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@Anonymous
Yes, the deceased estate needs to be finalized ASAP - especially bank account, credit cards, loans -
If it is a joint account or POD account - these things do need to be handled ASAP. How it is handled depends on the actual title on the account - whether it is rolled to the living owner or passed along to the heirs of the deceased.
When there is a Last Will and Testament, the deceased individualโs accounts and financial [cash] assets that have to be distributed as directed by the Will and are transferred by the executor to an Estate bank account as directed by the IRS. This means that the estate gets a Taxpayer ID number and the deceased SS # can be noted as deceased and closed out by SSA.
When a person dies that has assets - the Probate Court in the place where they lived can give instructions on how all these things are handled by State law.
Executors should cancel credit cards - notify the credit bureaus - in fact, even cancelling voter registration is a good idea even though there are other ways they can find out about the death - but which takes more time.
I cannot make judgement on the circumstances in your link because there could be more to the story.