How do I track estate bills and expenses?

How does a family track estate bills and expenses?

A family tracks them in one place, with one row for each item, and keeps the paper for each row in one folder. These steps work in a spreadsheet, in a note or in the list in June's Help.

The June's Help bills and expenses checklist

1. Open a new spreadsheet, or a note, or the bills and spending list in June's Help.
2. Add one column for each item in the template further down this page.
3. Add each bill the day it arrives: the date, who it is from, what it is for and the amount. In June's Help, put the sender in the What for line.
4. Add each payment a relative makes from their own money, with the name of who paid.
5. Keep the paper or a photo of each bill in one folder, named with the date and the sender.
6. Mark a row paid on the day it is paid, and write the reference the company gives. In June's Help, put the reference in the What for line.
7. Once a week, total three things: what is still open, what is paid, and what each person has paid.
8. Leave the question of who pays, and whether the estate can pay, for a lawyer or an accountant.
9. Before a meeting with either of them, export the list and bring it along.
10. Keep adding rows until the last bill is closed.

See also: How to organize a loved one's papers after a death, What goes on a checklist for settling an estate?

What columns does an estate expenses spreadsheet need?

An estate expenses spreadsheet needs ten columns, one for each item below. Here is an example row, with the brackets filled in as a family would: [date of bill], [funeral home invoice], [funeral home], [funeral], [amount], [Denise], [date paid], [reference number], [blue folder], [receipt requested]. On a phone, a note with one line per item reads more easily than a wide table. Copy the columns in order into the first row of a spreadsheet, or into a note, one line at a time:

• Date: [date of the bill]
• Item: [what it is]
• From: [who sent the bill]
• For: [funeral, utilities, house, car, other]
• Amount: [amount]
• Paid by: [name of the relative who paid]
• Paid on: [date]
• Reference: [confirmation number]
• Paper kept: [folder or photo name]
• Notes: [anything the lawyer or accountant should see]

See also: How do I keep a call log for an estate?

What is an estate inventory template?

An estate inventory template is a second list, of what the person had, kept next to the list of bills. It records where each thing is and where its figure came from, and it leaves out what the thing is worth in law, who owns it and what becomes of it. Those are questions for a lawyer or an accountant. Copy these lines for each item:

• Item: [bank account, vehicle, policy, house, debt]
• Where it is: [name of the bank, the lot, the folder]
• Who has the details: [name and phone]
• Amount shown on the last statement: [amount], dated [date]
• Source: [statement, letter or bill, and where it is kept]
• Date last checked: [date]

See also: Which accounts do I cancel after a death?

What is estate accounting, and who does it?

Estate accounting is the record of what came in and what went out, and a lawyer or an accountant says what form it takes. The family's part is the list of bills and payments with the paper behind each row.

If a lawyer or an accountant asks for the list, a CSV export opens in any spreadsheet. Each row has a date, an amount and a name.

Who pays the bills, and can the estate pay them?

That is a question for a lawyer or an accountant, and this page does not answer it. A list shows what was paid and by whom, and it takes no side on who should pay.

Families often pay a bill out of their own pocket in the first weeks, and it helps to write down who paid, the date and the reference. The record is for the conversation with a lawyer or an accountant, and for the relatives who want to see where the money went.

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

What does the bills and spending list in June's Help do?

The family adds bills and spending, says who paid, marks a bill paid and sees the totals. The list downloads as a CSV export that opens in a spreadsheet. The family types each amount in. June doesn't take medical bills.

Letters that carry a bill can be photographed and added. June reads a letter from a bank, a life insurer, a pension or Social Security in plain words and lists the dates printed on it. The bills list is typed in by hand and is separate from those dates. With the assistant plan, a reminder email comes before a due date a letter prints.

A lawyer or an accountant can say what to do with the totals. June doesn't replace your lawyer. She keeps your letters and dates ready to show one.

See also: How do I keep a call log for an estate?, Which accounts do I cancel after a death?