Tenant died of covid. Cannot reach ICE contact

[Steve S.]

Well i experience something new every month in being a landlord, even after several years. 

My tenant was mid 60s and apparently died sadly from covid.  he was divorced and the only one on the lease.  his ICE contact i believe is his ex wife.  

I will try to reach out to her again later next week since this all happened apparently last week.

I'm researching my obligations, etc to make sure I handle everything appropriately.  I will likely need to contact a lawyer as well.

If anyone has gone through this, please share any thoughts or things to watch out for.  Also, we're in the middle of an ice story and with no one there, there's the concern for the upkeep of the house, pipes bursting, etc.

[Adam Martin]

At first I thought you were trying to turn this guy into immigration.  This is one I would definingly turn over to an attorney as you don't want to give the wrong person access to his things but also need to have a way to ensure your property remains safe.  I would make sure you have a landlord policy on your gas and electric so it is turned over to you in the case it gets shut off.  If you know where he works you may reach out to them to notify them and maybe they would give you any beneficiary contact info.  It is a longshot but worth a try.  You could also try to see if he has a facebook to see if he has any contacts on there to reach out to.