Don't want to deal with the details yourself? Let us do the work.
Every bank, brokerage, insurer, and lender has its own estate department, its own forms, and weeks of hold music. We make the calls, prepare exactly the paperwork each one requires, and follow up until every account is where it belongs — with the estate, the surviving owner, the named beneficiary, or the trust. The first month's paperwork is included, and there's a real person to ask the whole way. You sign. We do the rest.
From $399, priced by the accounts on your list. Reimbursable from the estate as an administration expense.
Every account, start to finish. And the first month's paperwork.
Everything below is filling a form with information you give us, submitting it with a certified copy, making the calls, and following up until the institution has done its part. Nothing here is legal advice; you sign everything; the institution moves the money.
Certified death certificates
Usually ordered by the funeral home; we make sure the count is right. Need more? We prepare the county application, you sign it, we submit and track it (in Florida we can order directly).
The three credit bureaus
Deceased alert at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, so nobody opens credit in their name.
Social Security
We make sure the death is reported. Survivor benefits and the $255 lump-sum payment must be claimed by the survivor personally, so we hand you the exact script and can book the call.
Employer, pensions, federal benefits
We notify the employer (final pay, group life, HSA, COBRA notice) and every pension — private, union, CalPERS/FRS-type state systems, federal OPM and TSP, military DFAS — and get the survivor packets; you sign the claims. We report the death to the VA; claims go to the survivor or a free VA-accredited officer.
Mail and junk mail
We prepare the USPS hold and forwarding requests and tell you exactly what to bring (the post office needs the executor in person for a deceased person's mail). We register the deceased on the DMAchoice do-not-contact list.
Tax ID for the estate or trust
You sign IRS Form SS-4 naming us as third-party designee; we file it and hand you the IRS confirmation letter, so the estate or trust account can be opened.
Money-back guarantee, per account
If we can't get an account handled at an institution we charged you for, we refund our fee for that institution. Costs already paid on your behalf excepted.
Someone to ask
Reply to any email with any question about the process or the paperwork. A named person answers within one business day. Legal or tax questions get routed to your attorney or CPA with the exact question to ask.
Cards, drafts, subscriptions, insurance
Cancelled and stopped from the list you give us; the mortgage, insurance, and utilities kept running and the phone line alive for verification codes. Home and auto carriers told and the estate named as insured; health plans closed with the refund to the estate.
Found first, then identity closed
Before any notice freezes an account: IRS Form 56 and the Wage & Income transcript, every state's unclaimed property, the NAIC policy locator. Then passport, license, and voter registration cancelled. Every deadline — tax, estate-tax flag, Medicaid recovery, creditor windows — on a calendar we send you in writing.
Every account, start to finish
For each bank, credit union, insurer, brokerage, retirement plan, or lender: the call and case number, exactly the documents that institution requires, and follow-up until the money is actually where it belongs — the estate account once you have Letters, the surviving joint owner, the named beneficiary, or the trust under its new tax ID. First one included, then $139 each ($199 for brokerage and investment accounts; +$40 for an account held in a trust's name).
What it costs
Notifications & identity, including your first account, $1,099. Household & benefits, $299. Each additional institution $219; brokerage and retirement accounts $309; accounts held in a trust +$79. Assessor notice or creditor-notice ordering $59 each; additional vehicles $49. Certified copies, postage, notary and newspaper fees at exact cost, charged once when the work is done. Usually chargeable to the estate.
Why this exists Nobody else sells this layer. Executor and trustee software ($199–$499) leaves you doing every one of these yourself. Full-service settlement firms start at $9,000. The clerical dozen sits in between, and it's where most of an executor's or trustee's first month goes.
Four steps. You sign, we send.
1. Check out
Set the number of institutions and any add-ons on the price page. Pay once. No subscription.
2. Verify & sign
After a ten-minute intake: a two-minute ID check, proof of your authority (a letter from the estate's attorney, or your Letters / trust certification with a one-page consent to communicate — never a power of attorney), and the agreement, signed electronically.
3. We prepare, you sign, we send
Letters and forms come to you for signature. We mail them with the certified copies, make the calls, and chase the follow-ups.
4. You see every account's status, and you can always ask
Reported → documents sent → in progress → transferred, per account, with what each institution said and a copy of every letter. An email at every change and a status page you can open any time. It becomes the record the estate needs later. See a sample →
What we don't do Decide who gets what, or when — titling decides, the institution confirms, disputes go to the estate's attorney. Give legal or tax advice, prepare court petitions, or appear in court. Log in to the deceased's accounts, sign anything, or hold or move money. The in-person parts — getting appointed, opening the estate account, a Medallion guarantee — are yours; we tell you exactly when, where, and what to bring. Mark up costs: certified copies, postage, and publication fees are charged at exactly what we paid, itemized.
When the court or the beneficiaries ask for the accounting, you'll already be organized.
The record we build in month one is the opening of the ledger the accounting needs in month twelve. Clean accounts — bank, brokerage, retirement, statements on hand, no commingling — get the court-format accounting for a fixed $495 (up to six accounts and twelve months). Messy, multi-year, no-records matters are the work this firm was built for: reconstructed, balanced, court-ready, on a scoped flat fee. Get a free scope when you're there.
Four Lines Fiduciary prepares and submits account paperwork on your instructions and follows up with institutions on your behalf. Not legal, tax, or financial advice; does not include preparing or filing court documents; no attorney-client relationship. Requirements vary by institution and state and change without notice.