In the first days after a death, people are handed a great deal of paperwork and very little sense of priority. Almost none of it is urgent. One thing is: registering the death.
The rest, banks, pensions, utilities, the estate itself, will take months and can be done at a reasonable pace. Knowing which is which makes the first fortnight survivable.
Register the death within five days
In England and Wales a death must normally be registered within five days, and GOV.UK guidance on registering a death explains where and how. Registration usually happens at a register office in the area where the person died, by appointment, though a different office can take the information and pass it on.
A death cannot be registered until the medical certificate has been issued, and where the coroner is involved the process takes longer. That is not a failure on anyone's part and it does not need chasing daily.
The registrar can normally be given the information by a relative, by someone present at the death, by an official from the hospital or by the person arranging the funeral. You should take whatever documents you have — birth or marriage certificate, NHS number, address details — but the absence of a document does not prevent registration.
Order several certified copies of the death certificate at the appointment. Banks, insurers, pension providers and the probate service each want to see one, and buying them later costs more time than money.
Use Tell Us Once, if it is offered
The single most useful piece of administration available is a free government service. GOV.UK guidance on Tell Us Once explains that it reports a death to most government organisations in one go, including HMRC, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Passport Office, the DVLA, the local council and public sector pension schemes.
The registrar will either offer it during the appointment or give you a reference number to use online or by phone. It is available in most of England, Scotland and Wales, though not everywhere.
Tell Us Once does not cover banks, insurers, private pensions, utilities, landlords or mortgage lenders. Those still have to be contacted individually, and GOV.UK guidance on who to contact after a death sets out the list.
Arranging the funeral
There is no legal requirement to use a funeral director, though most families do. The two things worth knowing early are that the estate normally pays for the funeral, and that funeral directors must give you a standardised price list so costs can be compared before you commit.
Check whether the person left a prepaid funeral plan, a written wish about burial or cremation, or a nomination in their will. A wish about a funeral is not legally binding on an executor, but it is almost always followed.
Help with the cost
Funeral costs cause real hardship, and there is state support. GOV.UK guidance on the Funeral Expenses Payment explains that it may be available where you are responsible for a funeral in the UK and you receive certain benefits — including Universal Credit, Income Support, Pension Credit and some tax credits — to help with burial or cremation fees, and a contribution towards other costs.
There are conditions about your relationship to the person who died and time limits for claiming, so it is worth checking eligibility early rather than after the invoice arrives. Where a death occurred as a result of an accident at work or an industrial disease, other schemes may apply.
Bereavement benefits are separate: a surviving spouse, civil partner or, in some cases, a cohabiting partner with children may be able to claim Bereavement Support Payment.
Then the estate
Once the immediate weeks pass, attention turns to the estate: valuing what the person owned, dealing with any inheritance tax, and applying for probate where it is needed. GOV.UK sets out the whole sequence in its step-by-step guide to what to do when someone dies, and separate guidance covers applying for probate.
Do not rush to close accounts or empty a house. Executors need to record what was there and what it was worth, and possessions given away in the first week can become an awkward gap in the estate accounts.
Free, independent help is available from Citizens Advice, a registered charity, in its guidance on what to do after a death. Where legal advice is needed, the Law Society of England and Wales runs a public find a solicitor service.
Different rules elsewhere in the UK
In Scotland a death must be registered within eight days rather than five, the estate is administered through confirmation rather than probate, and mygov.scot brings the guidance together under death and bereavement. Northern Ireland has its own registration and probate arrangements, described by nidirect in its guidance on dealing with a deceased person's money and property.
