What to Do When Someone Dies: A Practical Checklist

When someone you love dies, a long list of practical tasks arrives all at once. A checklist can help you work through it piece by piece instead of feeling buried by it.

The steps below run from the moment of death through the weeks after the funeral. It's written mainly for whoever ends up carrying most of the responsibility — often a spouse, adult child, or closest relative — but anyone can use it to see where family and friends might offer real help.

There's no single correct order for these tasks; the timing depends on your particular situation. We've arranged this list so the most urgent items appear first, with tasks that can wait until later placed toward the end.

• What to handle right away
• What to handle before the funeral
• What to handle in the days and weeks after

What to handle right away

Notify the authorities

Before anything else, your loved one needs to be officially pronounced dead, and how that happens depends on where and how death occurred.

If it happens in a hospital or care facility, tell a nurse. Staff will begin the necessary process.

If it happens at home while your loved one was under hospice care — meaning the death was expected — you don't need to dial 911. Call the hospice nurse instead; they'll start the pronouncement process.

If the death is sudden and happens somewhere other than a hospital, call 911.

Find any Do Not Resuscitate order immediately

Locate a DNR order if your loved one had one. This matters most if you've already called 911 — paramedics may try to revive someone against their stated wishes unless you can show them the DNR. Having it ready avoids that.

Take a moment with your loved one, if you'd like to

Saying goodbye is entirely your right. You can tell the medical staff you need a little time before the body is moved.

Take care of organ donation if it applies

If your loved one had registered as an organ donor, medical staff need to act quickly to preserve the organs. Know their donor status and let doctors know right away so nothing is missed.

Call the funeral home

A funeral home will become one of your most valuable partners over the coming days, so reach out as soon as you can. Their first job is usually transporting your loved one's body from the home, hospital, or wherever the death occurred, which often needs to happen quickly — so this call can come before almost anything else. Planning the actual service and burial can wait a day or so if needed. If you haven't chosen a funeral home yet, think about things like cost, location, and reputation before deciding.

Tell family and close friends

You'll already have a sense of who needs to know right away. Start making calls or visits, and consider keeping a running list so you know who's been reached and who hasn't. If there's a long list of people to notify, ask others to help — just assign specific names to specific people so nothing gets missed or duplicated.

Arrange care for children, elderly dependents, or pets

If your loved one was the main caregiver for a child, an elderly relative, or a pet, someone needs to step in immediately. If you can't take them in yourself, find someone who can.

Notify the employer

If your loved one had a job, let their employer know as soon as possible so they aren't expected to show up. The employer can also arrange for outstanding work to be covered and make sure any final pay reaches the family, whether by check or direct deposit.

Secure the home

If other family members will keep living in the house, you can probably skip this step. But if your loved one lived alone, take a few precautions so the home doesn't become a target. Have the mail held at the post office, forwarded to someone else's address, or picked up regularly by a neighbor or relative. Lock every door and window, and pull any cars into the garage if possible. Setting a few lights on timers helps the house look occupied, and you can ask local police to drive by periodically to check on things.

Look for funeral pre-planning paperwork

Your loved one may have already decided on funeral arrangements and how they wanted their body handled — burial, cremation, or something else — and may even have paid in advance or bought a burial plot. Search for a body disposition form or any paperwork from a funeral home or cemetery that lays out what's already been arranged.

What to handle before the funeral

Meet with a funeral director

As you plan, think about whether relatives will be traveling from far away — if so, it may make sense to delay services by a few days. A funeral director can help you set up visitation or a wake, the funeral or memorial itself, and the burial or other disposition. They typically have relationships with local cemeteries and can guide you through that choice if you don't already have a plot. Don't hesitate to ask for help beyond the obvious — funeral directors often assist in ways families don't expect.

Write and publish an obituary

You can write the obituary yourself, or ask the funeral home to draft it or help you with it. First, check whether your loved one or another family member already wrote one in advance — that's increasingly common. When you're ready, most obituary platforms let you submit it online, and many local newspapers accept obituaries as well.

Reach out to clergy

Your loved one's spiritual leader, or your own, can offer real support in the days after a death. Let them know as soon as you can — they can offer comfort, prepare remarks if you'd like them to speak at the service, and point you toward other community resources.

Contact any military, service, or fraternal organizations

If your loved one was a veteran or belonged to a union, fraternal group, or service club, check whether they can provide a special honor at the funeral or benefits for surviving family. Reach out to see what's available.

Decide how you want the news shared on social media

You might want to hold off on sharing news of the death on social media, or avoid it altogether. Think through what you're comfortable with others posting. Since friends and family will likely want to talk about their loss online, it helps to communicate your preferences clearly so everyone's on the same page.

Choose clothing for burial or cremation

Take some time to think about clothing that reflected who your loved one was, particularly if you're planning an open casket at the visitation or service.

