page of the family's own, write the sender, the printed date and the pile for the letter.

See also: How to keep track of the dates on estate letters

Which letters does June's Help read, and which does it hand off?

June's Help reads four kinds of letter in plain words and quotes their own lines: letters from a bank, from a life insurance company, from a pension plan, and from Social Security.

Other kinds get no explanation: a court notice, a tax notice, a claim against the estate, a Social Security overpayment letter, and a kind the page does not know, such as a letter from a utility or a phone company. The page gives the sender and the dates printed on the letter, and says: "This is a kind of letter I can't explain, and I don't want to guess." A badge names who can explain it: "For your lawyer", "For your accountant", "For the court's self-help center" or "For the office that sent it".

June doesn't replace your lawyer. She keeps your letters and dates ready to show one. A medical bill or record is refused, and so is a letter from a hospital, a hospice, a nursing home, a pharmacy, Medicaid or a health plan: any that arrive are deleted from the file at once, and the page says why.

• State Bar of Texas Find A Lawyer Search by topic, county, board certification and fee options., official page, opens in a new tab
• TexasLawHelp Legal Help Directory Find legal aid organizations serving an area, by county and topic., legal-aid page, opens in a new tab

See also: How June's Help works: your AI estate assistant, Where to find official help after a death in Texas

What does the page for a letter show?

A letter that June has read has its own page. It opens with the sender, the day the letter arrived, and a notice that the page is an AI reading, not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. The parts below show for the four kinds June explains, and a part with nothing to show is left out; a letter of another kind shows less.

The June's Help letter page

1. In plain words. A sentence on what the letter says, followed by the letter's own line in quotation marks.
2. The date on the letter, or The dates on the letter. The dates the letter prints, as printed, each with a line from the letter.
3. What it asks. The letter's own lines that ask for something.
4. Questions you could ask. Questions for the sender, offered only if the family would like them.
5. Forms and official pages. Links to official pages that go with the letter.
6. See the original letter. The letter as it was added, for the person who signed up only.
7. Something wrong with this reading? A way to tell the team about a problem with the reading.

See also: What to do with a loved one's mail after a death

How are the dates on a letter shown?

A date is shown only when the letter prints it, as printed, with the letter's own line beside it. A date that the letter asks something by, or sets something for, gets a small badge with the month and day, and the date in full. The weekday is added by code, not by AI.

When a letter prints more than one date, the date of the letter itself shows as "The letter is dated", and any other date as "Another date printed on the letter:". A letter that prints no date gets the line "No date is printed on it, so I haven't made one up." With the assistant plan, a reminder email can follow for a due date, and for no other date.

See also: How to keep track of the dates on estate letters

Who can see the original letter?

Only the person who signed up can open the original, with "See the original letter". A family seat holder sees the reading of the letter and its dates, and cannot open the original.

Our code (not AI) hides the names you gave us, addresses, and account and ID numbers before June reads a letter. It can miss a name it doesn't know, like a sibling's, or a very short number.

See also: How to share the work of an estate with family

What happens while June reads a letter?

After "Send to June", the first letter shows a page that says "I'm reading your letter" with three stages: "Received", "Details hidden" and "June reads it". A later letter shows in the list marked "Reading", with a "Check again" link.

If the reading takes longer than usual, the page says so and that nothing is lost. When it is ready, an email says "Your letter is ready", and the reading itself is on the family's page, not in the email. A letter may also wait: the list marks it "Waiting for your plan" or "Waiting" until it can be read.

Our code checks what June writes before you see it. If something looks wrong, "Something wrong with this reading?" sends a note to the team with one of four reasons: "A date doesn't match", "Something was missed", "June couldn't read it" or "Something else".

Who can be asked about a letter?

The sender can be asked first. For the four kinds of letter that June's Help reads in plain words, the reading includes "Questions you could ask", offered only as suggestions. Questions about a letter can also go to:

• The sender, through the contact details on the letter or on the company's own website.
• A family member who is helping.
• An accountant or tax professional, for a letter about taxes.
• A lawyer, for a letter about a legal matter. The legal steps link below goes to TexasLawHelp and the Texas courts' self-help pages.

What should be written down for each letter?

A few words are enough, on the notes page or the sticky note. The pile and the follow-up stay with the family, because June's Help does not sort letters into piles. Write:

• The sender, and how to reach them.
• The date printed on the letter.
• What the letter asks for, in a few words.
• Any date or amount in the letter.
• The pile it went in, and who will follow up.

What if a letter looks suspicious?

A letter that looks suspicious can go in the ask pile, with a second look from another family member. The FTC describes letters from a supposed law firm that say the reader is an heir, and says that replying leads to requests for Social Security or bank account numbers.

June's Help does not say whether a letter is real, and a reading in plain words is not proof of who sent the letter. The article on scams after a death has more.

See also: Scams after a death: how to protect your family, What to do with a loved one's mail after a death