How to organize a loved one's papers after a death

What is a simple way to organize the papers?

The idea is to handle each paper once: put it in the box, name it, and move it to a pile. The box, the piles and the notes page belong to the family, and the sections below say where June's Help fits in.

The June's Help paper-sorting checklist

1. Put every paper in one box or folder. Add new mail to it as it arrives.
2. Make five piles: Money and accounts, Insurance and benefits, Home and car, People and contacts, and Letters to follow up.
3. On each paper, note what it is and when it arrived. A sticky note works.
4. Keep the originals together in one place. Use copies or photos for anyone who is helping.
5. Start a notes page: the date, who was called, what was said, and what happens next.
6. Look through the piles once a week, and move each paper to the pile where it belongs.

See also: What papers to gather after someone dies

Can the papers be kept on a phone or a computer?

Yes. Photos or scans can serve as a second copy. A folder shared with the family members who are helping lets everyone see the same copies, and the originals stay in the box.

A photo works well when the paper lies flat in good light, the whole page is in the picture and the phone is held still. A photo of a Social Security card, an ID or a statement shows numbers, so the shared folder is for the people who are helping and no one else.

June's Help accepts a phone photo of a letter, so a letter can be added the day it arrives.

How does June's Help fit with the letters pile?

June's Help fits with the Letters to follow up pile. A photo of a letter can be added to the family's file. 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 quotes the letter's own lines, says what it asks, shows the date printed on it, suggests questions to ask the sender and links the official pages that go with it.

The file keeps the letters in one list, with the day each arrived and any due date printed on it. If a letter prints no date, June says so and does not make one up. With the assistant plan, a reminder email arrives three days before a due date that a letter prints, and a weekly check-in email lists the next due dates.

A letter of another kind gets the sender, the printed dates and a label that says who can help, such as For your lawyer or For your accountant. Medical bills and records are not accepted, nor are letters from a hospital, a nursing home or a health plan, and any that arrive are deleted from the file at once.

Our code (not AI) hides the names you gave us, addresses, and account and ID numbers before June reads a letter. It can miss a name it doesn't know, like a sibling's, or a very short number. Only the person who signed up can open the original photo.

See also: How to sort the letters that arrive after a death, How to keep track of the dates on estate letters

What goes on the notes page?

The notes page is one page, or one note on a phone, kept next to the box. It holds:

• For each call or visit, the date and who it was with.
• The number or address that was used.
• A reference or confirmation number, if one was given.
• What was asked and what was said.
• What happens next, and who will do it.
• For a letter, the questions the family wants to ask the sender. For a letter from a bank, a life insurer, a pension or Social Security, the reading in June's Help suggests some, under Questions you could ask.
• For each certified copy of the death certificate that is handed over, who has it, on what date, and how many are left.

What does a simple estate inventory template hold?

A simple estate inventory is a list the family makes by hand, one line for each paper or account that turns up in the box. A page with columns works, or a spreadsheet the helping family members share. A lawyer or an accountant can say what a professional wants to see, so the family can ask before it spends time on a layout.

The columns that serve most families are below. The inventory is a page the family keeps itself; June's Help holds only the letters it has read, with their printed dates, and nothing else on the list.

• What the paper or account is, in a few words.
• Who sent it or who holds it, with the phone number printed on the company's own papers.
• Where the original is kept.
• The date it arrived, and any due date printed on it.
• What the family still has to ask, and whom.
• Who in the family is following it up.

See also: Checklist after someone dies: the first week (2026)

Can the family take a copy of what June's Help holds?

Yes. Export my data, on the Account page, downloads a copy of the file as one web page: the letters as June read them, with the dates printed on them. The photos are not in the copy, so the originals stay in the box.

Delete my data, a link in the footer of the page, removes the family's letters, readings, dates and account at once. A few payment, refund and legal records stay, and encrypted backups last 30 days.

See also: How June's Help works: your AI estate assistant

Can a relative see the same letters?

Yes, with a family seat. A shared folder is how a family shares the papers, and a family seat is how a relative reads the letters in June's Help. With the assistant plan, the person who signed up can invite a relative to a seat, and each seat is an extra.

A seat holder reads the letters as June read them. A seat holder cannot add a letter, open an original photo or change anything; the person who signed up does that.

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