3 Steps To Take After The Death Of A Loved One

September 16 2019 - The death of someone you love is never easy - it can take a huge toll on your emotional and mental wellbeing, and dealing with this, alongside all the practical steps you have to take after someone dies, can be overwhelming. To make this process a little easier for you, we've put together a step-by-step guide on the things you need to do after the death of a loved one.

Register The Death

One of the first things you’ll need to do when someone dies is register the death. This must be done within five days of the person dying, and that includes any weekends or national holidays. To do this, you need to obtain a medical certificate from the GP or hospital doctor, or permission from the coroner to register the death. This will then allow you to get a funeral director and bury your loved one, or if you plan on a cremation, an application which you then give to the crematorium. You also need to make all necessary parties aware of the death - the government, banks, landlords and other companies the deceased interacted with all should be told. The government now has a Tell Us Once service to inform all the departments necessary when someone dies, which makes it a little easier for you to do this.

Manage Their Will

When someone dies, you'll need to deal with the person's will, money, and property that they have left behind. This may mean you need to apply for probate, which is the legal right to deal with someone's estate. This will give you either a grant of probate if they did leave a will, or letters of administration if they didn't. You may want to contest the will, too. If you don't think that the will is legally valid (whether that's a lack of valid execution or outright fraud) or if you feel you've not been represented fairly in the Will, you can talk to the-inheritance-experts.co.uk who will look over your claim - generally, you should do this before the executor has been granted probate.

Get Support

Even though there are lots of practical things that need to be done, this doesn’t mean you should dismiss your mental wellbeing - the death of a loved one isn’t easy for anyone, and it can be difficult to move past this event. Reach out to friends and family members to support you in the grieving process and think about talking to a professional such as a therapist or counsellor if the death was particularly hard on you, whether it was a traumatic death or the person was particularly close to you. Although the death of a loved one is always going to be hard, it's important to look to the future and to keep moving, even when it seems almost impossible.

With these three tips, we hope that despite the circumstances, it will be easier for you to know what you need to do, get the support you need, and ultimately be able to move forward with peace of mind.