The first month after a loss is a blur. There are calls to make, papers to find and decisions nobody feels ready for.
This guide is the list we wish every Georgia family had on the refrigerator. It isn’t everything. It’s what usually has to happen in the first 30 days, in roughly the order it comes up.
The first few days
Make the arrangements
The funeral home or cremation provider is usually the first call after the doctor, hospice or medical examiner. They will ask for the person’s full legal name, date of birth, Social Security number, parents’ names and place of birth. That information goes on the death certificate, so it helps to have it written down ahead of time.
If the person left written wishes, such as burial or cremation, a service or not, now is when you’ll be glad they did.
Order death certificates
In Georgia, certified copies of a death certificate are ordered from the vital records office in the county where the death occurred, or from the State Office of Vital Records. The funeral home usually orders the first copies for you. You can read the state’s instructions at Georgia.gov.
Order more than you think you need. Banks, life insurance companies, pension plans, the motor vehicle office and others will each ask for one.
Secure the home and the car
If the person lived alone, lock the house, collect the mail, and take care of any pets. Keep the car insured until you know who it goes to. Don’t cancel the homeowner’s policy on an empty house.
The first two weeks
Find the will
Look in the desk, the filing cabinet, the safe and any lockbox at the bank. Ask the person’s attorney if you know who it is. In Georgia, the original will is filed with the probate court in the county where the person lived. The probate court is also where someone is formally named to handle the estate.
If there’s no will, the probate court still has a process. It just takes more steps. For general background, see our guide on will vs. trust in Georgia.
Notify Social Security
In most cases the funeral home reports the death to Social Security. It’s worth confirming.
Two things to know:
- The lump-sum death benefit is $255. It goes only to a surviving spouse who lived with the person, or to a spouse or child already eligible for benefits on that record. You can read the rules at the Social Security Administration.
- A payment for the month of passing usually has to go back. If a Social Security payment lands in the bank account after the date of passing, expect Social Security to take it back. Don’t spend it.
A surviving spouse may also qualify for monthly survivor benefits. That’s a separate application.
Check for veterans benefits
If the person served, the VA may help with burial in a national cemetery, a headstone or marker, and in some cases a burial allowance. The funeral home can help request military honors. Find the discharge papers (often called a DD-214). They’re the first thing the VA will ask for.
Find the life insurance
Look for policy statements, premium notices on bank statements, and mail from insurance companies. Each life insurance company has its own claim form. Most will want a certified death certificate and the claim form signed by the named beneficiary. The beneficiary files the claim, not the estate.
Weeks three and four
Make a list of every account
Bank accounts, credit cards, a pension, a 401(k) or IRA, utilities, phone, streaming services, the gym. The easiest way to find them is to read two or three months of bank and credit card statements line by line.
Don’t close joint bank accounts until you know what’s being paid from them. Automatic payments may still need to go out.
Protect against fraud
Thieves read obituaries. Ask each of the three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, to put a deceased flag on the person’s credit file. They’ll ask for a death certificate. Our guide on stopping the junk mail, robocalls and scams walks through the rest.
Handle the mail
The person named to handle the estate can ask the Post Office to forward mail to their own address. They’ll need to show proof of that appointment in person. Forwarded mail is often how families discover accounts nobody knew about.
Talk with the people who’ll be affected
If there’s a surviving spouse or minor children in Georgia, ask the probate court about year’s support, a Georgia process that can set aside property to support a spouse and minor children for a year. It is filed with the probate court, and the court clerk can explain the steps.
Remember that a final federal income tax return is usually still due for the year the person passed. You don’t have to sort that out in the first month. Just keep every tax form that arrives.
What you don’t have to do in 30 days
You don’t have to sell the house. You don’t have to clean out the closets. You don’t have to pay every bill the moment it arrives. Some debts are paid by the estate, not by the family personally, and some should wait until you know what the estate holds.
Give yourself permission to do the urgent things first and the rest later.
The families who have the easiest month
Leaf Cremation has served more than 5,000 Georgia families, and the people behind Leaf Planning are the ones at the table after a loss.
The families with the easiest first month had two things settled ahead of time.
How it would be paid for. Burial insurance is a small whole life insurance policy that pays your family in days. It’s also called funeral insurance or final expense life insurance. You can read how burial insurance works.
Who would handle everything else. That’s the Assist Program. Before a loss, we sit down with you to organize the will, the beneficiary forms and the account list, so your family isn’t searching drawers. After a loss, a dedicated Family Care Advisor claims the benefits, closes or transfers the accounts, places the fraud alerts and stays with the family until the list is finished. See what happens after a loss, or start with our estate checklist.
Burial insurance answers “how will it be paid for?” The Assist Program answers “who handles everything else?”
If you’ve already lost someone and didn’t get the chance to plan, our sister service Leaf Aftercare helps families through these same steps right now.
Get help from the Assist Program
If you’d like a real person to walk through this list with you, for yourself or for a parent, leave your name and number below. Someone from the Assist Program will call you back.