What to do when someone dies: a step-by-step checklist
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My uncle died on a Wednesday. By Thursday morning, my aunt was being asked to choose a casket, authorize an autopsy, and provide his Social Security number — all while she couldn't remember whether she'd eaten since the phone call. She kept saying "I don't know where anything is." Not about his belongings. About the steps. Nobody had told her the sequence.
What to do when someone dies is not something most people have rehearsed. You're handed an enormous administrative task at the exact moment you're least equipped to handle it. So this checklist exists to give you the sequence my aunt didn't have. Not every item will apply to your situation. Take what's useful. Skip what isn't. Come back when you're ready for the next part.
The first few hours
The first thing to do depends on where the person died.
If they died at home with hospice care, call the hospice nurse. They'll come to the home, confirm the death, and guide you on next steps. You do not need to call 911 in this situation.
If they died at home without hospice care, call 911. Paramedics will respond to confirm the death. If the death was unexpected, the coroner or medical examiner may need to investigate. This isn't an accusation; it's standard procedure for unattended deaths.
If they died in a hospital or care facility, staff will walk you through their process. They'll ask about funeral home preferences and whether you'd like time with the body.
In all cases, there's no rush to leave the room. You can sit with the person. You can take your time. The logistics can wait a few hours.
One practical note: if you don't already have a funeral home in mind, ask the hospital or hospice for recommendations. You don't have to decide immediately, but the body will need to be transported within a few hours.
The first 24 to 48 hours
Once the immediate shock settles slightly (or sometimes before it does), a list of phone calls begins.
Notify close family and friends. You don't have to do this alone. Ask one person to be your phone-call deputy: they call the next five people, each of those people calls others. Chain-of-contact saves you from repeating the worst sentence of your life forty times.
Contact a funeral home. Even if you haven't planned a service yet, the funeral home handles body transport, filing the death certificate with the state, and coordinating with the cemetery or crematory. The Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule requires funeral homes to provide itemized pricing before you commit to anything.
Locate important documents. You'll need the deceased person's Social Security number, birth certificate, marriage certificate (if applicable), military discharge papers (DD-214 for veterans), life insurance policies, and their will or trust. If you don't know where these are, check a home safe, filing cabinet, or bank safe deposit box. This is the step where having documents organized ahead of time makes an enormous difference for the people left behind.
Secure the home if the person lived alone. Lock up, collect mail, check on pets. Ask a neighbor to keep an eye on things. It's worth knowing that obituary-based burglaries do happen: thieves read death notices to find empty homes during services. Don't post service times publicly if you can avoid it.
The first week: paperwork and decisions
This is where the administrative weight lands. You'll be making decisions about funeral arrangements, notifying institutions, and filing paperwork, all while grief brain makes everything take twice as long.
Order death certificates
Ask the funeral director to order certified copies of the death certificate. Get at least 10 to 12. Every bank, insurance company, government agency, and financial institution will want their own original copy, and most won't accept photocopies. In most states, certified copies cost $10 to $25 each through the vital records office.
Notify the Social Security Administration
Call the SSA at 1-800-772-1213. If the deceased was receiving Social Security payments, those need to stop. Any payments received after the date of death must be returned. If you're a surviving spouse or dependent child, you may be eligible for survivor benefits or a one-time death payment of $255. SSA's survivor benefits page explains eligibility.
Contact the employer (if applicable)
The employer's HR department needs to know. Ask about final paychecks, accrued PTO payouts, pension or retirement account beneficiary claims, and whether the deceased had employer-provided life insurance.
Notify banks and financial institutions
Call each bank, credit union, and brokerage where the deceased held accounts. Don't close joint accounts you still use. Just notify the bank that one account holder has died and ask what they need from you. For individual accounts, you'll typically need a death certificate and proof that you're the executor or next of kin.
Plan the funeral or memorial service
This is the part that can feel impossible to think about clearly. Some decisions you might face:
- Burial or cremation
- Religious ceremony, secular memorial, or celebration of life
- Open or closed casket
- Location (funeral home chapel, church, outdoor space, family home)
- Who speaks, what music plays, what photos to display
If the person left written wishes, follow them. If they didn't, think about what felt like them. My friend's dad wanted "no ties and no crying, just whiskey and stories." That's not everyone's funeral, but it was his.
