What to do when someone dies?

The most strenuous part of life is to lose your loved ones. The phase that follows the demise of a loved one can be nothing less than a purgatory, and everyone has their ways to grief.

While there is very little one could do to soothe or alleviate the pain, having a list of what to do when you lose someone could help you ease the process.

Things to do When Someone Dies 

If you are looking after the affairs of the death of your family member or loved ones, there are certain things you need to be prepared for. Since the circumstances may differ, there might be some differences in the following steps, but the overall process remains the same.

Here are the steps that will help you know what exactly needs to be done when someone dies at their home, abroad, at night, if the demise was unanticipated, or if it was due to a prolonged illness.

1. Get Hold Of all Death related documents 

It is essential to obtain all the death-related documents to access the bank and other financial details of that person, and to initiate the reviewing of the will if needed. File the request for life insurance, and take care of other private affairs. Apart from that, you’ll require copies of the death certificates that could be made available to you from a funeral home, hospital, or a general practitioner. The process of getting the death certificate shouldn’t take long as it is provided to the family members after the examination. In most cases, this process does not take more than a few days.

2. Inform Related Parties

It is important to inform the related people about the demise. You can personally inform the family members and close friends about the passing. If the person was working for a company, you call their employer, ask about the benefits and salary. You can enquire if there was any life insurance policy from the company’s end.

Here is the list of people whom you can inform first.

• Family members 
• Close Friends
• Peers and Co-Workers 
• Employer 
• School and College acquaintances

After informing their friends and family members, you then need to make some official calls. These calls may include anyone such as government officials, banks, and insurance companies. 

Banks and other financial institutions – This may be a little tricky as one may not be aware of the finances of the deceased. It then becomes very important for you to look for the banking statements or the papers of the mortgage companies he or she was dealing with, and inform them about the unfortunate incident.

Brokers and financial advisors – It could become really hard to get hold of brokers and financial advisors who dealt with that person. You can look for documents and papers in the deceased’s wallet, cupboard or check their contact lists.

Insurance provider – You can reach out to the companies that may have insured the deceased and check any death benefits his/her family could get.

Making the Final Arrangements

The final arrangements are dependent upon the deceased’s final wishes before they draw their last breath. But if the death was unanticipated, you can check with the family members and decide how to honor their loved ones. There are various options you can look for, such as.

• Memorial services 
• Open Casket viewing 
• Cremations 

But before you decide on these, make sure you have made the below arrangements.

• Body Transportation: You can take the help of a funeral home with this.

• Book a Casket – You can order a casket from a funeral home or book it online.

• Book a Funeral Director –  You can look for a priest, pastor, or clergyman who could help you with final rites. But if the deceased wasn’t religious, you can look for a non-denominational minister or a family member to perform the final service.

In the end, it becomes very vital to know if the deceased wanted to donate their organs for research-science or transplantation.

Make Funeral Arrangements.

Making arrangements for the funeral can be very emotional and exhausting, but it is something that needs to be done. Here are a few steps you can follow to ensure your loved one gets an adoring final goodbye.

• Issuing an obituary: Writing a death announcement for your loved ones could be extremely tough and heartbreaking. Today there are tools and resources available to help you write one, but they won’t do any justice to your feelings and love for the deceased. You can write your heart down as your final words for the one that’s gone.

• Sending invites – You wouldn’t want people close to your loved ones to miss the chance to see them for one last time. You can get this done by sending out invites through emails, texts, phone calls, or the death announcement in the local newspaper.

• Decide the type of memorial -The kind of memorial depends upon the deceased person’s final wish. It could be ceremonial or traditional, gathering plenty, or just a family affair.

It is well understood that the process could be tiring and emotionally exhausting for many. That’s why there are funeral homes that provide some essential services to make that process easier. The websites are designed to make all the facilities available to you in one place with a single click. They help arrange the funeral, write obituaries, provide you legal advice, and calculate the funeral cost.