#3 - Bereavement time off
Reluctant Executor News
If you work for a company, on average you'll get 5 days off for bereavement. While this should be enough time to attend a funeral, it doesn't come close to covering the time you'll need to close an estate. Families reported it took an average of 15 months to fully handle all estate tasks.
While some companies update their policies after an executive experiences a tragedy, like Meta increasing their bereavement leave to 20 days after Sheryl Sandberg's husband died, there are a number of organizations advocating for longer or standard bereavement leave. Companies like BetterLeave, Empathy, and Bereave are working with benefit providers to be proactive in supporting employees after a loss.
The two posts below touch on bereavement leave and some of the tasks that you'll need to complete after a loss.
LinkedIn post from April 10, 2023
How much time can you take off from your company if you have a death in the family?
Hint: probably not enough.
Organizations offering paid bereavement leave rose to 89% in 2020, but the standard paid time off is only 3 days.
Putting that in perspective, you have:
•one day to process the initial shock
•one day to plan for a funeral
•one day to attend the funeral
In my situation, the company I was at had a standard 3 day bereavement policy. However, you could request 5 days if you had to travel for the funeral.
In the past few years, a handful of companies made headlines by upping the number of bereavement days to 10-20.
Looking back, having an initial 10 days off would have been best. I felt like I flew home quickly after my dad's funeral, leaving a lot of work for my mom.
After those 2 weeks I would have welcomed getting back to a normal routine, but realizing there were still lots of estate tasks to deal with, I could have used another 10 flex days over the next few months. This would have allowed flexibility to spend a morning or afternoon on the phone or dealing with paperwork as it came up.
An estate doesn't get resolved in just a few days.
What bereavement policies does your company have? Do you feel they are adequate?
Click here to comment or like this post on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn post from October 18, 2023
What can you get done in 3 months? What about outside of your job, family, and activities?
If you are an executor in Texas, that is all the time you have to inventory, appraise, and report ALL assets of an estate.
Oh, and this report needs to accompany a detailed list of any claims against the estate.
Doing this in addition to your normal responsibilities can be taxing.
If you're working 9-5, when do you meet with other people, like appraisers? Or call customer service to get details about an account?
At a time when you need your weekends to rest and recharge, you'll instead be combing through copies of bills and statements, if you know where to find them.
Don't forget that you're still grieving your loved one. And throw in some family turmoil, because you just know that will happen, too.
Want a better alternative?
Create this inventory well before you need it. If not for yourself, create one for your parents.
You still might need the full 3 months, but it's a lot easier when you know what you're looking for.
Check out the resources to help you get started on the Reluctant Executor site.
Click here to comment or like this post on LinkedIn.
After Loss Support
Reluctant Executor's primary service is to support families after a loss. As you've seen above, handling all of these tasks requires time away from your 9-5 job. If you don't have the flexibility to get this done during business hours, or don't want to spend your evenings focused on paperwork and forms, Reluctant Executor can take some of this stress off of your plate.
With our after loss services, we will work with the family representative and estate lawyer to understand the tasks needed to get done for the estate, and the timeline. We keep you on track through coaching or by giving us permission to perform the tasks on your behalf.
If you or someone you know needs this type of support, contact me at Bill@ReluctantExecutor.com.