Deceased Cards

This is a letter dated October 8, 2007 again never published
One will notice almost on a daily basis the media reports abuse of credit cards,O.H.I.P health cards, Handicap Parking Permits, and Social Insurance numbers (SIN) belonging to either deceased family members or friends.
After the death of a family member there are a number of duties the executor of the will must carry out as soon as possible to avoid exploitation and identity theft of the above. If the deceased had credit cards and a debit card they must be cancelled by taking them to the financial institution that issued the cards along with a copy of the death certificate or in some cases the original death certificate. The financial institution has forms to be filled out by the executor.If the deceased had a driver's licence and a handicap parking permit they must be cancelled by taking them to the local licence bureau along with a copy of the death certificate. It is most important one has the handicap permit cancelled as The Ministry of Transportation reported earlier this year these permits that belonged to a deceased person were being misrepresented. The ministry made an announcement stating their intentions to correct this predicament by matching up the death records with the handicap records. The ministry informed me this move is still being considered.
The health card of the deceased must be returned to the Ministry of Health and Long Turn Care along with a form titled 280-82 and a copy of the death certificate. This form is available by contacting the local ministry office to have one sent to you. One can also send a letter to the local ministry office providing deceased person's name, sex, health card number, a photo copy of the death certificate, and the actual health card cut in half.
If the deceased had a Social Insurance Number (SIN ) it must be cancelled to guard one against identity theft. The executor should contact the local Service Canada Centre or the SIN call centre at 1-800-206-7218(E) to inform them the owner of the SIN is deceased.
To close I should mention the funeral home that was handling all of the funeral arrangement provides these services free of charge.