The paperwork checklist for the person who will handle your death

Someone will handle your death: arrange the funeral, find your papers, notify banks and insurers, and settle what you owe. If you leave them a clear packet, that person spends days on the work. If you leave nothing, they may spend months and still miss a life insurance policy. This post is a checklist of what to put in that packet, why each item matters, and how to keep it current, written for the person doing the leaving.

You do not need a lawyer to build most of it. You need a folder, an afternoon, and the willingness to tell one trusted person where the folder is. A will and a few legal forms need an attorney's help, and the notes below say where.

Choose the person, then tell them

Start with who. Your will names an executor, the person with legal authority to settle your estate. Your family may also have an informal helper, often a spouse or an adult child, who will do the daily work whether or not the law names them. They may be the same person or two different people. Make both known.

Then have an actual conversation. Tell them:

• That you chose them and why.
• Where the packet is kept and how they get in.
• Who else should be told, such as siblings, so no one feels surprised.
• What you want and do not want, in broad terms.

Ask whether they are willing. Executors have real duties and can be personally responsible for mistakes, so name a backup in case they cannot serve.

The core packet: eight groups of papers

1. Identity and family

• Full legal name, date and place of birth, Social Security number.
• Marriage certificate, divorce decrees, and names of children and former spouses.
• Names, addresses and phone numbers of close relatives and friends who should be notified.
• Military discharge papers, if you served. They can matter for burial benefits.

Why: the funeral home asks for these details for the death certificate, and the executor needs to prove who you were and who your heirs are.

2. Legal documents

• Your will, and the location of the original. Courts usually want the original, not a copy.
• Trusts, with the trustee's contact information.
• Durable power of attorney and health care directive, which end at death but matter until then.
• Any agreements about guardianship for minor children.

Why: only the will and trust documents say who gets what. Powers of attorney stop working at death, so the executor needs the will for authority. An estate attorney is the right person to draft or update these. See life insurance and your will for how wills and policies interact.

3. Life insurance and annuities

This is where families lose the most money, because a policy no one knows about is never claimed. For each policy list:

Include employer coverage and any group policy from a union or association. Add old policies, even those you think have lapsed, because a policy with remaining value can pay. If you cannot find your own documents, the lost life insurance policy finder and how to find a lost life insurance policy show where to look. Tell each beneficiary the company name and policy number. A beneficiary designation controls who is paid and generally overrides the will, so keep the beneficiary designation forms current.

4. Bank, investment and retirement accounts

• Institution, account type, last four digits, and location of statements.
• Any account with a named beneficiary or payable-on-death (POD) designation, and who is named.
• Retirement accounts, pensions, and annuities, with the administrator's contact.
• Safe deposit box: the bank, box number, and where the key is kept. Boxes can be hard to open after a death, so keep the most urgent papers elsewhere.

Why: accounts with named beneficiaries pass directly, while the rest may go through probate. The executor needs to know which is which. See does life insurance go through probate?.

5. Debts, bills and recurring payments

• Mortgage, car loans, credit cards, personal loans, and student loans.
• Utilities, subscriptions, and automatic payments to cancel.
• Taxes: the name of your tax preparer and where recent returns are kept.

Why: debts are generally paid from the estate and are not usually the personal responsibility of relatives who did not co-sign. what happens to your debt when you die explains how that works. A list of what is owed prevents missed bills and helps the executor decide whether to start probate.

6. Property and valuables

• Deeds, titles, and vehicle registration for what you own.
• Rental or storage units, with keys and contracts.
• Valuables, collections and heirlooms, and who should receive them.
• Pets, and who has agreed to care for them.

7. Digital life

• A list of email, cloud, financial and social accounts, with instructions for each.
• How to unlock your phone and computer. Do not write passwords in the same place as the account list; use a password manager's emergency feature, or a separate sealed note kept somewhere different.
• Photos and files you want preserved.

Why: many accounts cannot be opened without credentials, and some online accounts hold records of insurance, banking and subscriptions that would otherwise be missed.

8. Wishes and funeral plans

• Burial, cremation or another choice, and any religious or cultural wishes.
• The funeral home you prefer and whether a plan is prepaid, with the contract.
• Cemetery plot or niche details.
• People to be invited, readings, music, or a note on what you do not want.
• Your preferred obituary text.

Why: it spares the family arguments and guesswork. If you have prepaid a plan, the contract must be found promptly; otherwise the family may pay twice. what a funeral costs and how families pay for it shows what a service can cost.

A worked example: how your assets will pass

An executor's first task is to sort what goes through probate from what does not. Here is a hypothetical sorting for a widowed retiree, with made-up figures.

The probate assets total $210,000 + $9,000 + $6,000 = $225,000. The non-probate assets total $15,000 + $60,000 + $25,000 = $100,000. The whole is $325,000, but the executor controls only $225,000 of it, and the funeral bill and last debts come out of that part first, unless the family pays them from other sources. The $25,000 of life insurance cannot be used by the executor to settle debts unless the beneficiary chooses to share it. If the policy had named "my estate" as beneficiary, it would have gone through probate and become reachable by creditors, a problem covered in why naming your estate as beneficiary is usually a mistake. Probate rules and thresholds differ by state, so ask a local attorney how your state handles small estates.

