What to do when a spouse dies: a checklist (2026)

What should be done when a spouse dies?

These twelve steps are practical, not legal. A spouse's accounts, benefits and household usually run through the same few offices, so most steps are a question to ask an office rather than a form to fill in.

The June's Help checklist for when a spouse dies

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. The Texas Department of State Health Services explains how to order, and USAGov says a certified copy is needed for tasks such as closing bank accounts and credit cards. A household with joint accounts, a car and insurance often needs several, so ask each company whether a photocopy will do.
3. Ask one trusted person, a grown child, a sibling or a friend, to stay close for the first days: to answer the phone and keep the list.
4. Write a list of every account and who is named on it, for showing to a bank. For each one, put the company, the kind of account and the names on it, and leave the full numbers off the list.
5. Ask Social Security what it needs and what applies to the family, including Medicare. Social Security's survivor benefits page is where it explains its benefits, and an office can say what it needs to see.
6. Ask the employer, a pension plan or a union what it needs to see and what it holds on file, including any insurance that came through work.
7. Tell the banks and credit card companies. Ask how each one handles a joint account after a death, what it wants to see, and what happens to cards and automatic payments.
8. Go through what comes in and what goes out: pay, pensions, automatic payments, utilities in the spouse's name, subscriptions and the car and home insurance. Ask each company what it needs.
9. Put the mail in one place and keep every letter until it is read. The page of the United States Postal Service on mail for a person who has died describes the options, from forwarding to the Deceased Do Not Contact List.
10. Ask the credit bureaus for a deceased alert on the reports. The IRS page on identity theft says to send each bureau a copy of the death certificate and to watch the reports for unusual activity.
11. Look for life insurance and for money in the spouse's name. The insurance commissioners' association explains its life insurance policy locator, and ClaimItTexas searches the Texas Comptroller's unclaimed property by name.
12. Keep a note of every call and letter: the date, who it was with, and what was said. Rest between steps, and let the people who are helping take their share.

• Social Security Administration Survivor benefits Where Social Security explains its survivor benefits., official page, opens in a new tab
• Social Security Administration What to do when someone dies When and how to report a death, and the benefits Social Security describes for family members., official page, opens in a new tab
• Texas Department of State Health Services Death Records How to order a certified copy online, by mail or in person., official page, opens in a new tab

See also: Checklist after someone dies: the first week (2026), How to tell banks, utilities and companies about a death

Is there one death of a spouse checklist that fits every household?

No. A household of two retirees and a household with young children and a mortgage have different lists, so a death of a spouse checklist is a guide. What stays the same is the shape: report the death, get the certificates, find out who holds what, and ask each office what it needs. Most steps are phone calls and reading, and a friend or a grown child can sit beside the person making them.

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

What goes on the list of accounts and who is named on them?

A bank or a life insurer will ask who held the account and who is named on it, so a one-page list saves repeating it on every call. A spreadsheet or a sheet of paper works. For each account, write:

• The company, and how to reach it.
• The kind of account: checking, savings, credit card, loan, insurance, pension, utility or subscription.
• Every name on it, and whether it is joint or the spouse's alone.
• The last four digits of the number at most, never the full number.
• Whether money comes in or goes out of it by itself each month.
• The date the company was told, who told it, and what it said it needs next.

See also: How to organize a loved one's papers after a death

Who can help with the calls and the papers after a spouse dies?

Grown children, siblings and close friends often help. One person keeps the list, and the others take a call, a trip to the post office or the pile of mail.

With the assistant plan, the person who signed up for June's Help can invite a child, a sibling 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, and the account stays with the person who signed up.

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

What does June's Help do after a spouse dies?

June's Help is an AI estate assistant for the letters. June reads your letters in plain words. Much of what arrives after a spouse dies comes from a bank, a life insurer, a pension or Social Security, and for a letter from one of them the page names the sender, quotes the letter's own lines, says what it asks and shows the date printed on it, with questions to ask the sender and the official pages that go with it.

A letter of another kind gets the sender and the dates printed on it, with a label that says who can help, such as For your lawyer or For the office that sent it. Medical bills and records are not accepted, and any that arrive are deleted from the file 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. The page also asks three Yes, No or Not sure questions after sign-up and says how many steps the plan has, in a sentence such as "Your plan is ready: 40 steps." The plan page lists the steps in six parts, and a Today page shows what is next.

The calls, the accounts list and the benefits questions stay with the family, and June's Help sends no letter or notice to a company or an office. June doesn't replace your lawyer. She keeps your letters and dates ready to show one.

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

Where can a family get official help after a spouse dies?

Social Security and USAGov explain the benefits and the agencies in their own words, and the article on official help in Texas gathers the Texas pages. A lawyer can tell a family what applies to the estate.

• USAGov Dealing with the death of a loved one Report a death to government agencies, get a death certificate, and find survivor benefits., official page, opens in a new tab

See also: Where to find official help after a death in Texas