The first 72 hours after a death: what matters before any insurance claim

In the first three days after a death, almost nothing about life insurance is urgent. The things that are urgent are people, the body, the home and a short list of decisions about the funeral. A claim can wait until the family has slept, and insurers do not penalize a beneficiary for waiting a week or two to file.

Two insurance tasks do deserve a little attention early: knowing where the policies are, and not signing anything that hands the money over before you understand it. Everything else in this timeline is about getting through the days in a sensible order. The sequence below is general. Practices differ by state, by the place of death and by the family's religion and traditions, and a funeral director, a hospice nurse or the medical examiner's office can tell you what applies where you are.

Hour 0 to 6: pronouncement and the first calls

What happens first depends on where and how the person died.

• In a hospital or care facility. Staff will pronounce the death, notify the physician and help the family with next steps. They will ask which funeral home to release the body to and will usually allow some time with the person.
• At home under hospice care. The family usually calls the hospice's number rather than emergency services. A hospice nurse typically comes to confirm the death and can often call the funeral home.
• At home without hospice, or in an unexpected or unattended death. Call emergency services (911 in most of the U.S.). Police and emergency staff will respond, and in many cases the medical examiner or coroner becomes involved. That can delay the release of the body and the death certificate. It is routine, not an accusation.

Who to tell first. Call the people who need to be there or would be hurt to learn from someone else: immediate family, a close friend who can take over tasks and, if the person had one, a religious or spiritual adviser. If there are children, pets or a dependent adult at home, arrange care for them before anything else.

What to leave alone. You do not need to find documents, call banks or contact insurers on the first night. If you are the person in charge, make a note of the time of death, the name of the person who pronounced it and the name of any officer who responded. That information appears on later forms.

Hour 6 to 24: the funeral home and the first decisions

The funeral home is usually the first business you will deal with. A few facts help.

1. You can choose the funeral home. If the hospital or hospice suggests one, you are not bound to it. If you are choosing for the first time, call two or three for their General Price List.
2. The Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule gives you rights. According to the FTC, you can get prices by phone, receive an itemized written price list, buy only the goods and services you want and decline embalming in most circumstances. The details are in what a funeral costs and how families pay for it.
3. Take someone with you. A second person to listen and ask questions is a real help when you are tired and grieving.
4. Do not feel pressed to decide everything now. A direct cremation or immediate burial, if that is the family's choice, can be arranged simply, and memorial services can be planned later.
5. Ask for the written statement of goods and services before you pay. The Funeral Rule requires one.

The funeral home will typically offer to handle the death certificate paperwork. The funeral director files the certificate with the state or county after the doctor or medical examiner completes the medical section. This is why certificates can be delayed when the cause of death is pending.

The first insurance-related decision: how many certificates

A certified death certificate is the proof of death an insurer, bank or agency will require. Each organization generally wants its own certified copy, and the fee per copy is usually modest. Ask the funeral director to order more than you think you need on the first request, since reordering later takes time. How to estimate a number is covered in death certificates for a claim: how to decide how many to order. A common starting point is to count the likely uses: each life insurer, each bank or brokerage, a retirement plan administrator, the Social Security Administration for survivor benefits, the motor vehicle office and any property transfers.

Hour 24 to 48: securing the home and the papers

By the second day, the practical details start to appear. This is the point to protect what the person left behind.

• Secure the home. If the person lived alone, lock the home, collect the mail and arrange care for any pets and plants. Keys, spare keys and the garage opener are worth finding. Notices of a death in the obituary can attract burglars, so ask someone to look in on the home during the service.
• Collect, do not sort. Put the wallet, phone, laptop, address book, files and any lockbox in one safe place. Resist the urge to throw out papers. The envelope that looks like junk may be an annual policy statement.
• Do not make decisions about valuable property. Wait before dividing, selling or giving away possessions. Disputes usually begin here.
• Be careful with passwords. Do not log into accounts you are not authorized to access. The executor, once appointed, has legal authority. Until then, simply keep devices safe.
• Watch for the unexpected visitor. Scammers read obituaries. A caller who says the person owed money, or that an insurance payout needs a fee, is not legitimate. See unclaimed money and heir-finder scams for common schemes.

Find the will, if there is one. Ask the family, the person's attorney and the bank about the location of a will, and check for a safe deposit box listing. Do not open or destroy it. The named executor will need it.

Hour 48 to 72: write the obituary, plan the service, keep notes

Many families spend the third day on the obituary and the service. A few cautions:

• Share less than you think in the obituary. Full birth dates, mother's maiden name and home address can help identity thieves. Use the year of birth rather than the full date and do not publish the address of a vacant home during the service.
• Keep a running list of who has been called, what was ordered and what you were told. A single notebook is better than scraps.
• Ask a trusted person to hold the money questions while the family grieves, such as paying the first bills or answering the executor's request for information.
• Keep paying what must be paid. A mortgage or rent payment, a car loan or utilities may come due. Missing a payment because of grief can cause avoidable trouble. Call the lender and explain; they have heard it before.

