When a loved one passes away, it’s often very difficult to deal with the complex tasks that follow, particularly at such an emotional and difficult time. The weight of all these decisions and processes can take their toll, which is why we hope this website will help make things clearer for you.
Directly After Someone Has Died
There are a few things that need to take place in the direct aftermath of a loved one’s death.
Confirmation of Death
The first thing is to have the death confirmed by a medical professional, and the deceased will need to be moved to a mortuary or funeral director’s premises.
Death Certificate
You will need to obtain a death certificate, which is issued by a medical professional and explains how the person has died. Sometimes, a coroner will need to investigate the death further.
Register the Death
You’ll need to ‘register the death’. This will need to be done within five days in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and eight days in Scotland. To find out more about registering a death, visit the government’s website here.
Arrange the Funeral
Once you’ve registered the death, you will be issued the documents needed in order to arrange a funeral.
Shortly After Someone Has Died
It’s understandably very difficult, however, it is best to organise and put processes in place to deal with the legal matters that arise after the death of a loved one. We advise you look at this as soon as possible in order to avoid delaying the process further.
As soon as you feel able, we advise you look at the following:
Find the deceased’s will
If you are unable to find the deceased’s will it may be held at their solicitors, bank or at the Safe Custardy Department of the Principal Probate Registry in London. If there is no will, don’t panic, there is a system in place when this happens, to learn more, have a look at our wills and probate pages.
Identify the Executors of the Will
In most wills, you will find listed an executor of the will – this is a person (or a group of people) who have the authority to execute the wishes of the deceased. If there is no will, there will need to be an agreement who applies for the authority to execute the deceased’s estate.
Obtain probate forms or speak to a professional advisor
It’s best to start the process of applying for probate as soon as possible (or applying for letters of administration if there is no will). You can either do this yourself or enlist the help of a professional advisor or solicitor. If you would like some advise about using a professional, just contact our team on 0808 168 5181
There are a number of administrative/legal/tax tasks and processes that follow this. The complexity and length of time these tasks take are dependent on the complexity of each individual case.
However, putting in motion the first tasks and/or speaking to a professional advisor who can help you is always best in this situation.
To speak to an advisor, don’t hesitate to call us on 0808 168 5181