Gather photos and keepsakes for the service

Many visitations and funerals include a photo display or a table of mementos. Consider gathering with other family members to choose items and pictures together as a way of remembering your loved one.

Track down life insurance policies

Start the claims process for any life insurance benefits, since they can help cover funeral costs. If you're unsure where to look, check with your loved one's current or former employer.

Decide where memorial donations should go

Friends and family will likely want to give something in your loved one's memory, so decide where you'd like those donations directed. You might choose a charity that mattered to them, or ask for donations to the family instead — which can go toward funeral costs, be passed along to a charity, or split between the two.

Notify the landlord or the city

If your loved one rented their home, tell the landlord and find out the timeline for ending the lease. If they owned their home, contact the city about transferring the property tax bill if that's necessary.

Reach the wider circle of friends and colleagues

You've likely already told close family and friends, but plenty of other people — old classmates, former coworkers, members of community groups — may still need to hear the news. Sometimes it's easiest to tell one well-connected person, like the head of an alumni group, and let them pass the word along.

Order death certificates

You'll need to show a death certificate as proof in many situations — claiming insurance, explaining an absence from work, closing accounts, and more. Order at least a dozen copies. Contact the county or state vital records office where the death happened, or ask the funeral home to help you start the process.

Find the will and reach the executor

If you're named executor, start the process by contacting a lawyer or estate attorney. If there's no will, you'll need to open probate proceedings in the county court where your loved one lived. Keep in mind that the exact process can vary depending on your state's laws.

What to handle in the days and weeks that follow

Plan to clear out belongings

How quickly this needs to happen depends on the situation. If your loved one lived in a care facility, you may need to empty their room fast. If family members shared the home with them, most belongings can stay put for now, since others are still using them — though clothing and personal items will eventually need sorting. If your loved one lived alone, you'll need to go through everything in the home before it can be sold or rented out. Some things will go to family as keepsakes; others may be sold or donated.

Cancel or transfer utilities

If your loved one lived alone, several utility accounts will need attention. You may want to keep electric, gas, and water running for a while if family will be visiting to clear things out, but let the providers know about the death and move billing into your name or another relative's. Internet, home phone, and cell service should be cancelled or transferred as well. Even if family members are staying in the home, you may still need to cancel your loved one's personal cell plan so charges stop.

Notify financial and civic agencies

Several organizations need to be told about the death:

• Loan agencies. If your loved one had a mortgage, car loan, or other outstanding debt, tell the lender.
• Insurance companies. Beyond life insurance, notify carriers for auto, home, or renter's insurance so policies can be cancelled or transferred — some may include a death benefit.
• Banks and credit card companies. Cancel or transfer credit cards. Bank accounts will typically freeze once you report the death, and moving or closing them out is handled through probate.
• Credit reporting agencies. Tell the three major credit bureaus so they can flag your loved one's file as deceased — this helps prevent identity theft.
• The state election board. Your loved one's name needs to come off the voter rolls to prevent misuse. You can find contact details for your state's election office here.
• Social Security or a pension provider. If your loved one received Social Security or a pension, let the agency know.
• Medicaid and Medicare. If your loved one was enrolled in either program, notify the agency.

Order a headstone

If your loved one was buried, you'll need to arrange a headstone. The funeral home can often help get this started.

Have the house cleaned

Once belongings are mostly cleared out, consider having the home professionally cleaned. This matters most if the house needs to be sold, but it can bring comfort even if family will keep living there.

Decide what to do with social media and email accounts

Some families leave a deceased loved one's social media pages online, letting friends continue posting and their name stay in friend lists. Others find that difficult to see and prefer to close the accounts. If you'd rather not keep the profiles active, you'll need to close each one individually. The same goes for email — closing those accounts means you won't need to keep checking them.

Contact a tax preparer

Your loved one's final tax return will still need to be filed. A tax preparer can walk you through what's required.

Cancel the driver's license

Cancelling your loved one's driver's license helps guard against identity theft, so take care of this within a reasonable time after the death.

Cancel memberships

Your loved one may have belonged to gyms, clubs, political organizations, and similar groups. Cancel any paid memberships promptly to avoid unnecessary charges, and close out unpaid ones when you get the chance.

Cancel magazine and newspaper subscriptions

Cancel any print or digital subscriptions your loved one held to avoid ongoing charges, or transfer them into someone else's name if you'd like to keep receiving them.

Send thank-you notes

If people gave to a memorial fund or helped you through the days and weeks after the death, a thank-you note is a kind gesture. Sending them within a few weeks of the funeral is ideal, though most people understand if it takes longer. This is another task you can hand off — friends can help address envelopes, for instance.

Related topics: coping with loss, death certificates, end-of-life documents, funeral homes, funeral planning, funerals and memorial services, organ donation, planning resources, and settling an estate.