out of state death, need advice

[corinne76]

I'm Hoping someone has some advice, maybe even dealt with this situation.

My uncle passed away in California. He wasnt married, no kids. His next of kin is my gma, who lives here.

All my gma wants his is important papers. We found a mortuary there and they will cremate and fly his ashes here. We changed his mailing adress so my gma will get his mail from now. From what i gather, no one has to fly to California. The public administrator we are dealing with supposedly can go to my uncles apt and look through his things for the docs, but for a hefty fee. The apt manager said she wont do it, she will only throw everything away.

Now our mortuary is telling my gma that she needs to go there to get a social security card. The thibg is, my gma is 84 and doesn't want to go. No one else can really go either.
Is there someone we can hire to take care of this stuff? Like instead of getting the public admin to do it?

[MDever]

You will need an attorney. They can handle all of that for you guys. What sort of important papers is she looking for? If he has no $$$ estate it may not be worth it. Also, your grandmother can sign her status over to another family member.

[corinne76]

He had a bunch of invesments. We are waiting for the death cert before we contact banks. We alos need his wallet.
He was founf in his apt about 2 weeks after he passed. So properly identifying him is taking awhile.
An attorney here or there?

[MDever]

Either place. We used a lawyer in the state where the person passed. They will take care of EVERYTHING for you. It was well worth it for us because we were all out of state and have families.

[corinne76]

Thank you. Ill check with my gma whether or not they contacted a lawyer yet. They may not have, but i think that wilk be a good way to go since a lawyer can tell us exactly what we need