The bureaucracy of a death runs on a timeline nobody hands you. Here it is, mapped - what's urgent, what waits, and what's optional forever. Two other pieces in this library go deeper on the first week and the paperwork; this is the whole map from above.
Days 1–7 (only this is urgent)
- Register the death and order extra certified copies of the certificate - everything downstream wants one
- Funeral home engaged; their dependents and pets covered; the empty home secured
- Tell the must-know people (the scripts piece has word-for-word lines)
Weeks 2–8
- Notify the government offices: tax, pensions, benefits, licences - many countries have a tell-us-once service; ask
- Start insurance and employer-benefit claims (deadlines live here)
- Banks and the estate: deliver certificates, open the probate question (see the probate piece)
- Redirect their post; cancel the subscriptions one at a time as they surface
Months 3–12
- The estate settles at the law's pace - your job is folders, not speed
- Their belongings, at yours (the keep/give/not-yet piece is for this)
- Accounts and profiles online, when ready - never a deadline
- Their final tax matters - one accountant's hour beats twenty of yours
Optional forever
- The headstone (traditions wait a year for good reason)
- The voicemail, the chat threads, the wardrobe - keep any of it as long as it's kind to you
Print this, cross things off in pen. A crossed-off line is the only satisfaction bureaucracy offers, so take it.