Tag Archives: www.diesmart.com

Can you listen to music after you’re dead?

If a deceased loved one was a music lover and you’d like to treat that person to an eternity of music (and we don’t mean from heavenly harps), now you supposedly can.

A company in Sweden, Pause, just released a new product called the CataCoffin and its CataCombo Sound System. It’s a $30,000 coffin that delivers “godlike comfort and heavenly sound”. The luxurious coffin includes “a revolutionary customized sound system for audiophiles on the other side”. You can customize playlists and let the music play for as long as you want.

How do you do this? A special tombstone above ground displays the playlists that can be customized by the deceased’s loved ones.

The commercial promoting the CataCoffin is a little eerie but you can judge for yourself. It will give you a good idea about the quality of the coffin and how the sound system works.

Pause company CEO, Fredrik Hjelmquist, owns the first manufactured model and says customers should feel free to add track to his playlist “Pause-4-ever”. If you’re in Stockholm, he invites you to head down to the Pause store at Norrlandsgatan 14 to see it for yourself.

Is this a real product? Supposedly it is.

For more information about coffins and other topics related to planning a funeral, go to www.diesmart.com.

Do your frequent flier miles live on after you’re gone?

The New York Times recently did research to find out and the answer was far from consistent.

Only two airlines contacted have a specific, written policy that allows your miles to be transferred to a surviving family member – American and US Air. On the American Airlines site, in the section titled “Earning AAdvantage Miles”, they outline their specific policy. US Air states their policy under General Terms and Conditions.

One airline, JetBlue, said that they don’t have a specific policy but, after receiving a death certificate and other documentation, will transfer the miles to a beneficiary.

Southwest Airlines has a specific policy – it does not allow transfer of any miles after the death of a RapidRewards member.

Delta’s policy is to not transfer miles. However, upon request of a SkyMiles member’s surviving family member, they may make an exception and move the miles to their account.

United also said their policy is that miles are not transferable upon death. However, MileagePlus evidently has a form that can be completed to request transfer of miles from a deceased member’s account to that of a beneficiary. Along with the completed form, a copy of the death certificate and a $75 fee must be submitted.

If you have a lot of unused frequent flier miles, you might want to specifically bequeath them in your will. However, the airline holding them is still not legally required to give them to the beneficiary of it is against their company policy.

What’s the easiest thing to do? Make sure your frequent flier miles are on an airline that will allow your family to inherit them or start travelling more now, using up that bank of valuable miles while you can.

For more information about what happens to your assets when you’re no longer around, go to www.diesmart.com.

Is planning your own funeral a good idea?

You may not know when you’re going to die, but you know for sure it will happen.

A little advance planning of your own funeral — or that of a loved one — can make that traumatic time when you die a little easier on your loved ones.

Pre-planning funerals is getting more common as many people prefer to decide on the details of the last celebration of their life themselves. If you decide to do this, talk to your parent or spouse or other family and friends about your funeral wishes at an appropriate time, probably not during an argument or over a holiday dinner. Tell your adult children what you’re thinking about.

Here are some things to consider:

1. Are you thinking about a standard viewing and funeral?
2. Do you have a cemetery plot?
3. Would you prefer cremation?
4. Do you have enough money to pay for big event?
5. Do you want your death notice to read like a biography or will you be satisfied with a published statement of your dates of birth and death?
6. Do you want a video or slide show to be shown during visitation hours? Or do you want a photo board to help mourners remember earlier times?
7. Do you want masses of flowers or would prefer that money be donated to a charity instead?
8. Is there something special you want at your funeral – like your grand piano or motorcycle?

All of the above comes at a cost. A funeral varies depending on the services provided. Cremations generally cost about $4,000. A burial the day after a viewing can be as much as $10,000. The cost of cemetery plots today begins at about $900, but can be several thousand dollars in a major metropolitan area. And you can spend $8,000 or more on a casket.

If you decide on cremation, your ashes can be placed in an urn and then in a mausoleum, or stored or disposed of however you wish.

Whatever you decide to do, if you preplan and let your loved ones know your wishes, you know that your last celebration of life will be the way you want it to be.

For more information about funeral planning, go to www.diesmart.com.

Isn’t identity theft just by strangers?

Identity theft of the deceased is a huge problem today. You may think that it is just strangers preying on the families of deceased loved ones. However, it is sometimes those loved ones who perpetrate the fraud.

Last week in New Jersey, Jocelyn Russo, 36, pleaded guilty to using her dead aunt’s identity to gain access to credit card and bank savings accounts. Pretending to be her aunt, Jocelyn used her aunt’s Social Security number and other identifying data to authorize the addition of her name to her aunt’s accounts at Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase.

As her aunt, she added herself to credit card accounts as an authorized signer. She then made large purchases with those credit cards and didn’t pay them off. She also withdrew all of her aunt’s funds from a bank account at Provident Bank.

The three banks involved lost more than $30,000 because of the fraud and, of course, any other immediate family of the deceased suffered emotional as well as financial damage.

Russo is charged with bank fraud and can face a possible penalty of 30 years in jail and a fine of $1 million. She will be sentenced in February, 2013.

If you are the executor of someone’s estate, you should work quickly to notify the three credit bureaus about the death and to ask them to place a death flag on the accounts. You should also contact any financial institutions with which the deceased did business. Once the accounts have been flagged as belonging to someone who is deceased, fraud like the one the Jocelyn Russo perpetrated cannot happen.

For more information, go to www.diesmart.com or look for our book, GRAVE ROBBERS…HOW TO PREVENT IDENTITY THEFT OF THE DECEASED.

Does a loan live on after death?

Although the person is dead, the loan may live on for years…or until it’s paid off. In some instances, death cancels the loan but this is rare. In some states, the next of kin doesn’t just inherit the estate. He inherits the debt as well and is required to pay the debt.

If someone cosigned the loan with the deceased, that person is responsible for the debt. Some loans, such as federal student loans, contain a clause that cancels the loan in the event of the death of the person who signed it.

Private lenders vary on their policies so heirs will have to check the note carefully to find out whether their liable for the debt.

If the loan has been secured with real property, it must always be repaid. Either the bank will repossess the property to cover payment or whoever has inherited that real property will have to pay off the note.

Sometimes banks or other financial institutions will give the cosigner or other family member a few months to decide how to pay off the loan so it’s important to speak with a financial officer quickly so a solution can be discussed.

If the original borrower purchased credit life insurance which pays off the loan in the event of death, there is no problem. The heirs get to keep their inherited property and the loan is paid.

Be sure you know the terms of any loan you take out and what the impact of this loan may be on your heirs if you die before it’s been paid off. Otherwise, you may be leaving your heirs with an unwelcome inheritance – a debt.