Survivors’ Checklist: What to Do After Someone Dies
Personal and legal matters may fall to you in the wake of a loved one’s death. While you’re still mourning, you’ll have to deal with a lengthy, time-consuming bureaucratic process.
Survivors may be taken aback by the sheer volume of documentation. No one can do it for you. There are many people involved in the process of settling a dead family member’s estate. In order to succeed, you’ll need the assistance of others, including financial advisors such as attorneys and CPAs, as well as a network of close friends and family members to whom you may assign chores or turn for emotional support.
The executor may take care of the financial aspects of the funeral while you focus on the preparation. You might be the executor, which means you’ll be responsible for settling the estate and dealing with paperwork for months or even years.
With a checklist (see below) of all the tasks you’ll need to do, from thank-you cards to seeing a will through probate, you’ll be well on your way.
Immediately after the death of a loved one
☐ Get a certificate of death from a court
Hospital or nursing home personnel will take care of this if your loved one passed away when a doctor was there. Before a death certificate may be obtained, a formal declaration of death must be made. A medical practitioner must proclaim your loved one dead if they passed away at home, particularly if the death was sudden.
As soon as they pass away, call 911 and arrange for her to be taken to an emergency hospital, where she may be pronounced dead and sent to a funeral home for final disposition. A hospice nurse may proclaim someone dead if they died at home while receiving hospice care. You can’t even organize a funeral or take care of the deceased’s legal problems without a death certificate.
☐ Tell your loved ones
Let loved ones know when a loved one has passed away by texting or emailing them a bulk message or calling them individually. Go through the deceased’s email and phone contacts to find those who need to know. Notify colleagues and members of any social or religious organizations to whom the individual belonged. Encourage those who get the message to pass it along to family and friends of the deceased. Publish a memorial on your social media accounts.
☐ Find out if there are any pre-arranged funerals or burials
A letter of instruction or a family meeting should be held to begin the planning process if you have not already done so, she recommends. Especially if there are no instructions to be found, this is vital information. Talk about what the deceased desired in terms of a funeral, how much money you have, and how the family would want.
Within A Few Days of Death
☐ Make plans for the deceased’s burial, cremation, or both
Find out whether there was a pre-paid funeral arrangement by going over the papers. If not, you’ll have to choose a funeral home and make decisions about the service location, cremation options, final resting place, and kind of memorial or urn to purchase. A smart suggestion is to investigate funeral costs in order to make educated judgments.
The Veterans Administration or the individual fraternal or religious institution should be called if the person served in the military or was a member of a fraternal or religious organization to inquire about burial benefits or funeral services.
Ask for assistance with the funeral arrangements. Plan the ceremony, preserve a list of well-wishers, compose thank-you messages, and organize the post-funeral reception with the help of family and friends.
Write an obituary with the help of a family member or friend who is a master of language.
☐ Secure the property
Secure the house and car of the dead. Toss the expired food in the refrigerator and have a neighbor or family member take care of the plants and retrieve the mail. In the event that valuables like jewelry or cash remain in the house, make sure they are locked away. Harbison warns, “You have to be on the lookout for expensive personal things.”
☐ Pets should be taken care of
Until a more permanent arrangement can be made, make sure pets have someone to look after them. Go to a kennel or a family member who enjoys animals to care for your pets while you’re away.
☐ Forward Mail
Put place a forwarding order at the post office so that the mail is sent to you or anyone else is helping you deal with the urgent issues. Because mail is a sign of an empty property, you do not want it building up at the deceased’s house. There are a number of things to keep in mind when it comes to canceling subscriptions, creditors, and other accounts. A person’s letter contains an abundance of information, according to Harbison. Going through it allows you to view a person’s assets and liabilities in a realistic approach. You’ll be able to see what has to be addressed.”
☐ Your family member’s workplace should be informed
Inquire about any pending or past-due benefits or wages. Inquire whether there is a company-wide life insurance coverage as well.
Two Weeks After Death
☐ Get certified copies of death certificates
Buy ten of each. To liquidate bank and brokerage accounts, to submit insurance claims, and to register the death with government organizations, among other things, you’ll need a death certificate to get. Either the funeral home you’re dealing with may get copies on your behalf or the state’s vital statistics office can fulfill your request.
