Horrible Question to ask...

[MAKmom]

A young guy that works for us died last night. He was about 23 has a baby with a girl he lives with. His parents are divorced & crazy. Who do I give his paycheck to? He has been in a coma all week. We are so upset. He just got out of rehab a week ago. I think they all are going to try & get it. I feel horrible asking this but I know what is coming when I get into the office today.

 

[believe]

I would think you would need to wait and see who becomes the executor for him.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Legally I don't think you can give to anyone, right? I would find out the law first.

 

[barkley]

I would think you would need to wait and see who becomes the executor for him.

yup. if he has a minor child and no spouse, likely everything will go to the child with someone acting as a trustee.

our landlord was just saying recently how she had a mess to deal with with her former tenants over this type of tragedy. the dw/dh were never legaly married and only his name was on the lease, so when he was killed in a motorcycle accident and the dw and kids had to move she could'nt issue it to the dw much as she wanted to. she had to wait and find out who was handling the probate of the estate to turn it over to them.

i know in california unclaimed paychecks and such get turned over to the auditor's office for disposition after so long. then they get posted on a state website with the instructions on how the legaly entitled parties can make application to retrieve them.

 

[budbeerlady]

Could it go to who is listed as his emergency contact person? Or if he had any insurance policies under your company who was the benificeray?

 

[ScorpioJeni]

This is just my experience through work (which unfortunatly has been a lot recently) we make the check payable to the estate of the deceased person.

 

[DVCLiz]

I think your best bet is to tell everyone you have been instructed by your company's lawyer (act like you have even if you don't really have one) to hold his final paycheck until the estate is established and you receive instruction from the executor. That gets you off the hook from the squabbling relatives.

 

[Allison]

Please don't go by what any of us say. I would assume this kind of thing could vary by state and there are certain legalities involved. You need to get professional advice from your company's legal counsel or someone else that handles employment issues in your state.

Best of luck. I know it is a difficult time.

 

[MAKmom]

Thanks for the replies. His paycheck for this week is in his name. He had 1 day on his next one. This question is going to cost me more than the paycheck. We are a small company. I was thinking they will need the money to bury him. We have never had anyone die before that worked for us.

 

[diznygirl]

If he was still alive and didn't show up for work, where would you send his last paycheck? You have to have an address. That's where I would send the check.

But I know nothing about legal matters. I would think that the relatives would be the ones to figure all that out, not his former employer.

 

[barkley]

Thanks for the replies. His paycheck for this week is in his name. He had 1 day on his next one. This question is going to cost me more than the paycheck. We are a small company. I was thinking they will need the money to bury him. We have never had anyone die before that worked for us.

the problem is if you issue it to the wrong (legaly) party the right party can come after you for the funds. then you have to sue the wrongfull party to get your monies back in a separate action.

you can call your local labor board and they will instruct you free of charge.

i know when my father passed away although my mother was the designated beneficiary for him, any pay or benefits his employer had for him had to be reissued in my mothers name 'on behalf of mr x') after my mother provided a death certificate and proof of her legal right to it (including a check that had been issued but not yet endorsed or deposited).

when we had employees die at my place of work, as far as benefits went (med and such) a letter under the deceased's emergency contact's name went out, and as far as life insurance that was referred to the insurance carrier to handle. final pay sat at payroll until they got the legal paperwork to issue it to the correct party. now if the deceased had any outstanding company property that was an issue that got resolved before any final pay was issued (cell phones, uniforms, work tools...)-it was the responsibility of whomever handled the financial affairs of their 'estate' to return those items so the final check would'nt get charged for it.

 

[MAKmom]

We do have an address on his check & we were thinking of sending it to that address. Since he is not married & lives with a girl we were not sure if we should do that.

 

[mickeyfan2]

I believe an uncashed check at the time of death is not valid and the estate needs to obtain the money from you via a new check.

 

[AprilShowers]

Most lawyers in our town will do a one time consultation for free. Call a lawyer and get a one time consultation.
They will happily tell you what to do with the paycheck.
Do NOT release it to the family. You are setting yourself up for a lawsuit if you give it to the wrong member of the family.

Being in the business that I am in, I have heard it all. Families will fight over every red cent they feel they are entitled to after someone dies. It's sad and pathetic really.
They will also try and trick you into giving them they check. You really need to get legal advice here. It won't cost you that much. Just call one, he'll probably tell you over the phone how you should handle it.

Good luck!!

 

[Allison]

you can call your local labor board and they will instruct you free of charge.

Great advice. Your state Department of Labor should be able to tell you the correct thing to do.

 

[dcgrumpy]

I believe an uncashed check at the time of death is not valid and the estate needs to obtain the money from you via a new check.

I think the same thing. We had an employee die and we had to put a stop on the check and reissue one is his wife's name.

 

[Miss_Nellie]

I believe an uncashed check at the time of death is not valid and the estate needs to obtain the money from you via a new check.

When I worked at the bank, things could have changed since then, the obits were scanned daily and all accounts, including safe deposit boxes, were frozen until we had legal proof as to who could have access.

Certainly the checked can't be legally cashed as he has passed and his signature wouldn't be on it. And if someone did forge his signature and it was found out ... trouble for the teller, not verifying the signature against an ID, as well as the person doing the forging.

I really don't think it'd be in your companies best interest to just mail that check out.

 

[MAKmom]

I just spoke to a lawyer. The administrator of the estate needs to give us a short certificate. We can then give that person the checks. Thank you Dizers.
I did call Labor & Industry first.