What to do first after a death

When someone dies, people and organisations need to be told and documents completed. Some of these things can be done by a close relative or friend; others need to be done by the executor or administrator of the estate. There's also support available to help everyone through such a difficult time.

In the first five days:

• notify the family doctor
• register the death at the Registry Office
• contact a funeral director to begin funeral arrangements

As early as possible

• contact the executor if this isn't you (usually nominated in the will to sort out the deceased's affairs) - to enable them to start the process of obtaining probate
• if there is no will, decide who will apply to sort out the deceased's affairs and contact the Probate Registry to apply for 'letters of administration'

Who else to contact as soon as possible

As well as informing people who are close to the deceased, in many cases you'll need to close down accounts, or cancel or change insurance details, subscriptions, agreements, payments or direct debits. The personal representative looking after the deceased's affairs will also need to check the value of any insurance or pension funds, savings accounts and similar and arrange payment of insurance/pension benefits and any outstanding tax or debts before distributing the remaining estate to beneficiaries.

• relatives and friends
• employer
• school
• solicitor/accountant
• the deceased's Tax Office
• National Insurance Contributions Office if they were self-employed (to cancel payments)
• Child Benefit Office (at latest within eight weeks)
• landlord or Local Authority if the deceased rented
• local authority if the deceased paid Council Tax, had a parking permit, was issued with a Blue Badge for disabled parking, or received social services help, attended day care or similar
• any private organisation/agency providing home help
• general insurance companies - contents, car, travel, medical etc (if the deceased was the first named on an insurance policy, make contact as early as possible to check that you are still insured)
• pension providers/life insurance companies
• bank/building society
• mortgage provider
• hire purchase or loan companies
• credit card providers/store cards
• utility companies if accounts were in the deceased's name
• TV/internet companies with which the deceased had subscriptions
• any other company with which the deceased may have had rental, hire purchase or loan agreements
• Royal Mail, if mail needs re-directing
• Bereavement Register and Deceased Preference Service to remove the deceased's name from mailing lists and databases
• UK Passport Agency, to return and cancel a passport
• DVLA, to return any driving licence, cancel car tax or return
• car registration documents/change ownership
• clubs, trade unions, associations with seasonal membership for cancellation and refunds
• church/regular place of worship
• social groups to which the deceased belonged
• dentist
• creditors - anyone to whom the deceased owed money
• debtors - anyone that owed the deceased money