update and question?

I realize that you are asking about death of a spouse - my experience is with my mother but was a much better experience than Mary Anne's so I thought I would share to show a different experience. My name was on her checking account and some savings accounts and all I needed to switch the social security number or close accounts and get funds was a copy of the death certificate. This was also true of any accounts where my brother or nephews names were on the accounts. Bills paid from the checking account continued to be paid. For the car, I had been listed on her insurance and I continued to drive it that way until it was time to renew the registration. I needed probate papers and the death certificate and the title to the car (no loan), plus insurance papers. I've known our insurance agent for years, and she was very helpful, as were the people at the Registry of Motor Vehicles. The life insurance was paid promptly after I sent in death certificates - not big policies but the money came through OK. She had a couple of small mutual fund accounts, and those were the most difficult from a paperwork perspective. One wouldn't talk to me without the probate papers. The most difficult part for me was that every time I had to say 'my mother died' I cried a little. I think that made people want to help me but I wanted things to be more professional. It took me almost a year to take care of everything, and I did not need the money to live on, so I didn't have a lot of urgency. On the other hand, I have a tendency to procrastinate and I didn't want that to happen, so I tried to stay on task. And like Maryanne said about her situation, there wasn't a lot of money involved. Settling a complicated estate probably needs professionals. For most of her life, my mother didn't have much money, but she made the most of what she had, and in her later years she had the sense that her life was comfortable. When she pondered what to do with her little extra money, she would always say 'you know, it was easier when I was poor and all I had to died was whether to pay for the lights or the phone'. But she always smiled when she said that. SJ