What to do when a loved one dies: the Florida survivor's checklist

This is a list to help you, or someone you know, function in the wake of losing a loved one. There are situations and details no list can foresee. What follows should give you your footing on the basic things that will need to be handled, in roughly the order they tend to matter.

The loss of a loved one is a stressful and heartbreaking time. If we can help you or your family in any way, please let us know.

As soon as possible, within the first seven days

• Arrange for organ donation if that was your loved one's wish. Check their driver license and their health care surrogate document if you are not sure. Time matters here, so tell the medical staff right away.
• Call the funeral home, the mortuary or the medical school to arrange transportation.
• Look through your loved one's papers for a prepaid burial plan if you do not already know of one.
• Notify immediate family and close friends. An address book or an email list will carry you further than memory will.
• Arrange care for the people your loved one was caring for, especially minor or dependent children.
• Arrange care for any pets.

Securing the home and the property

• Secure the property if no one will be staying there for the time being.
• Have someone pick up the mail until you can have it forwarded.
• Cancel or suspend newspapers and any daily deliveries.
• Look for anything dangerous on the property: leaks, rodents, an unsecured pool, firearms, medications.
• Make sure vehicles are parked somewhere secure and legal, with no food left inside.

Find the will, and know Florida's ten day rule

The documents to look for

• The Last Will and Testament, and any trust documents.
• Social Security card, driver license and other identification.
• Birth certificate, marriage certificate and any divorce decree.
• Insurance policies of every kind. Contact the life insurance company early; some will work with the funeral home to help cover expenses.
• Deeds and titles to real property, and vehicle titles and registrations.
• Stock certificates and investment or brokerage statements.
• DD-214 discharge paperwork if your loved one served. Many funeral homes provide a commemorative flag in a presentation case once you can show the service record.
• Recent income tax returns and W-2 forms.
• Loan paperwork: the mortgage, auto loans, student loans.
• Monthly bills, checkbooks and credit cards, including any statements showing airline miles or points.
• Safe deposit box information, including where the key is.
• Anything else that looks important. Better to have it and not need it.

Arrangements, and the part no one warns you about

• Make the funeral, memorial or celebration of life arrangements.
• Submit the obituary to your local paper and to papers where your loved one had strong ties, whether that is where they grew up or where they spent their winters. Include the service details, any flower or donation requests, and any memorial page.
• Decide whether you want a gathering after the service, and ask friends and family to help with the location and the food.
• Do not let anyone begin removing items from the property until the will has been located and a personal representative, Florida's term for an executor, has been identified.

Within the first month

This is when you prepare to settle the estate, not when you settle it. Florida sets no deadline for opening a probate. There are expenses that have to be handled, funeral costs among them, and it is worth sitting down with a probate attorney simply to be sure everything is being done properly. That can be a single consultation. Once the rest of this section is done, you can decide whether probate is actually needed at all. One exception is worth knowing: if there is any chance of a fight over who serves as personal representative, moving early on letters of administration matters.

Death certificates

Order these through the funeral home. Florida issues both a short form and a long form; the long form includes the cause of death and is usually what a life insurance company wants with a claim. Many companies now accept a digital copy, though it is worth asking each one. A good starting point is two or three long forms if there are life insurance policies, and four or five short forms for everything else. You can always order more.

Who to notify

• Cancel the driver license, which helps prevent identity theft. In Florida, the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles handles this through its local service centers.
• Notify the county supervisor of elections so the voter registration is closed.
• Contact Social Security. The funeral home sometimes does this, so confirm rather than assume. A one-time lump-sum death payment of $255 may be available to a surviving spouse, or in some cases to an eligible child.
• If your loved one was a service member, contact the Department of Veterans Affairs about memorial and burial benefits and about survivor or dependent benefits.
• Cancel upcoming appointments, trips and events. If a trip was prepaid, ask about a refund.

Bills, credit and bank accounts

• List every monthly bill, marking which are in your loved one's name alone and which are joint. Go through the mail, the email and the bank statements so nothing is missed.
• Call the credit card companies, report the death, and ask for a freeze. Accounts in your loved one's name alone cannot be used after death. Joint accounts can still be used.
• Notify all three credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, and ask that the file be flagged "Deceased. Do Not Issue Credit" to prevent identity theft.
• Pay what keeps the household running, the utilities and jointly owned accounts, but do not agree to or schedule payment on any debt in your loved one's name alone.
• Contact every bank, including online-only banks, and ask whether accounts carry a pay on death or transfer on death beneficiary. Some banks will close a joint account and reopen it in the survivor's name once they see the death certificate.

Housing, employment and a business

• Clean out the home if no family will be staying there. Clear perishables, and consider donating what is still good to a food bank. Dispose of unused medications properly; in Florida the local sheriff's office will take them with no questions asked. Remove the garbage, and consider light timers so the house still looks lived in.
• If your loved one was renting or living in an adult or assisted living community, read the agreement for notice requirements and move-out obligations, and find out whether a refund or security deposit is owed to the estate.
• If your loved one was employed, ask the employer about accrued vacation or sick pay, an employer-paid death benefit, a final paycheck or outstanding commission, and retirement account details.
• If your loved one owned a business, contact the partners or co-owners about a succession plan, gather the articles of incorporation, stock certificates and tax records, and talk with the attorney who helped create the business.
• Take another breath here. There is a lot to do, which is exactly why you ask trusted friends and family to carry some of it. If you need a day to unplug, take it.

To be done later

• Cancel memberships in fraternities, sororities and professional organizations.
• Notify your loved one's alma mater.
• Close online accounts, including social media and email lists.
• Cancel magazines and subscription services.
• Make sure your own estate plan is complete and up to date.

What should we do after somebody dies?

This is the question families ask us most, and the answer is usually smaller than they fear. Probate is the court process that transfers assets your loved one owned in their own name alone, with no surviving co-owner and no named beneficiary. Everything else moves on its own paperwork.

Assets that usually pass without probate:

• Life insurance, retirement accounts, annuities and any account with a named beneficiary, or a pay on death or transfer on death designation.
• Accounts and real property held jointly with rights of survivorship, and property a married couple owned as tenants by the entireties.
• Anything titled in the name of a funded revocable living trust, which the successor trustee administers without the court.
• Homestead property, which passes under Florida's constitutional rules, though the court still has to confirm its status.

What is left decides which road you take. Florida's short track, summary administration, is available when the estate subject to administration, less property exempt from creditors' claims, does not exceed $150,000, or when the death was more than two years ago. Formal administration appoints a personal representative, runs a creditor period with a three month floor, and usually takes six to twelve months. Bring us the will, the death certificate and a rough list of what your loved one owned, and we will tell you which one you are looking at before you commit to anything.