The in basket: Peggy Warren of Manchester said the other day
that she had never notified the state of her mother’s recent
passing so that her drivers license no longer was in effect. She
wondered if that is something the state expects the family of a
deceased person to do.
The out basket: Brad Benfield of the Department of Licensing says,
“Family members are not required to notify DOL of the death of a
loved one.
“We do sometimes receive these types of notifications about
driver
licenses and we can take action if the family provides a copy of
the
death certificate. This most commonly occurs when a family
member
receives correspondence from DOL addressed to the deceased
family
member.
“Our driver license records are most often updated based on
reports of deaths received by the Department of Health. When we
receive these reports, the appropriate records are marked and then
purged.”
Road Warrior Travis Baker blogs about the problems and idiosyncrasies of Kitsap highways and byways.
An article on this subject appeared in the AARP magazine early last year, strongly urging family members to take action to cancel a deceased loved one’s driver’s license, and cited examples of the license numbers being accessed and used by identity thieves.
Don’t wait for someone to take the opportunity to use a loved one’s name and license number! Identity thieves read the obituaries, too.
My own beloved husband passed away suddenly last year, and one of the first things I did when I was able was to take his license and a copy of the death certificate to the Department of Licensing for cancellation. The license itself was returned to me at my request, after the expiration date was punched out.
It’s hard to do these kinds of practical things quickly, but it’s so important to do all you can to protect the reputation, and credit record of your loved one, as well as protect yourself if you are a surviving spouse.