What to Do After a Loved One Dies

If you have been named the person responsible for settling a deceased loved one’s affairs, commonly called an executor or personal representative (if your loved one had no estate plan or had a will) or a successor trustee (if they had a trust), you may find yourself overwhelmed by grief and a growing list of responsibilities. As the person in charge of winding up your loved one’s affairs, you may find yourself juggling many tasks: planning the funeral, coordinating with relatives arriving from out of town, and meeting with an attorney to start the legal process of paying for final expenses and any outstanding debts so the money and property can be distributed to the appropriate recipients. First and foremost, be sure to take care of yourself during this emotional time.

To help you manage the responsibilities now on your plate, here is a quick checklist of important steps that will make it easier when you meet with us to discuss handling your loved one’s legal affairs. Some of these tasks have important deadlines, so be sure to reach out sooner rather than later.

• Secure the deceased person’s belongings. Make sure their vehicle, home, important documents, and other valuable items are safe. This action not only protects items intended for distribution but also ensures that critical estate planning documents and information about assets are preserved and accessible as you begin settling the estate.
  
  
• Notify the post office and consider forwarding your loved one’s mail to your address. This action will help ensure that you receive the important bills, account statements, and other correspondence necessary to wind up their affairs.
  
  
• If your loved one wrote an ethical will (sometimes called a legacy statement or family letter)—a written document meant to share personal values, life lessons, hopes, and messages for future generations—consider sharing that with the appropriate people in a thoughtful way. You may even want to print and distribute copies to close family members or others who would find meaning in the words.
  
  
• Obtain several copies of the official death certificate, both short and long forms. You will need them for a variety of tasks, including working with banks, insurance companies, government agencies, and other institutions that require proof of your loved one’s death. Having multiple copies on hand will help prevent delays as you begin settling their affairs.
  
  
• Notify the Social Security Administration of your loved one’s death. Prompt notification helps prevent overpayments and ensures that any eligible survivor benefits can be processed without delay.
  
  
• Take care of any Medicare paperwork needed to report your loved one’s death. This helps ensure that future charges are stopped and the account is properly closed.
  
  
• Contact your loved one’s employer to ask about any work-related benefits (such as a final paycheck, unused vacation or sick time, or employer-provided life insurance). They can guide you on how and when these benefits will be paid.
  
  
• Notify all relevant insurance companies, starting with your loved one’s health insurance provider. Be sure to also contact insurers for life, auto, homeowner’s or renter’s, and other important policies. While some coverage may no longer be needed and can eventually be canceled, you may need to wait until you are formally appointed executor or personal representative by the probate court to take official action. That said, you can often begin gathering the necessary paperwork in the meantime to avoid delays later on.
• Gather all important estate planning documents, including the will, the trust, and any powers of attorney. Ideally, you will be able to locate the original versions (rather than electronic or photocopies), especially the original will, as probating a copy is often much more difficult and may require additional legal steps.
• Identify your loved one’s financial accounts (including bank accounts, investment accounts, retirement accounts, and life insurance policies) as well as any real property (such as their primary residence, family cottage, vacant land, or rental properties). Remember to include any business interests they may have had. Eventually, you will need to obtain valuations for each of these items, so locating recent account statements, appraisals, or other documentation now will be especially helpful later.
• Identify your loved one’s significant digital assets. This includes such things as email accounts, social media profiles, photo cloud storage, and online financial accounts. Try to locate a list of these accounts along with any log-in credentials. Access to this information can be essential for closing accounts, recovering important data, or preserving digital memories.
• Compile information about any debts, bills, or ongoing expenses your loved one may have had—such as credit cards, loans, or utility payments. It is often easiest to bring the actual statements or credit cards with you to our office, but feel free to use whatever method works best for you.
• Locate your loved one’s tax returns from the past few years, and check whether this year’s return (Form 1040) has been filed. If they had a tax preparer, consider contacting them for copies and assistance with any final filings.
• Prepare a list of your loved one’s surviving family members, including contact information when available. Even if certain relatives are not named in the trust or will, we still need to be aware of all close family members. If you know of anyone else named in the will or trust (such as a friend or a charity), please include their contact information.
• Create a list of the deceased’s professional advisors, including their financial advisor, insurance agent, tax professional, and any other relevant contacts. These individuals may have valuable information and will likely play an important role in making the administration process smoother and more efficient.
• Notify the appropriate agencies to cancel your loved one’s driver’s license, passport, voter registration, and any club or organization memberships. You should also notify the major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) of their passing. Taking these steps helps prevent identity theft and reduces the risk of receiving unwanted mail in their name.

You may be thinking about handling all the paperwork yourself. It is a tempting thought; why not keep things as simple as possible? However, taking a do-it-yourself approach to estate or trust administration can lead to costly mistakes and serious consequences for you and your loved one’s desired beneficiaries. There are many rules and legal steps involved, and even a small mistake can have big consequences.

We are here to help you steer clear of the common obstacles that may arise when settling a loved one’s affairs, so you can focus on yourself and your family during this difficult time. We can help you manage estate- and trust-related concerns as well as point you toward other useful resources. Please reach out to us at (408) 371-6000 or info@sowardslawfirm.com