What to Do When Someone Dies: A Step-by-Step Checklist
What to Do When Someone Dies: A Step-by-Step Checklist
If someone you love has just died, you don't have to hold the whole list in your head. There are only a few things that truly need to happen right now — the rest can wait for tomorrow, or next week. This is a plain, caring checklist of what to do first, what comes next, and what can safely be left for later, so you can move one step at a time.
What is the first thing to do when someone dies?
The first thing to do when someone dies is to get an official pronouncement of death. If they were in hospital or a care home, the staff handle this. If they died at home under hospice care, call the hospice; if it was unexpected and not under hospice care, call 911 or your local emergency number. Once death is confirmed, there's nothing else that must happen in the next hour — take a breath, sit with them if you wish, and call the family members who need to know. Everything after that can wait until you're steadier.
How to use this checklist
When someone dies, the world tilts and a hundred small tasks seem to land at once. The truth is gentler than it feels: almost nothing has to be done immediately. We've grouped everything by when it actually needs to happen — the first few hours, the first two or three days, the first two weeks, and the first months — so you only ever have to look at the part you're in right now.
Work down it at your own pace, and lean on the people around you — funerals and paperwork are meant to be shared. A quick note before we start: this is a practical, general guide, not legal or financial advice. Rules around death certificates, probate, and estates vary by country and state, so for anything to do with the will, taxes, or property, it's worth a short conversation with an attorney or a financial advisor who knows your situation.
Keep this list somewhere you can find it. Many families work through these steps together over WhatsApp or a shared note, ticking things off as they go, so no one person carries it all and nothing important slips through.
What to do, and when to do it
Four phases, in order. You don't need to read past the one you're in. Each step links to a calmer next move, not a longer to-do list.
Confirm the death, then breathe
Get an official pronouncement, tell the closest family, and look for any end-of-life wishes. Nothing else is urgent tonight.
Choose care of the body & the household
Pick a funeral home or cremation provider, secure the home, and make sure dependents and pets are looked after.
Paperwork & the service
Order death certificates, write the obituary, notify key institutions, and plan the funeral or memorial.
Accounts, estate & remembering
Notify creditors and insurers, close subscriptions, begin probate, and find a place to keep their story.
The first few hours
This is the part that feels the most frightening and is actually the simplest. There are only a handful of things to do, and most of them are about people, not paperwork.
- Get a legal pronouncement of death. A death has to be formally confirmed before anything else can happen. In a hospital or care home, staff do this. If they died at home under hospice care, call the hospice's number — they'll guide you and often come to you. If the death was sudden or unexpected and not under hospice care, call 911 or your local emergency number and let them advise you on next steps.
- If they died at home, don't rush. Once death has been confirmed, there's no need to move quickly. You're allowed to sit with them, say what you need to say, and gather yourself before you make any calls.
- Notify the immediate family. Call the people closest to them first — the partner, the children, the parents. Keep these calls short and kind; there will be time for the longer conversations. Ask one or two people to help you pass the news on, so it doesn't all fall to you.
- Look for any end-of-life wishes. Many people leave instructions — in a will, an advance directive, a letter, or simply something they once told the family — about burial or cremation, organ or body donation, and the kind of service they wanted. If donation was their wish, it's time-sensitive, so mention it to the hospital or hospice straight away.
- Tell anyone who needs to know tonight. If they were caring for a child, a parent, or a pet, make sure those people and animals are looked after for the night. Everything else can wait until morning.
That's genuinely all that has to happen in the first hours. The funeral home, the certificates, the bank — none of it is for tonight.
The first 2–3 days
Now a few practical decisions need attention — mostly around the care of the body and the steadying of daily life. Share these with family where you can; no one should make them alone.
- Choose a funeral home or cremation provider. If they pre-arranged or pre-paid anything, find those documents first — it may already be decided. Otherwise, you're allowed to call two or three providers and compare. By law in many places, funeral homes must give you an itemised price list, so it's perfectly reasonable to ask for one. The provider will then coordinate transferring the person into their care.
- Arrange care for dependents and pets. If the person looked after children, an elderly relative, or animals, settle who is caring for them over the coming days. A clear plan now prevents a lot of strain later.
- Secure their home and belongings. Lock up the house, take in any mail or deliveries, and make sure pets and plants are tended. If the home will sit empty, ask a trusted neighbour to keep an eye on it. Hold off on giving anything away — sorting belongings is for much later.
- Find the important documents. Start gathering the will, insurance policies, the deed or lease, recent bank statements, and any pre-paid funeral paperwork. You don't need to act on them yet — just know where they are.
- Begin to think about the service. No decisions are needed yet, but it helps to start a quiet conversation with family about what kind of gathering would feel right — a traditional funeral, a celebration of life, a small graveside, or something at home.
If you'd like a fuller walk-through of arranging the service itself, our guide on how to plan a funeral covers every step, from choosing a venue to setting a budget.
The first two weeks
This is the busier stretch — the paperwork and the planning of the service. It looks long written down, but most of it is a series of phone calls and forms, and the funeral home will help with a good deal of it.
- Order death certificates — and order more than you think. The certified death certificate is the document nearly every institution will ask for. Most families need about 10 to 15 certified copies: one for each bank, insurer, pension, the title to a home or car, and so on. The funeral home usually orders these for you; ordering extra copies up front is far easier than requesting more later.
- Write the obituary. A short notice shares the news, the life, and the details of the service. If you're not sure where to begin, our guide on how to write an obituary walks through it gently, with a simple template and examples.