Notify the post office
File a change-of-address form or ask the post office to hold or forward the deceased person's mail. This prevents mail from piling up and helps you catch bills or correspondence you might otherwise miss.
Weeks two through four
The visitors go home. The casseroles stop arriving. And you still have a list.
File the will with probate court
If the deceased had a will, file it with your local probate court. In most states, you're required to file the will within 30 days of the death, whether or not formal probate proceedings are needed. The executor named in the will petitions the court for authority to manage the estate.
If there's no will, the court appoints an administrator and the estate passes according to your state's intestacy laws — which may not match what the person would have wanted.
Contact life insurance companies
File claims on any life insurance policies. You'll need the policy number, a certified death certificate, and a claim form from the insurer. Most companies pay out within 30 to 60 days of receiving a complete claim.
Handle ongoing bills and subscriptions
Cancel or transfer utilities, phone plans, streaming services, gym memberships, and subscriptions. Some companies make this surprisingly difficult. Keep the death certificate handy — you'll be faxing and uploading it more than you'd think.
For online accounts, each platform has different procedures. Facebook allows memorialization or deletion. Google has an Inactive Account Manager. Apple has a Legacy Contact feature. Many others require you to email support with a death certificate attached.
Notify credit reporting agencies
Contact Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to place a "deceased" alert on the person's credit report. This helps prevent identity theft, which — disgustingly — targets deceased people at a rate 800% higher than the general population according to Experian.
File final tax returns
The deceased person's final income tax return is due by April 15 of the following year (or the normal filing deadline). If the estate earns income during probate, it may also need its own tax return (Form 1041). A tax preparer or CPA familiar with estate returns can help here.
What you don't have to do right now
Grief creates a false urgency around everything. People will tell you to "go through their things while it's fresh" or "get the house on the market before you lose momentum." You don't have to do any of that on anyone else's timeline.
Things that can wait months (or longer):
- Sorting through personal belongings and clothing
- Selling or cleaning out the home
- Making major financial decisions about inheritance
- Deciding what to do with sentimental items
- Writing thank-you notes for flowers and sympathy cards (people understand)
A grief counselor I spoke with put it this way: "The administrative stuff has deadlines. The emotional stuff doesn't. Do what has a due date. The rest will be there when you're ready."
A note about doing this alone
If you can, don't. Delegate the phone calls. Let someone else sit on hold with the insurance company. Accept the friend who says "what can I do?" and hand them a specific task: "Can you call the cable company and cancel his account? Here's the info."
If you're the person offering help to someone who's grieving, the most useful thing you can say isn't "let me know if you need anything." It's "I'm going to handle X unless you tell me not to." Specificity matters when someone is too tired to think of what they need. There's more on this in our guide on how to cope with the death of a parent, though the advice applies to any loss.
Quick-reference checklist
First hours:
- Call hospice, 911, or notify hospital staff
- Spend time with the person if you want to
- Contact a funeral home for body transport
First 48 hours:
- Notify immediate family and close friends
- Begin funeral planning
- Locate will, insurance policies, and important documents
- Secure the deceased's home
First week:
- Order 10-12 certified death certificates
- Notify Social Security Administration
- Contact employer / HR
- Notify banks and financial institutions
- Plan and hold funeral or memorial service
- File change of address with post office
Weeks 2-4:
- File will with probate court
- Claim life insurance benefits
- Cancel or transfer bills and subscriptions
- Place deceased alert with credit bureaus
- Begin handling online and digital accounts
When you're ready:
- File final tax returns
- Sort through belongings
- Distribute assets per the will
- Write an obituary if you haven't yet
If you're reading this because someone just died, I'm sorry you're here. The list above is long, but you don't have to do it all today. You just need to know what comes next so you can take it one step at a time. When I Die Files helps people organize their documents, letters, and final wishes in one place so the people they love don't have to search for anything during the hardest week of their lives.