What to do when someone dies

Coping with grief can be extremely difficult especially when it’s still fresh.

In the event of a death, it’s important to understand what needs to be thought about. From immediately after the death to understanding who the people are that you need to contact. Below is a list of things to do after a death in the family:

Immediately after a death

It may be hard to get your head around, but there are a few important things to do immediately after a death in the family.

These include:

Get a Medical Certificate of cause of death – this can be obtained by calling the family doctor and then obtaining the Medical Certificate, which needs to be signed by the doctor. If the death is sudden or unknown, the Medical Certificate may not be issued straight away.

Notify family and friends – dependent on your relationship with the deceased, family and friends of the loved one may need to be notified. To save more grief and hard conversations, it may be worth asking people to pass on the news as you sort out the logistics of the death.

Register the death – within five days, you will need to find a registry office in the area where the person died and make an appointment to register their death.

Arrange a carer – when there is a death in the family kids, elderly parents and even pets may need to be taken care of – so getting a trusted friend or family member to help out with this can be important in the initial stages.

Notify the deceased’s employer – if the deceased was still working prior to their death, speak to their employer. Ask about remaining pay, life insurance, benefits and pension details.

Locate the will – this will then later need to go through a solicitor to ensure the will is distributed as legally wished by the deceased. This can take a few months to process.

Select a funeral home – if the deceased hasn’t already created a pre-paid funeral plan, select a funeral home to begin the process of planning their funeral.

Let people know about the death

After the initial shock and grief, it’s important to contact relevant people in order to let them know your loved one has died. Initially, as stated above, it’s important to contact their GP, employer, family and friends, and the funeral director.

You will also need to notify the following people when there has been a death in the family:

• Mortgage provider/landlord – this could be to transfer over the mortgage or start the motion of cancelling the rental contract.

• Utility companies – bills such as electricity, water and gas. These can be stopped or transferred.

• Mobile phone provider – to cancel their phone contract.

• Broadband/TV companies – to cancel or transfer over these accounts.

• Bank – or building societies, and credit card providers.

• Insurance companies – this includes home, life and car insurance.

• DVLA - to cancel their driving licence.

• Post office – create a mail forwarding to help you get any bills in order after the death.

• HMRC – this is in order to settle the tax that the loved one was currently paying.

• Local council – in order to settle the council tax bills.

• Pension providers – if you’re unsure of what pension pots the deceased may have had, you can contact the Pension Tracing service. This is a free service which searches a database of more than 200,000 workplaces to try and find the details you need.

It’s also worth contacting other services the loved one used such as their dentist, optician and any subscriptions they may have signed up to.

In some cases, you may want to deactivate social media accounts for the deceased – although, some mourners find comfort in being able to see their Facebook page in order to write loving messages to them when they’re gone, so it’s really a judgement call on what is right for you.

Having a pre-paid funeral plan in place before your death can help take the pressure off a grieving family.

That’s why The Funeralcare is here to help you to plan your own funeral. Choose from a selection of funeral plans and find the one that suits you best. For more information and advice from our team of experts, contact us today.