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The First Month

The documentation is in hand. Now comes the actual closure work.

Financial accounts

With death certificates in hand and legal authority established (either as executor under a will or administrator appointed by the court), you can begin formally closing financial accounts.

Bank accounts

Go in person to the bank. Bring: certified death certificate, your government-issued ID, and letters testamentary or letters of administration if you have them. See the bank accounts guide for details on what to expect.

Credit cards

Contact each issuer. Provide the death certificate. Cancel the cards. If there's a balance, it becomes a debt of the estate — not your personal debt unless you were a joint account holder. See the credit cards guide for details on what collectors can and cannot do.

Investment and retirement accounts

401(k), IRA, and brokerage accounts. Contact the financial institution. If there are named beneficiaries, those designations supersede the will — the beneficiary receives the funds directly, outside of probate. For inherited IRAs, the tax rules are significant; consult a financial advisor before making any distributions.

File life insurance claims

Contact the insurance company with the policy number and a death certificate. Beneficiaries file claims directly. If you can't find the policy, check your state's unclaimed property database or use the NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator at eapps.naic.org. Most claims process within 30–60 days.

Notify the credit bureaus

This is important and often overlooked. Contact Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to place a deceased alert on the credit file. This prevents identity thieves from opening new accounts in the deceased's name — a crime called deceased identity theft that is more common than most people realize. See the protect yourself page for details.

Each will require a copy of the death certificate. Mail or submit online. Do all three.

Cancel subscriptions and recurring services

Now that you have your list from the first week, begin canceling. For step-by-step cancellation instructions on specific services, see CancelFreely — detailed instructions for 100+ subscription services. When calling on behalf of a deceased person, you'll typically need to provide a death certificate and your relationship to the deceased.

Not everything needs to be canceled immediately. The what can wait page has a prioritized list.

Utilities

If the home is being vacated, contact gas, electric, water, trash, and sewer providers. Ask for final meter reads and final billing. If the home is being maintained, transfer the accounts to another name. Most utilities require a death certificate and will work with the estate on timing.

Begin probate if necessary

Not every estate requires probate. Small estates (below your state's threshold) may qualify for simplified processes. Estates with only jointly-held property or assets with named beneficiaries may pass outside of probate entirely. If probate is required, consult an estate attorney — this is where professional help genuinely earns its cost.

If you've done the financial accounts, the credit bureaus, and the most critical subscriptions, you've done the month's most important work. Digital accounts, social media, loyalty programs, and email archival can wait. They'll still be there when you're ready.

By the first month, the casseroles have stopped arriving. The cards have slowed. The people who came to help have gone back to their lives. And you are still here, still making phone calls, still spelling their name for strangers, still saying the words.

This is the part nobody talks about — the long administrative tail of someone's life. It's not dramatic. It's just hard. You can do it. Not all at once. A little at a time.