<prompt> Human: EDIT; THANK YOU FOR EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU, omg. I cant believe how much advice i am getting. its so overwhelming. i am reading every single one of your posts and i cant respond to you all, but thank you thank you thank you.I requested a autopsy because: Yes, she had pancreatic cancer but it was early stages. She had surgery to get a tumor removed, and was doing chemotherapy because she had 2 lymph nodes that were infected. She was doing really well, generally tired, but not very many side affects from the chemo. On Monday, she went back to work, and she felt really good. Tuesday, wednesday, both good. Thursday she took off work because that is when she had chemo and she wanted to rest. Thursday she was talking to a family friend saying she was just tired and didnt feel very good. Thursday she probably should have went to the hospital but didnt. 3 AM: My mother called 911 and told them she couldnt breathe. My grandma heard her and called out to her and she responded to her, and she was laying on the bathroom floor. Once the ambulance got there she was unresponsive and they took her to the ER and gave her medicine that would help her heart and then they would do CPR. once the medicine wore off, her pulse would stop, theyd give her more meds, and it would last for about 2 minutes. Her heart wouldnt beat on its own. They did this cycle about 12 times. They tried 1 last thing, gave her some medicine that is supposed to clear a blood clot, and see if that would help, but it did not. I had to make the decision as her POA to stop the machines and let her go. i was watching them as they did this... and nothing seemed to helpAs the family we decided to do an autopsy because we dont know exactly what caused her death. Yes she had cancer, but she said she couldnt breathe. A heart attack? a blood clot? We dont know, and the ER doctor did not know. My mother was my best friend, and I really took care of her these last few months, Its hard to see her go the way she did.hi all, please bare with me. i am all over the place and i would like some guidance on what to do in this type of situation. my mother just died unexpectedly yesterday. I have some guidance from family on what to do but i want to see what other people think so i am coming to you. My mother owned her house, only 10K left to pay on it. She lost her job about 4 years ago or so, used all of her savings account and 401k to live off of. She finally got a job last year making half of what she used to make, but still able to pay her bills. She fell sick this year stage 1-2 pancreatic cancer, found early, had surgery so she was off of work since April. They were giving her half of her paycheck, and then whatever fell short I gave her money. Ive paid her mortgage twice, I pay her comcast bill on the regular. My grandmother lives with her and she pays our phone bill. So all my mom really pays is the utilities of the house, and our car insurance. me, her, and my brother. She has built up some credit card debt, which from what i can see on her bank account is 13K. She has some other bills that arent paid, just because she couldnt afford it. My brother doesnt help her much, maybe a few hundred here and there, but its never enough. Ive used my savings account just to pay for her mortgage, when I live with my boyfriend and give him half for our mortgage too. Needless to say, My account is going down. I get 1,300 every two weeks for my paycheck. Depends on how much I work.Anyways, I called her Life insurance agent and he was going to put in a claim, although we have to wait for her death certificate and her autopsy report. Which having an autopsy done is costly and delays services. I just dont know what i am supposed to do with all of her bills, the car insurance, the phone bill, the house.. I dont know what to do with it all, and it may seem early to be thinking of this, but i want to be ready to know what to do. My grandma lives with her. I dont know what to do with my grandma. I think she plans on staying in the house but thats a lot of money to keep paying off when I dont live there. Also, I know she has a will. How do I find out about that? Do I need to get a laywer?please anyone.. help meEDIT: We live in Illinois.Edit again: I forgot she has social security income from when my father died for me, and apparently they paid her too much so she was supposed tohave been paying that back too. I dont know if she has been.I believe she owes the IRS money too.  <response>: Condolences on your loss. There are a lot of questions here and many of them depend upon what your mothers will says. You will have to call around to all of the sources of her bills and inform them of her death, and might require a death certificate etc. to prove that she has passed and end contracts for phone bills and car leases etc. Her life insurance policy will hopefully pay out to a named beneficiaryies and skip the estate entirely, probably you and your brother. This is an extremely important and valuable time saving feature which will allow you access to the money in order to settle her funeral expenses and maintain the house until everything can be settled. On the chance that there is no beneficiary named it will pass into the estate and be treated like any other asset to her name. Her 401k account should work the same way and you will need to contact the account custodian to inform them of her death and receive any information about named beneficiaries. As far as the estate is concerned, you will have to try to locate her will in her possessions; contact any attorney she may have dealt with and any bank where she may have held a safe deposit box as well. When the will is located you will have to file it with the probate court that deals with estates and someone will have to serve as the executor of her estate, settle all of her bills, divide all of her remaining assets, and finalize the estate. This can take a year or more and is a major hassle, especially if real estate is involved, and you will definitely need a lawyer. The IRS and social security may make claims against her money and real assets if they think she owes them money and you may need the help of an attorney to negotiate that as well. Finally, in regards to your grandmother, the executor of the estate or the final owner of the house after the estate is settled can decide if she is allowed to stay in the house or not; of course she has rights as a tenant and must be legally evicted from the house if she wont leave on her own. 