Sometime after the funeral, a letter or email arrives about the home warranty. It looks like it came from the company that sold Mom the plan, or from a name you have never heard of. It says coverage is ending unless you act, and it asks for a card number. Before anyone answers, sit down at the kitchen table with the folder and make this a paper job, not a phone job.
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What you are actually holding
A home warranty is usually a service contract, not insurance on the house. You pay a fee, and when a covered part of the house breaks down, such as the furnace, the range, the dishwasher, or the water heater, the company sends a repair person and you pay a service fee for each visit. Find the signed contract, the summary or declarations page, and the last renewal notice. If all you have is a marketing flyer, that is not the contract, and the flyer's promises do not count.
Check the five things that decide the bill
Look for these in the contract itself, not in the sales letter.
1. The covered list. Find the appliances and systems the plan names. Mom's dishwasher may be on it while the washer and dryer are not, and a plan that covers the furnace may leave out the central air or the water heater. Write the list on a sheet of paper and tick what the house actually has.
2. The exclusions. Look for language about older equipment, pre-existing problems, and damage from lack of maintenance. Check whether the plan expects proof that routine service was done. If nobody has had the furnace looked at in a long time, you want to know that now, not after it fails.
3. The service fee and the limits. Note the per-visit fee and any yearly cap on what the company will pay per item. Read the numbers as they appear in this contract. Do not compare them to other companies on this page.
4. The renewal rule. Find the renewal date and whether it renews automatically. Many plans do. Find out whether a notice must be sent before renewal, and how the company says you must cancel: by mail, by phone, or in writing. Keep a copy of anything you send.
5. The cancel date and any refund. If you cancel, does the company return any part of the fee, and by when? Ask for the answer in writing.
What to do tonight
Do not give a card number to anyone who calls or emails about the plan. Hang up, then find the phone number printed on the original contract or on a statement from the company, and call that number yourself. Ask three questions: when does this plan renew, does it renew automatically, and what is the exact cancel method. Write the answers on the back of the envelope with today's date and the name of the person who answered.
Ask Dad, gently
He may remember signing the plan, or he may think Mom handled it, and she often did. Ask him where the paper lives. You are not auditing him. You are asking where the folder is. If the plan is in Mom's name only, or if her estate is still being settled, the person handling those papers may need to be part of any change, so check that before you cancel anything. One phone call to whoever is handling her paperwork is worth making.
Decide before the bill comes
Once you know the renewal date, make one of three decisions and write it down. You can keep the plan and put the renewal on the calendar. You can cancel in writing before the date. Or you can keep it for now and set a reminder two weeks before renewal to reread the covered list. Whichever you pick, put the decision in the same folder as the contract so the next person who opens it sees the answer without asking.
If this is one of many papers on the kitchen table, Start Here: The First Hundred Days covers the order to tackle them in.
Good-week card: Dad knows where the warranty paper lives, and nobody gave a card number to a stranger on the phone.