The first 90 days after a death: money tasks in a sensible order

The money work after a death arrives all at once and in no particular order: a stack of mail, a bank that wants papers, an employer asking questions, a funeral bill. The way through is to impose an order. Do the tasks that stop damage first, the tasks that start money moving second and the tasks that can wait last.

This post lays out ninety days in that order, week by week. It is a general sequence for a household where one adult has died, written for the person who is handling the paperwork, whether as executor, spouse, adult child or the family member who simply picked it up. Rules and timing differ by state, by account and by plan, so treat it as a frame and adjust it with the executor, an estate attorney or a tax professional where the amounts or the situation are large. Nothing here is legal or tax advice. The earlier days are covered in the first 72 hours after a death: what matters before any insurance claim.

The principle behind the order

Three questions sort nearly every task.

1. Does waiting cost money or create risk? Missed payments, unprotected accounts, mail piling up and identity theft fall here. Do these first.
2. Does it unlock money the household needs? Life insurance claims, final paychecks, survivor benefits and access to accounts. Do these next.
3. Can it wait without harm? Dividing property, closing accounts, selling a home, investing a payout. Hold these until the household is steady and the estate's debts are known.

Keep one notebook or folder for everything. Record the date, the organization, the person you spoke to and what you were told. In ninety days that record becomes the most valuable thing you own.

Week 1 (days 4 to 7): stop the damage and get the paper

• Order enough certified death certificates. If the funeral home did not, order more from the state or county vital records office. How to estimate a number is in death certificates for a claim: how to decide how many to order. Many tasks below cannot start without one.
• Find out who is the legal decision-maker. If there is a will, find it and the named executor. If there is no will, the court appoints an administrator, usually a close relative. Until someone has legal authority, avoid moving money out of the person's accounts.
• Redirect the mail. Ask the post office about forwarding the person's mail to the person handling the estate. Mail is how bills, policy statements and account notices arrive, and it is also how identity thieves work.
• Tell the employer. Ask for the final paycheck and any unused pay, group life insurance forms, retirement plan information and the dates health coverage ends for any dependents.
• Pay the urgent bills. Rent or mortgage, utilities, insurance on the home and car. If a payment cannot be made, call the lender before the due date and explain.
• Do not cancel the person's phone or email yet. You may need them for account recovery and for messages from insurers and banks.

Week 2 (days 8 to 14): find the policies and start the list

By now the household has caught its breath. This is the time to learn what money exists.

1. List the possible life insurance. Check files, mail, bank and card statements for premium payments, the employer's benefits office, any union or association and the person's agent or financial adviser. The how to find a lost life insurance policy guide has a full search method, and the lost life insurance policy finder tool turns it into a checklist.
2. Submit the national and state searches. The NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator and state unclaimed property databases cost nothing. Be skeptical of anyone who asks for a fee. See unclaimed life insurance money and state unclaimed property.
3. Start a second list: other money. Bank accounts, retirement accounts, pensions, annuities, brokerage accounts, savings bonds, safe deposit boxes and money owed to the person.
4. Start a third list: debts and bills. Mortgage, loans, credit cards, medical bills, taxes. The general rule is that debts are paid from the estate rather than by family members, with exceptions for co-signers, joint account holders and some community property situations, as explained in what happens to your debt when you die.

Weeks 3 and 4 (days 15 to 28): file the claims and notify the agencies

With the lists started, begin the claims that bring money in.

• File life insurance claims. Ask each insurer for its claim form, send the certified death certificate and keep copies. If the claim is for an individual policy with a named beneficiary, the process is described in how to file a life insurance claim, and the life insurance claim checklist helps organize the paperwork. For a policy that names the estate or a trust, expect to provide court or trust documents.
• Contact the Social Security Administration. The funeral home usually reports the death, but confirm. Ask about survivor benefits for a spouse, children or dependent parents and the $255 lump-sum death payment. The details are in Social Security survivor benefits and the $255 death payment. Payments made for the month of death generally must be returned.
• Contact pension administrators, the VA if relevant and any annuity companies. Survivor options on pensions and annuities may have claim forms of their own.
• Notify the three credit bureaus. Ask each to flag the file as deceased to reduce the risk of identity theft. Only the executor or a close family member can usually do this, and the bureau will explain what it needs.
• Tell the banks. Ask what each bank requires. Accounts in the person's sole name are typically frozen or restricted until an executor has authority. Joint accounts and accounts with a payable-on-death beneficiary often pass directly.
• Keep a log of claims. For each: where sent, date, claim number, who is handling it, what was promised.

A note on timing

Insurers differ in how fast they pay. A straightforward claim from a named beneficiary often moves in a matter of weeks, while a death inside the first two years of a policy, a pending cause of death or a competing claim takes longer. Interest on late benefits is governed by state law and the policy; ask the insurer, and see the state insurance department if a claim seems stalled.

Weeks 5 to 8 (days 29 to 56): the estate and the accounts

Now the legal side of the estate comes into view.

