I picked up Darrel’s remains and death certificates last week. It took me a couple of days after receiving the call the do it, but it wasn’t as hard as I thought it might be. He is in a little black box in a small gift bag. Not as big as I thought either, but it is fairly heavy. I am sure you all wanted to know that!

Courtney and I met with the lawyer on Wednesday. Anton Cauther is our lawyer and he was also a high school friend of Courtney’s. Darrel and I didn’t realize that until after our first meeting because he had changed his last name.

I don’t know if it was because of that (I don’t really think so) but he didn’t try to push us into paying them to do more than really necessary. It was all very easy and painless. Not an evil lawyer like you always hear about! Ha, ha.

Then, since I had the death certificates in hand, it was time to take care of getting things transferred into my name. The lawyer is handling properties for me but the money accounts, pension, etc. I need to deal with.

That is where the frustration comes in. The first thing was when I called the finance company that doles out his pension checks. I needed to get them to direct deposit into the new checking account. Guess what? They also already knew he was dead, had stopped payments, and told me I had to talk to Northwest Administrators. Remember them? They are the ones that we had so much trouble with getting the pension in the first place!

So, I call them and they tell me that they will send out the paperwork in 4 weeks! I asked why it took 4 weeks and she said they had to do research. I call BULLSHIT. I am quite sure that all they will need is a copy of the death certificate and me to answer a few questions (what, I don’t know since I am the beneficiary and we set up the pension to take the basic amount available for when he died in the next 2 years.)

Then I started calling IRA and 401K accounts. Only one of the 5 was able to actually start helping me the same day I called! I made notes of date and times and what was said on all accounts, but I am sure it is going to take me calling them many times since I haven’t heard back from anyone yet!

Today I had an appointment at the Social Security office in Burien. I had received paperwork in the mail a couple of weeks ago from them with an application for the big $255 death benefit. I had filled it out and taken it in with me but I guess all I really needed to do was send it in and probably would have already received the money by now. At least I was called in right on my appointment time even though the waiting room was packed with people.

I did also find out that I can’t collect Darrel’s social security until I turn 60. So, no pension and no social security.

The other continuing frustration is medical coverage. I called a week or so after Darrel died to find out if I needed to start buying my own insurance since it was through his Teamsters coverage. I figured since he was no longer around I wouldn’t be covered.

When I called I asked her if I was still covered even though Darrel had died. The person I talked to told me she showed I was covered through 11/30/14 and needed to call Group Health, our care provider. She didn’t seem to know or understand that the coverage might have changed because he was dead.

I called Group Health and was told that they showed my coverage stopped effective 11/1/14. The person also said that I should be eligible for COBRA.

I went back to Northwest Administrators a couple of times and they kept telling me I was covered through 11/30/14. I was told twice that they would ‘reach out’ to Group Health and call me back. Nope!

Finally, on Tuesday before my doctor appointment when Group Health said I still didn’t have coverage, the person I talked to said she would call me when it had been taken care of but it could take 4-5 days. I cancelled my appointment.

So, I will be back on the phone with them again tomorrow. I have another medical appointment on Thursday and will need to cancel if things are taken care of yet. I can’t believe the incompetence of that company. Might be time to write another letter and include the Teamster leadership and the Attorney General!

Every time something happens, I just think of the people that don’t have extra money in the bank and aren’t assertive enough to keep after these people. I feel so sorry for them. It makes me wonder if there isn’t a need for a non-profit service that helps people through the financial and legal nightmare when someone dies!