Checklist after someone dies: the first week (2026)

What is the June's Help first-week checklist?

This after death checklist is a short list of practical first steps after a death in Texas: people to ask, papers to order, and one place to keep everything. It does not cover legal steps.

The family does the nine steps itself, by phone, by mail and at the kitchen table, and the people who are helping can share them out. The sections below say where June's Help fits in.

The June's Help first-week checklist

1. Ask the funeral home whether it has told Social Security about the death. If it has not, Social Security's page on what to do when someone dies says how to report one.
2. Order certified copies of the death certificate. USAGov says a certified copy is needed for tasks such as closing or transferring bank accounts and credit cards, and the vital records office of the state where the death occurred explains how to order one.
3. Start one folder, on paper or on a computer, for everything about the estate: papers, letters and notes of calls.
4. Gather the key papers, starting with ID, the Social Security number, recent statements and insurance papers. The article on what papers to gather has the full list.
5. Make a list of who needs to be told: family and friends, employers, government offices, banks, insurers, utilities and subscriptions.
6. Put all the mail in one place, and keep every letter until someone has read it.
7. Write down the sender and the date printed on each letter.
8. Keep a short note of every call: the date, who it was with, and what was said.
9. Share the list with the people who are helping, and agree who does what.

See also: What papers to gather after someone dies, Who to notify when someone dies: the full list

Is there a right order?

No. The steps depend on the family and on the person who died. A step can wait until someone is ready for it, and if one step feels like too much, another can come first.

The list is in an order many families find natural, but it is a guide, not a schedule. When a letter prints a date, the date is worth writing down next to the sender's name.

What does June's Help do in the first week?

In the first week, June's Help asks three questions after sign-up, reads a letter from a bank, a life insurer, a pension or Social Security in plain words, and lists the dates printed on it. Signing up comes first: the family says where the estate is, ticks two boxes, gives a few details, adds a letter if it wishes, and confirms an email address with an emailed link. The three questions come after that, answered Yes, No or Not sure, and any can be skipped: is there a surviving husband or wife, did anyone depend on the person who died, and did the person serve in the military. Our own code (not AI) uses the answers only to switch steps on or off, and the page then says how many steps the plan has, in a sentence such as "Your plan is ready: 40 steps." The plan page then lists the Texas steps in six parts, and the person who signed up can tick each step done and undo it.

June reads your letters in plain words. For a letter from a bank, a life insurance company, a pension plan or Social Security, the reading names the sender, quotes the letter's own lines, says what the letter asks and shows the date printed on it. It also suggests questions to ask the sender and links the official pages that go with the letter. Each reading comes from an AI, and the person who signed up can compare each quote and date with the original letter.

For a letter of another kind, such as a court notice or a tax notice, the page for the letter gives the sender and the dates printed on it, with a label that says who can help: For your lawyer, For your accountant, For the court's self-help center or For the office that sent it. Medical bills and records are not accepted, and any that arrive are deleted at once.

With the assistant plan, a reminder email comes three days before a due date that a letter prints, and a weekly check-in email lists the next due dates.

June's Help does not make the calls, and it sends no letter or notice to a company or an office for the family. June doesn't replace your lawyer. She keeps your letters and dates ready to show one.

See also: How June's Help works: your AI estate assistant, How to keep track of the dates on estate letters

Who can help with the checklist?

Family members can share it. One person can keep the main list while others take the calls, the mail or the papers. The article on sharing the work with family has a checklist for splitting the jobs.

With the assistant plan, the person who signed up can invite a brother, a sister or another family member to a family seat, which is an extra on top of the plan. A seat holder reads the letters as June read them. The original photo, the answers to the start questions and the account stay with the person who signed up, who adds the letters and makes the changes.

See also: How to share the work of an estate with family