For 22 Years, Flathead County Treasurer Adele Krantz Has Been the Liaison Elected to Finalize What’s Left Behind

Three years ago when Flathead County Treasurer Adele Krantz was tasked with cleaning out seven double sized storage units that belonged to a woman who had recently died, she sifted through decades of memorabilia, searching for clues.

Finally, she found what she was a looking for – an old Christmas card with two kids on the front and their names on the back.

“I found them – they were in Hawaii,” Krantz said.

The kids on the Christmas card were the niece and nephew of the deceased woman who connected Krantz with the woman’s brothers, who were the heirs to the contents of her storage units. It took a year and 400 hours of work, but the case was complete.

“It was an incredible journey to go through all of that stuff and find the family,” Krantz said.

For the past 22 years, Krantz’s responsibilities as Flathead County’s treasurer has included overseeing the Department of Motor Vehicles, tax collection and accounting, while she has also been the public administrator where she finalizes affairs for deceased persons who have no nearby relatives available to close out their estates.

In a typical estate assignment, officials with the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office will secure the home to ensure nothing is stolen and Krantz steps in to clean out the home, pay the individual’s debt, find a will and track down family members.

“I’ll find family and it’s the best thing ever when you find them – long lost family that you lost track of and then reconnecting them,” Krantz said.

Krantz said this time-consuming aspect of her public administrator duties has been the most rewarding part of her job, a role she doesn’t take lightly.

After more than two decades as the public administrator and the county treasurer and 34 years in the department, Krantz is retiring next year as the county splits her two positions to ease the workload for the next guard.

Earlier this month, Flathead County commissioners approved a resolution to separate the public administration duties from the Treasurer’s Office. The positions were consolidated in 1998, which Flathead County Administrator Pete Melnick said during the Feb. 17 meeting was done “based on legal advice” at the time.

But after passing the resolution, those roles will be divided, allowing the treasurer to focus on the Department of Motor Vehicles, accounting and tax collection, an elected position that will be on the ballot this November.

While Krantz says all of her responsibilities with Flathead County have been rewarding over the years, she has been the most passionate about her role in public administration.

“I have been truly blessed with this mission,” Krantz said at the Feb. 17 commissioner’s meeting. “I have made sure all deceased cases under my care have had the utmost compassion and dedication with the end goal to make sure I carry out their final wishes. For those estates that have family who are unable to attend to their affairs, I have been their liaison, and it has been an honor to do so.”

Krantz has worked nights and weekends on estates, some of which contain generations of belongings stacked to the ceiling. Carefully sifting through family heirlooms and triaging items, she separates things designated for the dump, the estate sale located in the Flathead County North Complex building while also selling some things on Facebook Marketplace or at auctions. Over the years she’s found a high volume of military memorabilia while she’s also discovered expansive collections of vintage art.

“I’m very sentimental so I’m very careful but it’s hard,” Krantz said. “I know what is important to people and I know what is worth something or if I should be throwing stuff away. But it’s important to me to go through the paperwork, because we find family that way.”

When Krantz first begins the process, she searches for a will to use as her guiding star to distribute belongings, but she said it’s common to never find one. If a will is nowhere to be found, she starts looking for clues like Christmas cards and letters that could lead her to relatives.

Krantz sometimes must send items through U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which happened years ago when a Dutch man died at his home.

While estates are often associated with residences, Krantz also handles cases for homeless individuals who likely lost touch with relatives long ago.

“They don’t have much, but we still try to find their family – we try to find anybody to tell them and if there’s anything on them like photos or anything like that, we try to get them back to their home,” Krantz said.

As Krantz finds a home for the physical artifacts left behind, she’s also responsible for paying the bills that are also left unresolved. Much of the money earned from sold items goes straight to funeral homes, insurance companies and creditors.  

With leftover money, Krantz sends many of her estate cases to Demersville Cemetery in south Kalispell and she ensures they have a marker.

Now that the county treasurer and public administration duties will be separate, Krantz says those two individuals will be able to concentrate on their respective roles, which she says both will have steep learning curves.

While the Flathead County Treasurer is an elected position that will be on the ballot in November, the public administration position will be appointed by Flathead County commissioners.

Reflecting on both jobs, Krantz says the county has treated her well over the years and she’s had a fulfilling career.

“I’ve put my heart and soul into this place and when I have signed up all these years to be elected, the taxpayers have trusted me with all of these duties and I’ve taken it very, very seriously,” Krantz said. “Hopefully I’ve done a good job for them – my bosses have been the taxpayers all these years.”

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