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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]1. It is not your money
2. It is not your money.[/quote]

It *will* be her money going out the door if she doesn’t have immediate access to the estate money to pay for the funeral. She’ll have to pay for the funeral out of pocket and get reimbursed later — depending on the jurisdiction, it can be months and months later. Also, mortgage payments, insurance, etc — any other expenses that need to be paid in a timely manner.

One tip — you need to have your name *on the account* that the money is in. If you have a power of attorney, it will cease to be operative upon death. Some jurisdictions take forever to issue letters testamentary for the executor, so that’s no help.

You don’t want your name on any accounts that have a substantial amount of money, because you’d lose the stepped up basis that heirs get. However, I’d put just enough to cover the funeral and any other expenses in a joint savings or money market account, even if you have to open up a new account to keep it from being inadvertently drained by your Mom.

I was once executor of a complex estate in a state that is very slow for probate, and I was at least $20,000 out of pocket before I could get reimbursed by the estate. 
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One more note:  a TOD might work, but you’ll need to get the death certificate (which can be delayed) and wait for the bank to act, so it’s not an immediate solution if the funeral home needs payment up front. [/quote]

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