Checklist for Things to be Done

(You may want to attach this list to your plans for final arrangements)

·      Arrange for members of family or friends to take turns answering door or phone, keeping careful record of calls.

·      Coordinate the supplying of food for the next days.

·      Arrange appropriate child care.

·      Decide on time and place of funeral memorial service(s).

·      If flowers are to be omitted, decide on appropriate memorial to which gifts may be made (such as church, library, school or charity).

·      Make list of immediate family, close friends and employer or business colleagues. Notify each by phone.

·      Prepare list of distant persons to be notified by letter and/or printed notice, and decide which to send each.

·      Write obituary. Check cost with newspaper. Some newspapers charge as much as $200 and more for death notices. In this case, a written notice may be mailed to friends. If you submit a death notice to the paper, include age, place of birth, cause of death, occupation, college degree(s), memberships held, military service, outstanding work, and list of survivors in immediate family. Give time and place of services. Deliver in person or by phone to newspaper.

·      Arrange for hospitality for visiting relatives and friends.

·      Consider special needs of the household, for cleaning, etc., which might be done by friends.

·      Select pallbearers and notify them.

·      If deceased was living alone, notify utilities and landlord and tell post office where to send mail. Take precaution against thieves, especially during the time of the funeral/memorial service.

·      Plan for disposition of flowers after funeral (e.g., hospital or rest  home).

·      Prepare list of persons to receive acknowledgements of flowers, calls, food, etc. Send appropriate acknowledgements. (Can be written notes, printed acknowledgements or some of each.)

·      Notify lawyer and executor. Get several copies of death certificate.

·      Check carefully all life and casualty insurance and death benefits, including Social Security, credit union, trade union, fraternal, military, etc. Check also on income for survivors from these sources.

·      Check promptly on all debts and installment payments. Some may carry insurance clauses that will cancel them. If there is to be a delay in meeting payments, consult with creditors and ask for more time before the payments are due.

 

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