☐ Locate the executor and the will
The heirs of your deceased loved one need to know what will happen to any money, property, or possessions they left behind. Prior to her death, you should have spoken to your relative and learned where her will was held. There is a good chance that she stored the document in a safe deposit box, a desk, or anywhere else where she kept essential documents. The executor (the person in charge of settling the estate) is often named in a will. Most of the next stages must include the executor. Administrators are appointed by the probate court if there is no will.
☐ Make an appointment with an estate planning lawyer
When settling an estate, you don’t have need a lawyer, although having one makes the process smoother. For estates valued more than $50,000, Harbison advises hiring a lawyer to assist with the administration and distribution of property. “Estates may become tangled very quickly,” he warns. The attorney should be chosen by the executor.
☐ Speak with a CPA
Make touch with her if she has a CPA; if not, find one. The deceased’s estate may be required to submit a tax return, and a final tax return must be filed on his or her behalf. Harbison stresses the importance of getting the taxes properly.
☐ Probate the decedent’s will
Executing a will via the legal procedure of probate is known as probate. You’ll have to go to a probate court in your county or city to accomplish this. As soon as a person’s obligations and responsibilities have been settled, the residual assets are distributed to the intended beneficiaries in a probate court.
☐ Inventory all of your possessions
The probate procedure begins with an inventory of all assets (including real estate, bank accounts, cars, brokerage accounts, and other types of personal property, such as furniture and jewelry) that must be reported with the court. Harbison advises employing an appraiser to assess the value of the household’s possessions.
☐ Identify and collect assets
It’s a lot of labor to locate all of the assets in the inventory. As the work of marshaling assets implies, it may be a major undertaking. It might take years for complicated estates, Harbison said. For a fee, you may hire a search service to assist you in discovering hidden assets. Harbison advises a do-it-yourself strategy: Search your family member’s tax returns, mail and e-mail, brokerage and bank accounts, deeds and titles for assets. Do not leave any deposit boxes or file cabinets unsealed.
☐ Compose a budget
Provide the executor with a copy of the list to ensure that essential costs like the mortgage, taxes, and electricity are covered while the estate is being resolved.
☐ Remove services that are no longer required
Cellphones, iTunes, Netflix, cable, and the internet are just a few examples.
Inform the following about your loved one’s passing:
☐ Social Security: If the deceased was receiving Social Security benefits, you must suspend payments immediately. Social Security may be able to provide death payments to certain members of the deceased’s family. Funeral directors often notify the Social Security Administration of deaths, although it is ultimately the obligation of the survivors to do so. You may do this by contacting your local SSA office. Your loved one’s death will be reported to Medicaid by the agency.
☐ Insurance agency: If the deceased had life insurance policies, you’ll need a death certificate and the policy numbers in order to file a claim.
☐ Banks and financial institutions: Closing or changing accounts will be considerably simpler if your loved one left a list of accounts and internet passwords. The death certificate is required if the deceased did not leave a will.
☐ Find out who the account holder’s designated beneficiary is. It may be possible for a beneficiary to have access to an account or benefit only by completing out paperwork and submitting an official death certificate (no executor needed).
☐ Send copies of the death certificate to the three main credit agencies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, in order to avoid identity theft.
☐ Driver’s license revocation
This avoids identity theft by removing the deceased’s name from the DMV’s records. Obtain a copy of the death certificate from the local DMV before you begin the process of obtaining a driver’s license.
☐ Close credit card accounts
In order to cancel the account on behalf of a dead family member, contact customer support. The death certificate will also be required for this. Don’t forget to advise the executor of any unpaid amounts on any accounts you terminate!
☐ Insurance plans should be terminated
Contact insurance providers to cancel the deceased’s coverage on their house, vehicle, and health plans, and request that any unused payment be repaid.
☐ Social media profiles may be memorialized or deleted
Facebook and Instagram accounts may be deleted, however some survivors want to use them as memorials for their deceased loved ones instead of deleting their profiles. Remembering is shown at the beginning of the deceased’s name on a memorialized Facebook profile. When friends log in, they’ll see a feed of posts from them. You’ll need to provide the firm with copies of your ID and the death certificate, regardless of whether you want to delete or commemorate.
☐ Email accounts should be deleted
It’s a good idea to close the deceased’s email account to avoid identity theft and fraud. A will or funeral plan may contain log-in information that you may use to carry out the deceased’s wishes. Email accounts may be deactivated by providing a copy of the death certificate. Each firm has its own requirements, but generally speaking, you’ll need a death certificate and proof that you’re a relative or the executor.
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