There will be tax filing for 2026 next year, even if nothing is owed.
Sorry about your sister not being patient. Grief is funny, people forget or subconsciously block out different things.
There could have been changes in local or federal estate laws since she was widowed. Health care providers and insurance can be slow to bill.
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My sister and I kept the joint checking account open for three years after our father’s death. I did an accounting every quarter and some quarters, had to ask for a direct deposit to keep the account ready to pay bills for the home we jointly owned. By that time, all the “benefit of the doubt” had flown away, so I was pretty business-like about it. Not a fun period of my life. If she wants to drain the account now, you will have to go back and ask for more later, not fun.
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Every estate is different. Less complicated, more complicated. Less accounts, more accounts. Less money, more money. Less family, more family. All of it!
Even with the most simple estate I think it is not unreasonable to let things float for at least 6 months. Or through the end of the year. Much more complications if something comes up and everything has been closed and distributed. Close what you can, leave open what seems prudent for a little time.
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When my mother died, I was joint on her account - her SSN. The credit union suggested that I keep the it open for 6 months to a year. (I opted to open a new solo account for those funds, my SSN…. but keep the money segregated from household funds. Listed my sister as beneficiary.)
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Feel like I am overposting; it is the dumbest trigger in the world.
I have a garden, we have to move it (long story) or give up having one and DH is trying to figure out why I am so intent on keeping it and we realized my father and I talked gardens every spring and somehow I’ve put all my grief on this decision and now I am just crying off and on all stupid day. I really feel like I knew I would be sad the first year, but had no idea at all that coming up in 3 years I would still be a mess at times. And non-grieving people def do not understand.
His peonies are coming up (I dug them up before we sold the house) and they also are a total combo of comfort and sadness. Woof.
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I understand. I am thinking of where I’ll be able to save some plants that came from a family property when I move to a condo. It’s crazy how much space this takes in my brain every spring.
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I don’t think it’s dumb at all! I feel the same way about my gardens.
We planted a memorial garden in the house where we were supposed to bring home our son who died, and when we moved it was the hardest part about leaving. Our last house had a ton of stuff that my mom helped me plant and put in. At this point, I’ve moved five times since that first house and we replant a memorial garden in every new house but it pulls at my heart every time.
Sending hugs!
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No! I’m the overposter in this thread so no one else gets to feel guilty
It’s so strange the things that trigger you. Things pop out of nowhere
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My dad loved to garden. After he passed, a friend and I dug up some stuff to plant in the community garden to which we both belonged. I have since moved to another part of Brooklyn but I try to visit during the blooming period of the now-huge tree peony we moved.
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We make memorials and save things to remember our loved ones especially mothers and fathers. I think it’s right to honor them.
I am here because of them. I am their legacy.
The things they enjoyed doing, collecting, hobbies, employment were special to them. But I have no requirement to continue their specific interests unless it is mine also. I can’t plant gardens I have no interest in. I can’t save my all of my mom’s collections. I can’t do a lot of things that I wish I could.
So what would they want from me? What would honor them?
They’d want me to raise good kids. Stay healthy. Protect family. Be around to help a new generation.
Be happy.
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I get it. Someday I will have to leave this house, where my mother gardened as a hobby for more than 20 years. And I know that the attachment may someday slow me down on necessary downsizing decisions.
Each spring when her bleeding heart plant re-emerges, it really warms my heart. Ha, and I send a photo to my daughter since it was one of the first flower names she learned.
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