Losing someone close to you is always difficult, often overwhelming, and infinitely hard to navigate. This is a time of heavy grief, and in such times the mind often wanders away from what it needs to do. Staying on task with a head so full and a heart so heavy is never realistic. So, if you do find yourself in the unfortunate position of saying goodbye to a loved one, whether it is sudden or expected, try following the guidance below to help the process along.
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Take a Day
Immediately after the event, you are likely to be in shock. Therefore it is vital to take a day to just do nothing. This doesn’t work for everyone, and some people need much longer, but it is a fundamental part of preparing for the seemingly endless administration tasks that are to follow. Allow the body to be in shock and live inside those feelings. The shock will take time to wear off but the biggest impact of all is felt when the passing first happens, or you first hear the news. One single day of feeling what you need to feel will make the next steps feel more accessible.
Let People Know
It might be the last thing on your mind, or the first, everyone is different. Telling people that the death has happened is an important prelude to planning the funeral and finding support. It may surprise you to find comfort in speaking it outloud, and people are intuitively empathetic in these types of serious circumstances.
Arrange a Funeral
Planning a funeral is somewhat bureaucratic, but there are people that can help make it easier. The involved admin is time consuming but is it normal to plan the perfect send off with a celebration of life service for a loved one as it can give closure and a point to move forward from? There are various categories of funeral service, including cremation and traditional burials but what you pick is, of course, a personal preference perhaps dictated by the loved one in question’s wishes.
The entire business model of Funeral Homes is built on expert and empathetic knowledge to enable a sympathetic, anxiety reducing way of organizing the last goodbye. It is fairly impossible to plan a service without one, so, they are a good place to start. Ingram Funeral Home is a good example of a whole service funeral home package deal that offers support, services, and advice from the beginning to the end of the process.
Get a Medical Certificate
To register a death, the family will first need a medical certificate of cause of death. This can be acquired from a hospital or medical professional involved in the final care of the relative. A key bit of admin that can’t be ignored, the MDCC doesn’t usually take too long to process so it won’t hold anything up, but it does still need doing fairly quickly. In order to issue the certificate, there has to be an official proclamation of death from a medical professional. If the loved one passed away in a care facility or a hospital, this will have occurred naturally at the time. However, if they died at home, someone needs to confirm the time of death in a professional capacity. Ensure multiple copies are acquired as they will be needed during the stages further down the line.
Tell the Official Governing Bodies
Once you have the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death, you can notify all the official parties that need to know. These are the government, mortgage companies, banks, landlords, workplaces, and anything else in this remit.
Check Their Assets
If the person lived in a house or flat, there may be security considerations. The last thing you need is a break in because a property has been left unattended, and there may be pets to take care of too. A quick visit to check the property will put your mind at rest and is the right thing to do. If there are any pets, these will need to be catered for when taking them into your own house is not an option. Find a local shelter or ask around to see if anyone close by can provide temporary accommodation until the time comes when you can address it properly.
Wrap Up the Financials
Bank accounts do need to be closed, but so do any debts left in the person’s name, any taxes, and any benefit payments. These are all financial aspects that need to get sorted out as quickly as possible but may take some time to sift through. There are also streaming services, subscription payments, monthly phone bills, internet bills and amenities to be taken care of alongside all the other official admin. The list might seem overwhelming, but it is easier to work through it as soon as possible rather than leave it to accumulate debt and confusion from providers. This will be much harder to sort out.
Find the Executor of the Will
A will executor is a person in charge of carrying out the stipulations. The assets are divided as per the will dictates and the executor makes it happen. This process can be aided by a solicitor, but it should be straightforward as these documents are legally binding in all senses of the word. Wills are physical documents usually and are often stored in a safe or with a solicitor.
Don’t Push Your Feelings Down
The grief period is different for everyone, but those feelings need to be seen and validated. Losing someone is one of the hardest things that humans have to go through. It is bound to be a time guided by harsh emotions that only become worse if left outside in the cold.
When a loved one dies, it is a heartbreaking thing. The process may take up to a year to fully complete, but it is often shorter. Yet somehow you have to find a way through that initial grief period to address all the associated administration and enable their final resting to be peaceful with their business in life concluded.
