What Happens After Your Loved One Dies?
What should I do if a loved one dies, and I am named executor, personal representative, or trustee?
Handling a loved one’s estate properly will save you a lot of time and prevent many headaches. Following the proper estate procedures will ensure that you are preserving the maximum value of your loved one’s estate while minimizing potential future conflicts with other family members, estate beneficiaries, and other parties.
What are things you should or should not do? What all happens after your loved one passes away? This is an inevitable event that no one wants to think about but being prepared and knowing what to do will help ease the pain for everyone involved.
What to do immediately
- Get a legal pronouncement of death whether it be from doctors, nurses, or calling 911 for paramedics.
- Arrange for organ donations according to decedent’s wishes.
- Arrange for transportation of the body and if there needs to be an autopsy or not.
- Notify immediate family.
- Notify decedent’s doctor(s).
- Notify decedent’s workplace, if they were working.
- Arrange for care of decedent’s pets.
- Secure property such as locking up residences and vehicles.
What to do after a few days
- Take care of household chores such as mail collection, throw out perishables, water plants, etc.
- Make sure place of residence has heating or cooling appropriate for the weather. You don’t want pipes to burst in winter because the heat has been shut off. You also would want to have air conditioner turned on during the summer heat.
- Prepare an obituary.
- Search for documents for cremation or burial authorization.
- Search for prepaid funeral/burial documents.
- Search for an estate plan whether it be a Will or Trust. In Wisconsin, Wills will need to be filed with the county within 30 days after someone’s passing. Trusts do not need to be filed and can be administered privately.
- Arrange for cremation, burial, and or funeral.
- Obtain death certificates. You will need multiple copies. We recommend at least 20 but it will depend on how many accounts the decedent had.
- Compile bills and debts decedent may have.
Who to contact
- Estate Planning Attorney: Find a qualified estate planning attorney who can assist you whether it be with probate court filings or administering the Trust of your loved one. You need to know what you can and cannot do when handling the finances and property of your loved one. An attorney can assist you with how to correctly transfer property and assets to beneficiaries.
- CPA or Tax Preparer: If you have access to your loved one’s most recent tax filings and who prepared it for them, it’s helpful to meet with the preparer. You will most likely need to file additional tax returns for your loved one.
- Financial Planner: If your loved one had a financial planner, it’s helpful to speak with them to see if you have the correct account information and know of all accounts. The financial planner can make the process much easier when it comes to managing assets and transferring assets to beneficiaries.
- Life Insurance Agent: If your loved one had life insurance, reach out to their life insurance agent to provide an update. The beneficiaries of the life insurance policies will need to file a claim for and submit a death certificate in order to initiate payout of the policy.
- Banks: You may need to open an estate account on behalf of the decedent or open trust accounts. With guidance from your estate planning attorney, you will know what accounts you will need to open to handle your loved one’s estate.