Some papers I found I needed

[nitpicked]

Paid for my mom's care place, then for the cremation, everything was passing through the trust if not already via joint ownership or beneficiary designations, all done, right?

Wrong.

My mother was the beneficiary of an IRA, a ridiculously small amount remaining, but there is no way to be a beneficiary of a beneficiary.

THEN it turned out that her taxes hadn't been filed for 2022, and taxes had been withheld for 2023, so I had to get paperwork from the IRS (phoned 1-800-829-3676) covering 2022, plus Form 56 (Notice Concerning Fiduciary Relationship) copies (as I wasn't a spouse).

Found the easiest way to cover both issues (plus being able to talk to the state Department of Taxation) was to go ahead, take in the will (that I happened to have gotten from the trust firm earlier) to the Circuit Court clerk and qualify as executor for a small asset estate, so I could get papers showing I had qualified (to attach to Form 56 and show the state and the credit union), a form to notify my niece of the proceedings, and a form to get notarized to say I mailed my niece.

So, mailed my niece, and the IRS on taxes, and sent the executor form to the state so I can then proceed to get the state taxes filed. ((Maybe by Christmas? ha.ha.)) Next week, I set up an appointment at the credit union to get the mailing form notarized and the beneficiary IRA dealt with.

[nitpicked]

1. Also, I received a bill

"From the hospital" for 2023 care.

Looked up the official business office, phoned them and found out the amount had been written off.

I asked them to send me proof of this so I can show this.

[marble falls]

2. Meanwhile ... well, you know what's going on meanwhile: you are being chewed up by regulations meant to ...

... catch wealthy from cheating in ways that they'll get away with anyways. I am sorry for your dance with bureaucracy, and admire your disipline to cut through it to avoid a bigger mess later.

But most of all, I am saddened for your loss compounded by the "system".