(Yahoo!Finance) - After a loved one dies, those left in charge of settling the estate can spend months tying up loose ends.
"No matter how well you did your planning, there is a house, cars, financial accounts," Hugh Tamassia, co-founder of the estate settlement company Alix, said on the Financial Freestyle podcast (see video above or listen below). "There are subscriptions. There's insurance policies. There's utilities. There's the newspaper that lands on the front door that has to be canceled. There's all these things that have to be dealt with by the next generation. And these things can take up to 900 hours of effort for the children of someone who's passed away."
Tamassia, who spent years working at financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase & Co., American International Group, and Acorns, pointed out that every American will face estate settlement, though they will likely only need to deal with it once in their lifetime.
The Silent Generation and baby boomers are expected to pass up to $84.4 trillion to their children through 2045. But without the proper handling of estates, it'll be difficult for the receiving generations to maintain and build on that inherited wealth.
"It doesn't matter whether you're poor or rich, everyone is going to have this problem," Tamassia said.
However, he noted that estate planning tends to fall more on women and underserved communities. Over 60% of the time, it's the eldest daughter who is expected to wrap up the estates of baby boomer parents, Tamassia said.
"The most common mistake is underestimating what's really ahead of you," he explained. "There's actually an enormous amount of work in shutting down someone's life beyond just what we would immediately think are the small things that need to be done. And the problem is most people don't learn this until they get halfway into it and it's too late."
So what can be done to make this process easier on family members? Tamassia recommended starting by creating a will and establishing a trust.
"But that doesn't handle everything," Tamassia said. He noted that a will and trust don't handle subscriptions, credit card payments, and other smaller financial matters that must be dealt with after a person's death. And the lawyer executing the will isn't likely to advise the deceased's loved ones on these steps either.
"The best plans begin to go stale the moment you leave the lawyer's office," Tamassia said. "If you don't refresh those plans constantly, there's always some assets out there."
In general, Tamassia said it's never too early to begin estate planning. His company, Alix, specializes in offering expertise to reduce the surprises that often pop up months into the process.
"There's always going to be work for the family to do," he said. "There's always more to this than just what's in the will. Settling someone's life, someone's affairs, is complicated."
By Sara Belcher · Podcast Writer
