whether unexpected or not there still is an approval process that the OP needs to go through. He will be given a timeline information and the process will be explained to him to include the possible settling of an estate. He should talk to that person in hr who does the approvals to get his answers rather then the self appointed brown cafe fmla expert here.
**** house lawyers need not reply
Am gonna hafta disagree with this one too.
Went thru similar situation here with my mom. Won't go into all boring details, but, briefly, had to unexpectedly stay with her for two months this year. Had visiting Hospice care but they ordered 24/7 in Jan and she would not go to hospital. Had FMLA papers in hand in anticipation of this. center manager merely made copies of a form he had (leaving out the last page, I found out later). No explanation, no reference to HR, no timeline, no nothing.
Gave to visiting Hospice nurse, who took it, then called to say it was incomplete. I couldn't leave but didn't care if I had forms or not. Was still gonna stay w/mom. Luckily, no argument, no hassle, no problem from center manager or anybody else. I called bookeeper to ask for vacations to apply.
Long story cut to the chase, she died, I called to inform, they asked how long I was gonna be out (cuz I was executor), they said just keep us informed. I took what was resonable (about a week) to get things started, still no question, no argument, no hassle, no problem.
I finally called to say I'd be back, they said OK, I came back, not another word said, except for condolences.
I DID make it a point, tho, to thank them for being considerate in this case and to know that I wasn't milking the system. They knew that. The DID say, "What else could we do? It's only right".
Point is: I'm sure the OP will find this true also. Sure, in many ways, UPS has become heartless and uncaring, but most of us have had parents, grandparents, sibs and/or friends that we were very close to and had to take care of before and after death. None of us can take a hard, bureaucratic line on issues such as this. And I'm sure the company realizes this worldwide and probably IS trying to do the right thing, whether it be on paper or morally.