What to do when someone dies in England and Wales:
in 20 steps for next of kin and executors
1) Death: Gather information to work out that this person has died. This may mean having a good enough relationship with them in life that you know their usual communication and travel patterns. In some cases this is simple to find out - if you are present in the hospital, for example - but it can take some time to work out if, for instance, the person lives alone as has died
2) Take time: If appropriate, you may take time to be the person after their death. You can spend a few minutes, hours or arrange to spend a few days with them. If you would like to stay with them longer than a day, call a local funeral director to ask for options. When you're ready, allow the funeral director to take the person into their care
3) Inform others: Inform family and friends about the death by phone if possible. If relevant, contact their work
4) Register the death: Register the death within 5 days at the registrar local to where the death took place. You can do this by phone. It is this registration that will create the death certificate. You can use the About section in Whenn to complete the registration of their death and death certificate https://www.gov.uk/register-a-death
5) Will and last testament: Find the original will. This may be with solicitors, will writers or in a safe place at home. Note who the executors are - these are the people legally appointed to deal with the affairs of the person who has died. If there is no will, next of kin become the administrators of the estate
6) Expenses: You will notice, that you start paying expenses here and there, e.g. for the death certificate and funeral director. There will be many bills to pay in the next year or so. Keep every receipt in an envelope. Later in the process - if there are funds available - you will be repaid these expenses from the estate. In fact, they reduce the inheritance tax bill, if there is one, so definitely keep these receipts
7) Funeral: Arrange the funeral. This includes choosing the form of interment (cremation, burial, other) and the ceremonies you would like to have to allow mourners to mark the death
8) Self-care: At all times, try to look after yourself and give yourself space and time. You are grieving too
9) Administration: Start the next part of being the executor, which slowly shuts down the things the person has left behind
10) Inform the UK government: Use the system number on the death certificate to activate the UK Government's "Tell us once" service. This way, the pensions, tax, benefits, vehicle and local council all hear about it at once. It's a great service - but you'll have to transfer the person's car tax into your name https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/organisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once
11) Inform banks: These steps are where Whenn really comes into its own. Inform each of the person's banks that the death has occurred. The banks will need to see the death certificate, the will and your ID
12) Inform suppliers: Contact all the person's suppliers: car insurance, home insurance, wifi provider, pension funds (if any exist outside the state pension), gas supplier, electricity, TV package provider, landlord or building management company. Some of these may need to be transferred into your name, others are just informed and stopped. You may need to renew insurance policies because some are invalidated when the policy holder dies.
13) Valuations: If the person owns their home, get three probate valuations by estate agents. Also value other expensive items
14) Inheritance tax: You have 6 months from the date of death to pay inheritance tax and apply for probate. An oddity of the UK system is that the person who has died, for whose affairs the executor is now legally responsible, has taxes to pay if their cash and property is over a certain value (about £325k with a few extra rules). These need to be paid before the executor can sell their property (the stuff that is worth the £325k+). This may mean taking out a loan to pay the tax before you're able to sell the property, for example.
In the first few months, you need to get a handle on how much their estate - any money in their accounts, their belongings, any property they own minus their debt and bills - is worth at the time of death. This is the amount you'll be charged inheritance tax on. Private pensions are mostly not included in this figure
15) Probate: If they have more than about £5k in their bank account, or own big things like a home, you'll almost certainly have to apply for probate. This gives you the legal ownership of the property they own so that you, as executor, are able to sell or do with the property what it says in the will
I used this great probate company called UK probate to sort out the accounting and probate application. They cost about £3k to do everything. I think they were well worth it.
16) Belongings: Wherever the person lived, whether it's in rented or owned property, the belongings will need to be sorted through to see which belongings will be kept by the beneficiaries and which will go to charity, be sold or thrown away.
17) Bills: In the meantime, whichever bills the person would have paid will need to be paid. Since the bank accounts are frozen at the start, this mostly needs to be paid by you bill by bill
18) Close accounts: Once the property has had its contract ended, or is sold, you can pay the final bills and close those accounts.
19) Distribute to beneficiaries: After probate has been granted, any funds in bank accounts and from property sold need to go into an executor bank account. Pay the executors their expenses - based on the receipts from the last year - and distribute any funds to the beneficiaries according to the will. Make sure you hold back 10% in case of unexpected bills or expenses that arise. Once everything is complete, you can pay out the final amount.
20) Accounts: There's a final set of financial accounts to be done at the end.
Whenn app
We can prepare better for death in the digital age. Whenn is an app for people of all ages to note and share important information with next of kin to reference after death www.whenn.com