Losing a loved one is hard enough, but dealing with a sudden death in the family can oftentimes be too much to bear. You’re not alone with the pain though with a study finding that just over 1% of those studied experienced sudden death. To help make this process easier, here are some of the steps you’ll need to take after a death in the family, from the dreaded paperwork to how to let loved ones know.
Organize a Legal Pronouncement of Death
An official declaration is the first step toward getting a death certificate, a very important document that you’ll need going forward. If your loved one died in a facility like a hospice, nursing home, or hospital then the staff will usually handle this for you. If they died at home, however, a medical professional will need to declare them dead.
To arrange this, call 911 as soon as they pass and have them transported to an emergency room. From here they can be declared dead by a doctor and moved to a funeral home.
Find Out About Existing Funeral Plans
Hopefully, you’ve had the chance to speak to your loved one about their wishes for burial. In the case of a sudden or wrongful death, however, this might not have been top of mind for anyone. Look for any instructions that you can find amongst the deceased’s paperwork and speak with other family members to decide what the funeral should look like.
Tell Friends and Family
When a sudden death occurs it’s often just the closest to the deceased who find out. While not the most pleasant task, it’s important to make sure that everyone who needs to know about the passing is told.
You can opt to make individual phone calls, send out a group text or email, and share on social media. Ask recipients to help ease the burden and spread the word by contacting any others they know that should be aware of the passing.
Death in the Family Checklist
Once you’ve made it through the first few days after your loved one’s passing, you’ll start to pick up bits and pieces of advice from people close to you and officials you need to interact with. This can be overwhelming and it’s very easy to forget important tasks that you will need to do. One suggestion to help you through this period is to create a checklist where you can record every task that needs to be done.
Here are initial tasks to include on your checklist to get you started:
- Secure your loved one’s property
- Provide care for any pets
- Forward mail
- Notify the deceased’s employer
- Get certified copies of the death certificate
The things you’ll need to work through will also depend on the circumstances of death. If you lost your loved one due to negligence, for example, you will also need to contact a lawyer as soon as possible. You can get more information from sweetlaw.com on the next steps.
Find Out More And How to Get Help
This is just a quick guide to help you navigate everything you’ll need to do when dealing with losing a loved one. You’ll quickly learn that there is a lot more that needs to get done but fortunately, there are lots of solid resources out there to help. For more on grieving tips and what you need to do when there’s a death in the family, head to our Lifestyle section.
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