What to Do When Someone Dies Checklist

The first days

In the first days, most of the work is practical: get the legal pronouncement of death, arrange the funeral or cremation, order certified copies of the death certificate (banks, insurers and courts each want one), secure the home and car, and find the will if there is one. Social Security is usually told by the funeral home.

The calendar in this tool is about the legal deadlines that start running at death. Most of them are measured in months, but the will is an exception: whoever holds it may have to deliver it to the court quickly. 18 jurisdictions set a fixed number of days in our data, and a few say immediately or as soon as the holder learns of the death.

Probate court deadlines

If the estate needs probate, the court appoints an executor (named in a will) or an administrator (when there is no will). Many deadlines then run from the appointment or from the first published notice to creditors, not from the death. Enter those dates when you have them and the tool turns them into calendar dates.

Creditors usually have a few months after the notice is published to present claims. 33 jurisdictions also set an outside limit counted from the death that bars claims even when no notice was given. See the probate guide for your state for how the process works.

Tax deadlines

The person's final federal income tax return is generally due on April 15 of the year after the death. An estate that earns income while it is being settled may need its own return (Form 1041). A federal estate tax return (Form 706) is required for large estates (and some smaller estates file one to pass the unused exclusion to a surviving spouse) and is due 9 months after death, with an automatic six-month extension to file but not to pay.

17 jurisdictions impose their own estate or inheritance tax for 2026 deaths in our data: Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Their return dates and any early-payment discount appear in the calendar.

Disclaimers, elections and benefits

An heir who does not want an inheritance can usually refuse it with a written disclaimer, but for federal tax purposes it must be made within 9 months after death (or after turning 21, if later). Some states set their own deadline. A surviving spouse may also have a deadline to claim an elective share or allowances.

Social Security pays a one-time $255 death payment to an eligible spouse or child; the application is due within 2 years after death. Veterans' burial benefits have their own window. The calendar lists both with their sources.

Key deadlines by state

The headline court and tax deadlines for each jurisdiction. The calendar has the full list, the exceptions and the sources. Each state links its probate guide.