• Begin probate if it is needed. The executor takes the will to the local court, which issues documents giving authority to act. Whether probate is needed depends on the state and on how assets are titled. Life insurance with a named beneficiary and accounts with a named beneficiary generally pass outside probate, as described in does life insurance go through probate?. An attorney can say how a simple estate works in your state.
• Obtain a tax ID for the estate and open an estate account. The executor usually needs an employer identification number from the IRS and a bank account in the estate's name. Pay estate bills from that account rather than from personal money, and keep receipts.
• Notify creditors. The executor can send written notice and respond to claims. Do not pay a creditor from personal funds unless you are certain you are liable. Many states set a window for creditors to file claims.
• Inventory the assets. List everything the person owned and its approximate value at the date of death. This record matters for taxes and for distributing property.
• Look at the retirement accounts with care. Beneficiaries of retirement plans and IRAs have options that depend on their relationship to the owner and on the account, and the rules for required withdrawals are technical. Ask the plan administrator for the beneficiary packet and speak to a tax professional before moving money.
• Handle subscriptions and recurring charges. Cancel what is no longer needed, one at a time, once you have confirmed what each is. Some accounts, such as the person's primary email, can wait.
• Check vehicles and property. Insurance on the home and car must stay in force. Title changes can be done later.

Weeks 9 to 13 (days 57 to 90): taxes, your own plan and the long view

By the third month the immediate crisis has passed. This is the time to look forward.

• Talk to a tax professional about the final returns. The person's final income tax return is generally due on the normal date in the year after death, and the estate may have its own filing duties. Federal estate tax applies only to very large estates: the basic exclusion is $15,000,000 per person in 2026, according to the IRS. Some states have their own estate or inheritance taxes. The professional can tell you which filings apply.
• Understand the tax treatment of insurance. Death benefits paid to a named beneficiary are generally free of income tax under federal law, though interest paid on a delayed benefit is generally taxable. If the benefit is large or the estate is, ask a tax professional.
• Decide what to do with proceeds slowly. Many advisers suggest that a new recipient park a payout somewhere safe, such as an insured bank account within its deposit limits, while the household settles. Check the bank's limits first, and avoid anything urgent or high-pressure. For the beneficiary's first decisions, see receiving a death benefit as a surviving spouse: what to do before spending.
• Check your own beneficiary forms and coverage. A death often shows what was missing in someone's plan. Update your own policies, accounts and will, and look at whether your family's coverage still fits. The audit your beneficiaries: a worksheet for every policy and employer plan gives a way to do the first part.
• Close or transfer what is settled. Once debts are known and the executor says it is safe, close accounts, transfer titles and distribute property as the will or state law directs.
• Take stock of benefits that may continue. Health coverage options for dependents, pension survivor benefits and Social Security survivor payments all have their own timelines.

A hypothetical ninety days

Say Elena's husband, Marcus, 52, dies suddenly in January. They have two children, a mortgage, and Marcus had a $400,000 term policy bought two years earlier plus employer life insurance at one year of salary.

In the first week Elena orders ten certified copies of the death certificate, redirects Marcus's mail and calls his employer. In week two she finds the term policy in a file and learns from HR about the employer coverage. She also writes down every account she knows of. In week three she files both life insurance claims and calls Social Security. Because Marcus died within two years of buying the term policy, the insurer reviews the application and asks for medical records; she sends the provider list the same day. The employer claim pays first, in about a month. The term claim takes longer. In week six she meets an attorney, who explains that most of their assets have named beneficiaries or joint ownership and that probate may be minimal. In month three she meets a tax professional about the final return, puts the proceeds in an insured account within its limits and begins looking at what her family needs next.

None of these steps required speed. They required order.

When the person handling this is also grieving

It helps to be honest about capacity. Many people who take on this work are also the closest mourner, and the tasks above add up to many hours. Three habits keep it manageable.

• Batch the calls. Pick two blocks a week for phone calls and paperwork, and leave the rest of the days alone. An organization that cannot help in one call will not help faster in five.
• Share the list. A sibling, a friend or an adult child can take a defined set: the utilities, the subscriptions, the credit bureaus. Give them a copy of the notebook entries, not your passwords.
• Use written confirmation. After each call, ask the organization to confirm what it needs in writing, or send a short follow-up message. Memory is unreliable in grief, and a paper trail rescues disputes later.

If the work becomes more than one person can carry, paying a professional for part of it, such as an attorney for probate or a tax professional for the returns, is a reasonable use of a small share of the estate.

What can safely wait

• Selling the house, a car or other large property.
• Investing or lending any insurance proceeds.
• Dividing keepsakes among relatives, beyond what is agreed with the executor.
• Closing the person's email or social accounts.
• Settling every minor account. A small, forgotten account can be handled in month six.
• Paying off debts early out of a payout before knowing the full picture, in particular low-interest debts.

Who to call

• An estate attorney, when there is a will contest, a business, real estate in more than one state, a large estate or any family conflict.
• A tax professional, for the final returns, the estate's returns and inherited retirement accounts.
• The state insurance department, if a life insurance claim is stalled with no clear reason.
• A nonprofit credit counselor or the CFPB's resources, if debts exceed assets and collectors are calling.
• A fee-only financial planner, for guidance on a large payout, after the first months have passed.

Key takeaways

• Order the work by risk: first stop damage (mail, bills, accounts), then start money moving (insurance, Social Security, final pay), then handle the estate and taxes.
• Order more certified death certificates than you expect to need, and keep one notebook recording every call and claim.
• Life insurance claims are best filed in weeks two to four, once policies are found and certificates are in hand.
• Debts are generally paid from the estate, not by family, so do not pay from your own money until you know you are liable.
• Large decisions about property, investments and proceeds can wait for the second and third month, and an attorney and tax professional are worth consulting for estates and inherited retirement accounts.