Grandfather Passed. Caretaker Wants His Death Certificate

Location: California

My grandfather passed away recently. He had been in hospice at his home for about a year. When entering hospice, he had given power of attorney to his caretaker and had changed her to beneficiary of his accounts and left her everything in a living trust. Before this, I used to be the beneficiary and trustee, asked to make sure my grandmother’s wishes were honored.

When he passed, one of his wishes was for me to have his body donated to science, a process he had already applied for a few years ago. As his grandson, and one of the few relatives he was still close to, I honored that wish and his remaining ashes were sent to me. He had paid for a double occupancy grave when my grandmother passed many years ago. We just need to have the site opened and closed for his ashes. I found out that I need to get his death certificate and a permit to get them buried with my grandmother.

At the same time, his caretaker reached out to me because she needed his death certificate to give to social security to stop his payments. She couldn’t get the certificate, as she’s not a blood relative so she was pressuring me to get it for her. I told her I could lend it to her to take care of that but would need it back for the cemetery. She suddenly wasn’t in a hurry for it and could wait until after I handled the burial. Went from very important to no big deal, just like that.

Now, she’s been deceitful with a lot of things leading up to his passing so it’s difficult for me to believe her and not wonder what new angle she’s playing. When entering him in hospice, she had told the hospice that he had no relatives at all, ignoring the fact he had two estranged daughters, several relatives who he still had contact with, and me, his grandson who has been in his life my entire life. She already has his car, my grandmother’s house, his bank account and any money he had in his accounts. I feel that it’s odd that she wants to end up with the death certificate just to show the SSA even though I can easily take care of that, as his blood relative.

The other day, my father spoke to her and asked about how she’s able to make the payments on the house, as she’s unemployed. Apparently she’s using his “retirement benefits.“ I thought that wouldn’t be possible as they were friends (he rented a room from her a few years ago when he was dealing with legal issues with his wife at the time) and not married, so she wouldn’t be eligible for any spousal benefits. But then I remembered that he had a pension due to his work at a school district.

Could she be receiving his benefits from his pension? Is that even legal that she’s receiving anything else after his death?

Could she be receiving some other benefits using his name/passing?

What could she possibly need with the death certificate at this point? I thought power of attorney ended once he passed.

He never told us much of the details of his trust other than that he was leaving her the house. And when he started to tell my father more about it months ago, he stopped and told my father something to the extent of “I better stop talking or I’m going to get in trouble/yelled at.” He never opened up to my father about that subject again.

I hate to think the worst of this woman but I feel like she’s doing some shady things to make sure she gets as much as possible out of him, even after his passing.

In the end, she wants me to be the person who ends up with the death certificate for some reason. Do I need to give it to her?

Any advice or input would be appreciated. Thank you.