What to do when someone dies: a checklist

In short

In the first hours: get a legal pronouncement of death, tell the closest family, and call a funeral home.
Order 5 to 10 certified copies of the death certificate. Banks, insurers and agencies each want their own.
In the following weeks: Social Security, life insurance, the employer, banks, the will. Most of it can wait a few days.

In this article

In the first hours
In the first days
In the first weeks
The will and the estate
Take care of yourself

In the first hours

If the death was expected and at home with hospice, call the hospice nurse, not 911. The nurse confirms the death and helps with the next steps.
If the death was unexpected, call 911. Paramedics, the police or the medical examiner may need to come.
In a hospital or nursing home, the staff pronounces the death and will ask which funeral home to call.
Organ and tissue donation: if the person was a registered donor, tell the staff at once. It cannot wait.
Tell the closest family. Ask one or two people to help you make the other calls.
Take care of who and what depended on them: children, a spouse who needs care, pets. Lock the home and the car, and put away valuables and medications.

In the first days

Choose a funeral home or a cremation provider. They take the body into their care, file the death certificate, help with the obituary and arrange the service.
Look for written wishes: a will, a prepaid funeral plan, a letter of instructions, and for veterans the discharge papers, form DD 214.
Order certified copies of the death certificate, usually through the funeral home. Most families need 5 to 10. Each copy has a fee that depends on the state.
Write the obituary and decide where to publish it. See How to write an obituary.
Tell everyone about the service. Instead of a hundred phone calls, many families now share one link with the date, time and place and a map.
For a veteran, ask the funeral home about VA burial benefits: burial in a national cemetery, a headstone or marker, a burial flag and a Presidential Memorial Certificate.

Your rights at the funeral home. Under the FTC Funeral Rule, a funeral home must give you an itemized price list, let you choose only the goods and services you want, and accept a casket or urn you bought elsewhere without charging a fee for it. In 2023 the median cost of a funeral with a viewing and burial in the US was about $8,300, and about $6,300 with cremation, according to the National Funeral Directors Association. That does not include the cemetery plot or the headstone. A direct cremation without a service usually costs much less.

In the first weeks

Social Security. The funeral home usually reports the death. If not, call 1-800-772-1213. Ask about survivor benefits and the one-time payment of $255 for a spouse who lived with the person, or an eligible spouse or child. Benefits are paid a month behind, so the payment that arrives after the death usually has to be returned. Do not spend it.
The employer, if they were working: the final paycheck, unused vacation, group life insurance, pension and retirement accounts.
Life insurance. File a claim with a certified death certificate. If you do not know whether there was a policy, the free Life Insurance Policy Locator of the NAIC, the association of state insurance regulators, can search for one.
Banks and credit cards. Tell each bank. Do not close the account where Social Security was paid until the last payment has been taken back.
The three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Ask them to mark the credit report as deceased, so no one can open accounts in the person's name.
Insurance on the home and the car. Keep it in place, and tell the insurer if the home will stand empty.
Cancel the driver's license, subscriptions, memberships and the phone plan. Move utilities to the new owner or close them when the home is sold.
Mail. The executor can have the mail forwarded at the post office.
Digital accounts. Download the photos and messages you want to keep before closing anything. Facebook and Instagram can turn a profile into a memorial account.

The will and the estate

Find the will. The executor named in it files it with the probate court of the county where the person lived. Small estates can often use a simpler procedure. The rules differ by state.
Debts are paid from the estate, from what the person left. In general, family members do not have to pay them from their own money, unless they co-signed a loan or shared the account. Some states have special rules for spouses, so ask before you pay anything yourself.
Taxes. A final income tax return is filed for the year of death. A federal estate tax applies only to very large estates.
A lawyer is worth it if the estate includes a business or property in several states, or if the family does not agree.

Take care of yourself

You do not have to do all of this in one week. Apart from the first hours and the funeral, most of the list can wait. Keep one notebook for everything: the date, who you called, what they said, what they need from you. Keep copies of every document you send. And let people help. When someone asks what they can do, give them one item from this list.

If the grief becomes too heavy, read How to cope with grief.

This is general information for the United States, not legal or financial advice. Rules differ from state to state. The funeral director, the probate court or a lawyer can tell you what applies to your family.

Frequently asked questions

Who do you call first when someone dies at home?

If the person was in hospice care, call the hospice nurse. If the death was unexpected, call 911.

How many death certificates do you need?

Most families need 5 to 10 certified copies, one for each bank, insurer, pension and agency that asks for an original. Ordering enough at the start is easier than ordering more later.

Does Social Security pay anything when someone dies?

A one-time payment of $255 to a surviving spouse who lived with the person, or to an eligible spouse or child. Monthly survivor benefits may also be paid.

Do I have to pay my parent's debts?

In general no. Debts are paid from the estate. You may be responsible if you co-signed or shared the account, and some states have special rules for spouses.

What is the FTC Funeral Rule?

A federal rule that requires funeral homes to give itemized prices, lets you choose only what you want, and lets you buy a casket or urn elsewhere without an extra fee.

What to do when someone dies: a checklist for the first days and weeks