Instructions that save the most time

Write short instructions in plain words, on one or two pages:

1. First calls. Who to call in the first 24 hours: doctor or hospice, funeral home, family, employer, clergy.
2. Order death certificates. Say how many to request. Insurers, banks, and agencies each want a certified copy.
3. File life insurance claims. Name the policies, the claim phone numbers and the people to file. The life insurance claim checklist lists what insurers ask for, and how to file a life insurance claim walks through the steps. For a parent's policy, see claiming a parent's life insurance after they die: the order of tasks.
4. Notify Social Security. The funeral home often reports the death, but the family should confirm. Social Security pays a $255 lump-sum death payment to certain survivors, according to the Social Security Administration, and survivors' benefits may be available; ask SSA for current rules.
5. Cancel or transfer accounts, subscriptions, and utilities.
6. Hold off on selling or giving away property until the executor has authority.

A short letter of instruction

Besides the lists, write a plain letter to your executor. It is not a legal document and does not replace the will, but it is the first thing they will read. A useful letter answers these questions in a few paragraphs:

• Who am I, and what do I want done first?
• Where are the will, the policies and the accounts list?
• Who should be called today, and who can wait?
• What do I want for a service, and what would I like to avoid?
• Which decisions did I deliberately leave to you, and which did I make already?
• Who might challenge or misunderstand my choices, and why did I make them?

That last point is worth a minute. If you leave unequal shares, change a beneficiary, or name a friend instead of a relative, say why in a calm sentence. A short explanation written by you often prevents a long argument later. Keep the tone kind; the letter may be read aloud.

Gaps that families run into

Most trouble comes from the same few gaps, and each can be closed in an afternoon.

• A beneficiary who died or moved. Review the names on each policy and account yearly, and name a contingent beneficiary. See beneficiary designation.
• A policy through work that no one remembers. Employer group life often ends or can be converted within a short window after employment stops, usually around 31 days. Note any former employer coverage.
• An old policy from decades ago. The company may have been sold or renamed. Keep the contract, even if the premium was paid long ago, and see unclaimed life insurance money and state unclaimed property for how missing money is handled.
• A funeral plan nobody knows about. A prepaid contract helps only if the family finds it before they buy another one.
• Names that do not match. If your legal name changed or an account uses a nickname, record both versions.
• An executor who lives far away or is unwell. Name a successor, and consider who will do the local work.

What to tell beneficiaries, and what not to

You do not have to share every number. A beneficiary does need to know that a policy exists, which company holds it, and how to start a claim. They do not need your full financial picture, and you may prefer to keep amounts private until a death. A balanced approach is to share the company names and policy numbers with the executor, tell each beneficiary that they are named and where to look, and keep the full financial details in the sealed packet.

If you have an ongoing family conflict, or a beneficiary who may be vulnerable to pressure, an estate attorney can suggest a structure, such as a trust, that protects the money. That is a legal question, and your state insurance department can answer general questions about how insurers handle claims.

Where to keep the packet

Pick a place that is safe and reachable. A fireproof box at home, a folder with an attorney, or a secure digital vault each works if the right person knows how to get in. Avoid a place that is locked until after probate, such as a safe deposit box that only you can open. Give your executor a copy of the index even if the originals stay elsewhere. where to keep your policy and who to tell about it has more on storage.

Avoid putting full Social Security numbers, account numbers or passwords in an email or text. A list of account names with the last four digits, and a pointer to where the full statements are kept, is safer.

Keep it current

An outdated packet is almost as bad as none. Set a yearly reminder and run through these:

• Did any policy, account, or debt change?
• Did anyone named die, move, marry or divorce?
• Has the will been updated since the last life event?
• Has the funeral plan or the executor changed?
• Does the executor still know where it is?

Write the date at the top of the index. Open the packet whenever there is a birth, death, marriage, divorce, move or new job. The checkup takes less than an hour and can save a family weeks.

For the person who finds the packet

If you are the one holding this packet, take it in order. Secure the home and papers, call the funeral home, get certified death certificates, find the will and the life insurance policies, and read the executor's duties before paying any large bill from your own money. For a step-by-step list for the days after a death, see an executor's checklist for life insurance after a death. If the estate looks complicated or short of money, an attorney can advise you on your state's rules. The state insurance department can help if an insurer is slow or unresponsive.

Key takeaways

• Name an executor and a backup, tell them, and make sure they know where the packet is and how to open it.
• List every life insurance policy and annuity with company, number, beneficiaries and contact details, including old and employer coverage.
• Separate what passes by beneficiary designation from what goes through the will; the executor only controls the second group.
• Put wishes, the funeral plan and short first-week instructions in writing, and keep passwords out of the same place as the account list.
• Review the packet once a year and after any major life event, and date the index.