What To Do When a Loved One Passes Away

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This is not an easy time for anyone but it’s important to prepare for these unfortunate events

What To Do When a Loved One Passes Away

This is not an easy time for anyone but it’s important to prepare for these unfortunate events. We encourage you to read this article, this will help you if you are in a situation of grief so it’s not completely new. You can also keep this article to use in a sad event and divide responsibilities between family members.

Step 1: Legal declaration of death

If there is no doctor present you will need to contact someone immediately to declare the death of your loved one. If it’s in hospital it could be the nurse or doctor, if you loved one is at home you could call the ambulance or the doctor.

You will need to arrange transport for the body, this can be done by the funeral parlour.

Family and friends would need to be notified and remember to call the person’s employer as they might have policies and benefits through the company.

Step 2: Within a short period of the death

Arrange the funeral and burial and prepare the obituary. There might be a funeral policy – be sure to check documents.

Step 3: Two weeks after the death

Obtain death certificates from the funeral parlour and make a few copies and you would need them for bank accounts, insurers and more.

The executor should most likely open a bank account for the estate and contact an attorney to deal with the estate.

You would need to cancel several accounts:

  • Mortgage companies and banks
  • Credit card accounts
  • Store accounts
  • Driver’s licence
  • Email accounts and other online accounts

This will be a very busy and traumatising time with a lot to do. Remember to lean on other family members and do not try to do everything yourself. Having a well-structured will can help this process a lot – remember to try keep this updated through the years.

In this article


Legal declaration of death

Within a short period of the death

Two weeks after the death
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