How long should I keep my deceased Aunt's medical/financial records?

April 26, 2020 5:33 PM

My 88 year old Aunt passed away late September 2019. She had been in skilled nursing since 2011. She had virtually no money and my Mom was able to get her enrolled in Medicaid which paid for most of the cost of skilled nursing. She had Medicare and a supplemental policy, too.

My Mom passed away in 2012 and as the only relative around, I took over managing the financials and medical records. Needless to say I have two file cabinet drawers full of statements and paperwork I would like to shred. My Aunt was on SSI and kept $35 a month of that for personal expenses. She had so little; she didn't pay taxes, had no will, and about $400 in the bank when she passed. I've not received any bills since she passed.

Just yesterday, I recieved a Medicare statement (this is not bill) for doctor services performed in August 2019.

How long do I have to keep this paperwork?

posted by socrateaser to Work & Money (8 answers total)

Rule of thumb I have heard is 7 years.
posted by freethefeet at 6:16 PM on April 26, 2020

A phone consultation with a local estate planning or elder law attorney (MeFi Wiki) should be able to answer this and any related questions in accordance with the laws that apply in your jurisdiction.
posted by katra at 7:12 PM on April 26, 2020

When my mother-in-law died under basically the same circumstances, we saved virtually no medical paperwork. Saved nothing at all beyond the sentimental keeper items like her ID and social security card. It has never proved a problem over the last several years, I have to say.
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:15 PM on April 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

If your name isn't on any paperwork, such as cosigning a loan or credit card or taking responsibility for medical costs with your signature, you are not responsible for dealing with anything. You can shred any paperwork and any mail that comes in their name, you can return to sender.
posted by tipsyBumblebee at 8:11 PM on April 26, 2020 [4 favorites]

I don’t even keep these records for myself and it’s never been a problem. I may not be doing the right thing.
posted by dianeF at 8:15 PM on April 26, 2020

The biggest risk that comes to mind is that the state could come asking for reimbursement for Medicaid or other support that your mother got from the state. It would for the executor to deal with. I would keep the financial details that went into a final tax return or which otherwise describe her financial position at the time of her death for at least three years, and since its probably just a thin file, maybe indefinitely. Miscellaneous bills and insurance documents can be discarded after a year.

IANAL, or any other kind of financial or legal expert.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:09 AM on April 27, 2020

You need to be careful with records for as long as Medicaid and the IRS might try to recover funds, which in practice can be a long time. There are cases where they have gone after heirs for distributed funds from an estate after the estate has been closed, and it becomes harder to prove your case if you've destroyed the documentation.
posted by jgreco at 8:36 AM on April 27, 2020

I have a document scanner that allows me to put a stack of papers in it and will scan both sides of each page and save them as PDFs. I've been able to shred a lot of documents but still keep the PDFs around on the off-chance that I want to see them again. I have this one but there's a newer model available.
posted by bendy at 2:47 PM on April 27, 2020 [1 favorite]