Checklist After Death of Parent

The death of a parent can be painful, trying and deeply saddening, but this a time you must be responsible in settling your parent’s affairs, on top of the grief and heartache. This is a comprehensive checklist that will help you go through the process after the death of a parent.

Upon Death

1. Get a Pronouncement of Legal Death

When your parent dies, you need a legal pronouncement of death in order to obtain a death certificate. If the parent died in the hospital, nursing home, or hospice, the staff will take care of it. If the parent died at home, you need a medical professional to declare that your parent is dead. The easiest way is to call 911, and they’ll take it from there.

2. Find Out If There Are After-Death Plans

Check your parent’s documents if there were any specific wishes for post-death handling and services.

Organ donation

If your parent has declared that they want their organs donated, this must be done within a few days after death.

Letters of instruction ore pre-paid plans regarding burial, funeral, or cremation arrangements

Check whether your parent left any instructions on their funeral arrangements. Would they like to be buried or cremated? If there are no letters of instruction, there might be pre-paid plans that were purchased prior to your parent’s death which would indicate a specific wish: either burial or cremation. Otherwise, the immediate family can make this decision together.

3. Arrange Care For Children And Pets

If the parent died while a minor child or pets were living with them, it is important to make arrangements for their care immediately after death. For minor children without any other surviving parent, plans for guardianship might be needed. For pets, you can find a temporary home in the meantime until permanent arrangements are made.

4. Tell Loved Ones

The immediate family should be notified of the parent’s death. The immediately family consists of the spouse and children. These family members must all discuss or decide amongst themselves how to deal with the post-death plans (funeral, burial or cremation arrangements) if no instructions were left by the parent. The type of funeral, burial or cremation arrangement will usually depend on how much will be paid and who will pay.

Close friends and extended family can be notified afterwards.

A Few Days After Death

5. Tell Employer

A few days after death, it’s important to notify the employer about the parent’s death if the parent was still working. You can also request for a computation of unpaid salaries and other benefits and inquire on whether there are life insurance benefits that may be claimed. Request a schedule on when you can pick up your parent’s personal items from the office.

6. Look for Will or Trust Documents

Check in your parent’s files whether he left a will, trust, or other end-of-life planning documents which provide for accounts, passwords, and other important information. Safeguard these documents, as they are important especially when settling your parent’s estate.

7. Secure Property and Other Valuables

Lock up the real estate property to ensure that no trespassers can break in. Ensure that the valuables, such as jewelry, cash, and art, are safe or brought home for safeguarding.

8. Forward Mail and Email

Set up a forwarding address for all email with the local post office. This will ensure that you get all bills that can help you determine which banks your parent had an account with, outstanding bills for credit cards that need to be paid, and other outstanding loans.

Access to your parent’s personal email is also important, especially since some financial institutions have become paperless and simply send bills to email. If you are able to access the email, set it up to forward mail to your email so you don’t have to regularly check your parent’s email account. If you don’t have access to the email, check whether you can access your parent’s phone or computer. If not, notify the email service provider and see what requirements you will need to present to access your parent’s email. Notably, most of the time, a court order is required.

A Few Weeks After Death

9. Get Copies of the Death Certificate

Once memorial and funeral arrangements are done, it’s time to start settling the estate. The first step is by getting certified copies of the death certificate. Get multiple copies, at least 5, because you might need to submit it to different financial institutions and even the county recorder for the transfer of real property. It’s better to be prepared than have to go through the process of requesting for death certificates all over again.

10. Start Settling the Estate

If the bank knows about your parent’s death, they will freeze the account and require the presentation of letters of administration or letters testamentary before you can access it. Consult with a lawyer on your remedies, depending on whether your parent left a will or not. An estate attorney can file a petition for probate or administration in order for an executor or administration to be appointed who can begin the process of settling the estate, transferring money in your parent’s bank accounts into the estate account, paying bills and debts, and distributing what is left to the beneficiaries.

If assets will be inherited, they need to be appraised because its value will be included in the inventory. Check with an accountant to see whether forms need to be filed, such as estate and income tax returns.

Part of settling the estate also includes the identification and payment of bills, which are the duties of the administrator/executor. If the probate process is long, you can request for the issuance of preliminary letters so you can immediately access bank accounts and begin paying bills without not incurring interests and penalties.

11. Identify Insurance Policies

Gather all insurance policies. If there is a life insurance policy, file a claim. For health insurance, cancel it. For property insurance, such as home, cars or boats, cancel the insurance only when ownership has been transferred.

12. Close Credit Cards and Cancel Services

Notify the credit card of your parent’s death. They can immediately block the card to prevent any unauthorized charges. This will also stop charges of recurring subscription services such as gym memberships, mobile carriers, Netflix, Spotify, and other services.

13. Deactivate Social Media and Email Accounts

If you have access to your parent’s social media and email accounts, it is your decision on whether you would like to deactivate it or not.

14. Notify Institutions About Death

Other institutions must be notified of your parent’s death, such as social security, veterans affairs, banks, life insurance companies, credit agencies, DMV, and voter registration office. This also prevents identity theft where third parties can steal your parent’s identities and use it for their benefit.

15. Grieve

Most of all, after all the responsibilities have been taken cared of, you should give yourself time to grieve. Losing a loved one can be challenging. Making sure that you go through the process of grieving can minimize risks of depression.

If your parent has died and you need assistance in settling the estate, we, at the Law Offices of Albert Goodwin, are here for you. We have offices in New York City, Brooklyn, NY and Queens, NY. You can call us at 212-233-1233 or send us an email at [email protected].