Practical Steps To Take After The Death Of A Loved One
A life that existed must be closed out when a person dies. Pets must be rehomed, bank accounts must be closed, funerals must be planned, bills must be paid… the list goes on. You may also be tasked with handling the legal and personal details of someone after they die. It can be a bureaucratic, stressful job that can take a chunk of time out of your life to complete. Not to mention, while doing all of this, you’re going through the grieving process.
When the death of a loved one affects your life, and if you are assigned end-of-life duties for that individual, how will you handle it all? What will you do? We have some suggestions to help you through the process immediately after someone dies, soon after they die, and later.
Immediately Upon Death
As soon as someone dies, if you are tasked with all their end-of-life processes, the following should be done immediately following the person’s death:
- Find out if they had burial plans, a pre-planned funeral, expenses set aside for their end-of-life celebration, etc.
- Notify all family members and friends.
- Though this may be handled by the staff of a nursing home or hospital, make sure that you get a death certificate. You will need several copies of a legal pronouncement of death for a number of purposes.
After Several Days
Once a death has occurred, within a few days, the following needs to be taken care of…
Take care of cremation/burial/funeral arrangements:
- Contact a business or organization that can assist with a funeral. Naturally, we suggest American Heritage Cemetery Funeral Home Crematory. No matter what type of service you or the deceased wants, we can help.
- Contact the specific organization if the deceased belonged to a religious group, fraternal group, etc. Contact the Veterans Administration if they had been in the military. Funeral services may be conducted and burial benefits may be available via these groups.
- Did the deceased have a burial plot in which they wanted to be placed after death? If so, there should be paperwork for this. Any preferences they had as to cremation, burial, type of service, etc., should be researched and arranged.
Other things that should now be taken care of:
- Notify the employer of the deceased.
- Arrange for their mail to be forwarded.
- Arrange care for any pets they may have had.
- Make sure that their property is secured.
A Couple of Weeks Following a Death
This list is lengthy, but here are a few of the high points:
- Terminate insurance policies
- Close credit cards
- Cancel driver’s license
- Notify the appropriate agencies of the death (credit bureaus, stockbrokers, financial institutions, Social Security Administration, etc.)
- Cancel any services that aren’t needed anymore
- List all bills
- Find out what assets are in existence and make an inventory
- Locate the will/executor
- The person’s will needs to go to probate
- You may wish to confer with a CPA, attorney, etc.
- … and more
Not Sure What To Do After The Death of a Loved One? We Can Help
Here at American Heritage Cemetery Funeral Home Crematory, we understand that, no matter how much you think you may be prepared, you might not be ready for the death of a loved one. Of course, there are also times when death surprises us – it catches us off guard. If someone near you has died and you are now tasked with arranging their end of life services/ceremony/funeral/etc. – but you’re not sure what to do or where to turn – rest assured, we are here for you. This is what we do! We help people through one of the hardest times of their lives.
If you’re having trouble with the grieving process, we can help you there, too. We offer assistance to those who are having an exceptionally hard time dealing with a death.
We also help with preplanning funerals, if you would like to plan ahead for your funeral or that of a loved one. Regardless of what you need in the area of funerals, memorials, cremations, burials, services, etc., contact us. We offer compassionate, caring professionals to assist you in whatever way we can.