- Notify Social Security (or your national equivalent). In the US, the funeral home often reports the death to the Social Security Administration, but confirm it was done — and contact them about survivor or spouse benefits. Other countries have their own pension and benefits offices to inform.
- Tell the employer and any pension provider. Their workplace may hold a final paycheck, life insurance, or benefits for the family, and a pension may need to be stopped or transferred to a survivor.
- Contact banks and the life insurance company. Notify their bank to safeguard the accounts (don't withdraw funds before getting advice on the estate), and start any life insurance claim — it can take time, so it's worth beginning early.
- Plan the funeral or memorial. Set the date and venue, choose readings, music and flowers, and let people know how to attend. If you'd prefer donations to flowers, our note on in lieu of flowers wording gives kind, ready-to-use phrasing for the notice.
The first months
Once the service is behind you, the rest unfolds slowly. There's no need to do it all at once — work through these as you have the energy, and ask for help with the legal and financial parts.
- Notify creditors, insurers and the credit bureaus. Tell their lenders and card companies, and report the death to the credit bureaus (in the US, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) so the file is flagged and protected against fraud.
- Cancel or transfer accounts and subscriptions. Utilities, phone, streaming services, memberships, and recurring payments can be closed or moved into a survivor's name. A quick scan of their email and bank statements usually surfaces the ones that are easy to miss.
- Begin probate and the estate. If there's a will, the named executor starts the process of settling the estate; if there isn't, the court appoints an administrator. This is the point to bring in an attorney — probate rules and timelines differ widely, and good advice early saves trouble later.
- Handle taxes. A final personal tax return is usually required, and larger estates may have their own filing. An accountant or estate attorney can tell you exactly what applies.
- Close or memorialize their social media. Most platforms let you either remove an account or turn it into a memorialized profile that friends can still visit. Decide as a family which feels right.
- Make a place to keep their story. Amid the admin, this is the part that's actually about them — gathering the photos, the voice notes, the stories everyone tells, somewhere they won't be scattered across a dozen phones.
When you're ready — and only then — a free digital memorial page is a gentle place to gather their photos, their story and the people who loved them, all in one spot. There's no rush; it will be there whenever you feel like beginning.
Create a free memorial pageWho to notify when someone dies
Once the immediate family knows, there's a wider circle of people and institutions to inform over the following weeks. You don't have to do it in one sitting — keep a running list and tick them off as you go:
- People: extended family, close friends, their employer or colleagues, neighbours, clubs or faith communities, and anyone they cared for regularly.
- Government: Social Security (or your national pension and benefits office), the tax authority, the passport and voter registration offices, and the DMV for a driver's licence.
- Money: banks, life and health insurers, pension and retirement providers, credit card companies, and the credit bureaus.
- Home & services: the landlord or mortgage lender, utilities, phone and internet, and any subscriptions or memberships paid each month.
- Digital: email providers and social media platforms, so accounts can be closed or memorialized.
A good rule of thumb: anyone who would send them a bill, a benefit, or a birthday card eventually needs to be told.
A free digital memorial page, for when you're ready to remember
The checklist above gets the necessary things done. This part is for the person themselves. A digital memorial page holds it all in one place: their photos across the years, a video, the music they loved, the obituary you wrote, and the stories people add — and everyone who couldn't be at the service can still see it and contribute their own memory.
It's free to create and takes about five minutes. There's no deadline and no pressure — many families start it weeks or months later, when the rush has settled and there's room to remember.
Create a free memorial page
Keeping their story after everything settles
Once the paperwork is behind you, what remains is the wish to keep them close. The digital memorial page is free to create — start free, gather everyone's photos and stories, and share the link with the people who loved them. If you'd like a lasting marker later, the physical QR memorial plaque opens that same page from a garden, a bench, or a resting place — a one-time keepsake (you'll see the current price on the product page). Begin with the page whenever you're ready; the plaque can come long after.
What to do when someone dies — FAQ
Get an official pronouncement of death. In a hospital or care home, the staff handle it. If they died at home under hospice care, call the hospice; if the death was sudden and not under hospice care, call 911 or your local emergency number. After death is confirmed, nothing else is urgent in the next hour — take a breath, sit with them if you wish, and call the immediate family.
Most families need about 10 to 15 certified copies of the death certificate. Banks, insurers, pension providers, and the offices that transfer the title of a home or car each usually require their own certified copy. The funeral home typically orders them for you, and ordering a few extra at the start is far easier than requesting more later.
Start with the immediate family, then widen out: extended family, friends, and their employer; government offices such as Social Security and the tax authority; banks, insurers, pensions and the credit bureaus; the landlord or mortgage lender, utilities and subscriptions; and email and social media platforms. A simple rule: anyone who would send them a bill, a benefit, or a birthday card eventually needs to be told.
If they were under hospice care, call the hospice — they'll guide you and confirm the death. If the death was sudden or unexpected and not under hospice care, call 911 or your local emergency number. Once death is confirmed there's no need to rush; you can sit with them and gather yourself before contacting a funeral home to transfer them into care.
There's no fixed legal deadline in most places, but funerals commonly happen within one to two weeks. Faith traditions can call for a quicker burial, while waiting for relatives to travel or arranging cremation can take longer. Take the time you need — the funeral home can hold things and help you set a date that works for everyone.
A free digital memorial page is a simple place to keep their story. You can gather their photos, a video, the obituary, the music they loved, and the memories friends and family add — somewhere everyone can return to and contribute to for years. It's free to create and takes about five minutes, with no deadline to begin.
When you're ready, keep their photos, their story and the people who loved them in one place.
Free to create, in about five minutes. There's no rush — start whenever it feels right, and share the link with everyone who loved them.