The First Year
The urgent work is done. What remains takes time — and deserves it.
Monitor for identity theft
Deceased identity theft doesn't stop after the accounts are closed. Criminals who have obtained the deceased's Social Security number may attempt to use it for months or years. Request a free credit report every few months for the first year from annualcreditreport.com. Any account, inquiry, or activity dated after the death is fraudulent. See protect yourself for what to do if you find something.
The final tax return
The deceased's final federal income tax return covers the period from January 1 through the date of death. The deadline is the same as a normal return — April 15 of the following year, with extensions available. If the deceased owed taxes, the estate is responsible. If they're owed a refund, the estate receives it.
A tax professional who handles estates is worth the cost here. The rules around final returns, estate returns, and inherited accounts (especially IRAs) are genuinely complex.
Digital accounts
By now you've had months to access what you need. The first year is when you can begin making decisions about digital accounts:
- Email: Download anything you want to keep, then close the account. Gmail, Outlook, and other providers have processes for next-of-kin access and account closure.
- Social media: Decide between memorialization (turns the profile into a memorial) and deletion. Facebook and Instagram can be memorialized. This decision doesn't have a deadline, and there is no right answer — only what's right for your family.
- Cloud storage: Download photos and files you want to keep before closing the account. Google Photos, Amazon Photos, iCloud — give yourself time to go through these. They may contain photos you don't have anywhere else.
See the digital accounts page for details on each platform.
Complete any remaining estate settlement
Probate, if required, typically takes 6–18 months. The executor's job is complete when all debts are paid, all assets are distributed, and the court closes the estate. If you're working with an estate attorney, they'll guide this process. If not, your county probate court has information on requirements.
What to keep and what to let go
This is the question nobody prepares you for: what do you do with their digital life?
Their emails. The photos in their phone. The notes app. The half-finished documents. The saved voicemails. The texts. There is no rule about what to keep. There is no correct answer. Some families archive everything. Others find it easier to let things go. Some people are grateful, years later, that they kept a voice message. Others find the same kind of keepsake too painful to have.
If you're not sure, wait. A decision made in the first year about what to delete doesn't have to be made today. The cloud storage fee is small. The choice can be made later, when you have more distance and more clarity about what you need.
The first year has a rhythm to it: every holiday, every birthday, every anniversary is a first without them. The grief researchers call this "the year of firsts," and the name is apt. By the second year, you've done each hard day once. That doesn't make them easy. But you know, at least, that you survived the first time.
The administrative work of this year — the final return, the last accounts, the decisions about what to keep — is part of the grief work, not separate from it. Give yourself the same patience with the paperwork that you'd give yourself with the rest of it.