What to Do When Someone Dies: A Practical UK Checklist

In the first hours after someone dies, almost nothing feels real. There's a strange in-between quality to the days that follow — paperwork on one side, grief on the other, and very little guidance on what to actually do.

This is a calm, ordered checklist. Not everything has to be done at once. Most of it doesn't have to be done by you.

In the first 24 hours

Get a medical certificate. If the death happened at home expected, call the GP. If it was sudden or unexpected, call 999. In hospital or a care home, staff will guide you. You'll be issued a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD), which you'll need to register the death.

Contact a funeral director. They can take the person into their care, which gives the rest of the family time and space. You don't have to commit to arrangements yet — choosing a director just removes the urgency.

Tell only who you need to. A partner. A parent. One or two closest people. The wider circle can wait a day. There is no prize for fast notifications.

Within five days (England, Wales, Northern Ireland)

You're legally required to register the death within five days. (In Scotland it's eight.) You do this at the local Register Office — book an appointment online. You'll need the MCCD, plus, if you have them, the deceased's birth and marriage certificates.

At the appointment you'll be given:

• A death certificate (order several certified copies — banks, insurers and pension providers all want originals, and ordering more later is slower and dearer).
• A certificate for burial or cremation (the "green form") for the funeral director.
• A reference for the Tell Us Once service.

Tell Us Once

This is one of the most useful things the UK government does. With one online or phone appointment, Tell Us Once notifies:

• HMRC
• DWP (state pension, benefits)
• DVLA
• HM Passport Office
• The local council (council tax, housing benefit, electoral register)
• Public sector pensions where applicable

Use it. It saves weeks.

In the first two weeks

Find the will. Check with the deceased's solicitor, their bank's safe custody service, their home filing, and the National Will Register. If there's no will, the estate is administered under the rules of intestacy.

Contact the bank. They will freeze the personal accounts, stop incoming direct debits, and start the process of releasing funds to the estate. Joint accounts usually continue, in the surviving holder's name.

Notify the major institutions. Anything Tell Us Once doesn't cover:

• Private pension providers
• Life insurance and any other insurers (home, car, travel, health)
• Utility companies and broadband
• The mortgage lender or landlord
• Employer or, if the person was self-employed, clients and HMRC
• Subscriptions (streaming, magazines, gym, app stores)
• Loyalty schemes that hold money or points

If the person has a Left For You guide, all of this lives in one place. If not, it's a slow trawl through bank statements, emails and bills.

In the first month or two

Apply for probate (if needed). Probate is the legal authority to deal with the estate. It's needed if the estate includes property, or if individual accounts hold more than a bank's threshold (typically £5,000 to £50,000, varies by bank). You can apply yourself via gov.uk or instruct a solicitor.

Deal with the property. If the person owned their home, you'll need to inform the mortgage lender and buildings insurer immediately, and decide in due course whether to sell, transfer or let. If they rented, give notice to the landlord.

Sort the post. Royal Mail's Bereavement Support lets you redirect mail and stop deliveries from specific senders. This quietly reduces a daily small grief.

Take care of the digital. Cancel or memorialise social media. Close the email account. Recover the photos. (See our digital life guide.)

What can wait

Almost everything else. You don't have to clear the house in the first month. You don't have to answer every letter the day it arrives. You don't have to make any decision while you're still in shock.

Set up a folder, a notebook, or a shared note with whoever is helping you, and add things as they come up. Tick them off one by one. Some weeks you will tick off five things. Some weeks none. Both are fine.

A small kindness

If you're reading this for someone else — a friend, a colleague, a neighbour — the most useful thing you can offer is specific help. Not "let me know if you need anything." Try: "I'll bring dinner Thursday." Or: "I'll sit with you while you ring the bank."

Practical, named, time-bounded. It's the help people actually accept.

If you're reading this for yourself, the kindest thing you can do for the people you love is to leave them a guide. Start yours →