The insurance steps worth doing early

Within the first three days, two things are useful, and neither involves filing a claim.

1. Find out what coverage exists

Look for policies in the person's files, mail and email, and ask the employer's HR department about group coverage. You do not need to finish the search now, but start a list. If you think there may be a policy that no one can find, the how to find a lost life insurance policy guide and the lost life insurance policy finder tool explain where to look. Note the insurer, the policy number if known and the owner's name.

2. Do not sign a funeral payment arrangement until you understand it

Funeral homes will sometimes ask a beneficiary to sign an assignment, which directs a portion of the insurance money to the funeral home when it arrives. This can be convenient when the family does not have cash, but it also commits part of the benefit. assigning life insurance to a funeral home covers how assignments work, what they cost and what to read before you sign. If an assignment is the only way to proceed, ask to see the amount, the fees and what happens if the policy does not pay.

What can wait

• Filing the claim. There is no need to file on day three. A claim moves faster when the family has the certified certificate, the policy number and a clear head, and the usual steps are in how to file a life insurance claim.
• Deciding how to take the money. Lump sum or installments can be chosen when the claim is filed.
• Cancelling anything. Wait before cancelling the person's insurance, phone or accounts. Some may be needed for the estate, and some, such as health coverage for a surviving spouse or children, may need to continue or be replaced without a gap.
• Big financial moves. Do not invest, lend or give money away in the first weeks. See the first-90-days post for the order of money tasks: the first 90 days after a death: money tasks in a sensible order.

If the death was sudden, or far from home

Some situations change the sequence.

• A medical examiner or coroner is involved. The office may keep the body for examination, and the death certificate may show the cause as pending. Ask the office how long it expects the process to take and who to call for updates. A funeral home can still begin planning. Insurers often wait for a final cause of death before deciding some claims, so tell the claims department about the delay when you file, and see documents you need for a life insurance claim for how a pending certificate is handled.
• The person died in another state. The funeral home at the place of death can usually coordinate with one near home, including transport. Ask for an estimate of the cost of transport before agreeing, since it can be a large line on the bill.
• The person died abroad. The U.S. embassy or consulate can help with the local paperwork and report the death. This adds steps for an insurance claim later, which are covered in filing a life insurance claim when the death happens abroad.
• The person was a veteran or an active-duty service member. Military and veterans' offices have their own notification procedures and burial benefits, and families can ask the funeral home to help with those.
• The household depended on the person's paycheck. Tell the employer within the first few days and ask about final pay, group life insurance and health coverage dates. The employer's benefits office can also say what coverage ended and what deadlines apply to continuing it, since some rights to keep group coverage have short windows.

Social Security needs to be told of a death, and the funeral home usually reports it. Confirm that it has, and ask the Social Security Administration about survivor benefits later, in the weeks that follow. The survivor rules and the $255 lump-sum payment are described in Social Security survivor benefits and the $255 death payment.

A hypothetical three days

Say Maya's father, Anil, 74, dies at home under hospice care on a Tuesday evening. Maya calls the hospice, whose nurse confirms the death and calls the funeral home Maya has chosen. That night Maya calls her brother and her father's closest friend. On Wednesday she and her brother visit the funeral home and ask for the price list. They choose a cremation with a short memorial service the following week, and they ask the director to order eight certified death certificates. Maya notes in a notebook that her father had a life insurance policy through his former employer and a small policy bought years ago, and that she has no policy numbers.

On Thursday she locks her father's house, collects mail and puts his files in a box. A man calls saying he represents "the insurance company" and needs a fee to release a payout; she hangs up and writes down the number. She does not file any claim. In week two, with certificates in hand and files sorted, she starts the policy search.

Nothing dramatic happened, and that is the point. The family spent three days on the person and the plans, and the insurance work waited for its turn.

A short checklist for the first three days

1. Note the time of death and who pronounced it.
2. Notify immediate family and arrange care for dependents and pets.
3. Choose a funeral home; get the price list; ask for the written statement.
4. Ask the funeral director to order extra certified death certificates.
5. Secure the home, the mail and the papers; do not discard anything.
6. Look for the will and write down where it is.
7. Start a list of known insurance and benefit sources.
8. Do not sign over insurance money until you understand the terms.
9. Keep paying urgent bills, and call lenders if you cannot.
10. Ignore unsolicited callers who ask for money or personal data.

For the tasks that follow, the life insurance claim checklist organizes what to send an insurer.

Key takeaways

• Nothing about a life insurance claim is urgent in the first three days; people, the funeral and the home come first.
• Ask the funeral director to order more certified death certificates than you expect to need, since each insurer and agency usually wants its own.
• Start a list of possible policies and employer coverage, but wait to file claims until the paperwork is in hand.
• Do not sign a funeral payment assignment without understanding what portion of the benefit it commits.
• Avoid big financial moves, do not cancel accounts yet and be wary of callers asking for fees or personal data.