For estates in Texas
Who to notify when someone dies: the full list
This page is one part of What June's Help does.
The short answer
Who to notify when someone dies: start with family and close friends, then the employer, government offices such as Social Security, banks, insurers and the credit bureaus. USAGov publishes an official list. This page turns it into a checklist a family can share, and June's Help (juneshelp.com), an AI estate assistant, reads the replies a family adds.
The checklist has eight steps, and a family can start with whichever is closest. The family tells each person and office itself, and June's Help sends no letter or notice to them.
Who needs to be told?
The groups below are a place to start. The person's mail and statements show who else belongs on the list.
The June's Help who-to-tell checklist
- Family and close friends. Agree who will call whom, so each person hears once.
- The person's employer or former employer, and any retirement plan.
- Government offices that dealt with the person. The next question lists the ones on the USAGov list.
- Banks, credit card companies and the credit bureaus.
- Insurance companies: life, home and car.
- Utilities, phone and internet providers, and a landlord or mortgage servicer.
- Memberships, subscriptions and online accounts.
- Write down who has been told, on what date, and what they said.
See also: How to tell banks, utilities and companies about a death
Which government offices are on the USAGov list?
USAGov's list includes the Social Security Administration, which notifies Medicare; the state motor vehicles office; the IRS; the Department of State, where a passport can be returned for cancellation; state social services benefits; and voter registration. When they apply, it also lists Veterans Affairs, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service for military retirees, and the Office of Personnel Management for federal retirees and employees.
USAGov says the person's Social Security number and certified copies of the death certificate are needed for most agencies and programs. For financial organizations, it says to report the death to banks, credit card companies and credit bureaus, and to contact utilities and the places where the person had memberships and subscriptions.
Who tells Social Security?
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.
USAGov says a funeral director can report the death when given the person's Social Security number, and its page on reporting a death to Social Security says how else to report one.
What about the credit bureaus?
USAGov lists the credit bureaus among the organizations to tell about a death. The IRS says to send them a copy of the death certificate, ask them to put a deceased alert on the credit reports, and watch the reports for unusual activity.
How can a family keep track of who has been told?
One shared list works, on paper or on a computer, and the family keeps it. June's Help can keep the list of organizations for you, but the family does the sending. For each person or company, write:
- The name, and how to reach them.
- The date they were told, and how: a call, a letter or a form.
- Who in the family did it.
- A reference or confirmation number, if one was given.
- What was said, and what happens next.
What does June's Help do when replies come back?
A reply or a letter that comes back can be added to June's Help as a photo. June reads your letters in plain words. For a reply 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. Each reading comes from an AI, and the person who signed up can check the quotes and dates against the original photo.
A reply from another kind of sender gets 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. A reply from a hospital, a nursing home, a pharmacy, Medicaid or a health plan is not accepted, and any that arrive are deleted from the file at once.
With the assistant plan, a due date printed on a reply gets a reminder email three days before, and a weekly check-in email lists the next due dates. The family reads the reply, decides what to do and does it. June's Help can fill in a plain letter for the family to read and send, and it sends nothing itself.
The shared list and the calls stay with the family. June doesn't replace your lawyer. She keeps your letters and dates ready to show one.
Can a relative read the replies too?
Yes, with a family seat. With the assistant plan, the person who signed up can invite another family member to a family seat, which is an extra. A seat holder reads the letters as June read them, so the people helping with the calls see the same replies.
The seat holder reads. The person who signed up adds the letters and makes the changes.
What else do people ask?
Who to contact when someone dies, and in what order?
A family can start with the closest people and agree who will call whom, so each person hears once. Then come the employer and any retirement plan, the government offices, the banks and insurers, and the utilities, memberships and subscriptions.
Is there an official list of who to notify after a death?
Yes. USAGov publishes a list of agencies and businesses to notify when someone dies. It says the person's Social Security number and certified copies of the death certificate are needed for most agencies and programs. This page turns that list into one a family can share.
Can June's Help send the notices to the people on the list?
No. The family tells each person and company itself and keeps its own shared list. June's Help sends no letter or notice to the people or offices on it. When a reply comes back as a letter, a photo of it can be added, and June reads it in plain words if it is from a bank, a life insurer, a pension or Social Security.
Do I need to notify Social Security of a death?
Ask the funeral home whether it has already told Social Security. If it has not, Social Security's page on what to do when someone dies says how to report a death and what to have ready, so the family can read it there and follow what Social Security asks.
What questions could I ask?
These can be asked by phone or in writing. They are only suggestions, and the answers come from whoever is asked.
- Does this office need a certified copy of the death certificate, or will a photocopy do?
- What does this organization need before it changes or closes the account?
- Is there a form for the account of a person who has died, and where is it?
- Will the organization confirm in writing, and when?
How can June help?
June is an AI estate assistant. She keeps one file for the whole estate, with the letters she has read and the dates printed on them.
June's Help can fill in one plain letter for each organization on the family's list, to read and send. It keeps the list of who has been told and can email a reminder to check back after two weeks. June never sends the letter. A photo of a reply is enough: June reads it in plain words and shows the date printed on it.
What June's Help does:
- Restates a letter from a bank, a life insurer, a pension or Social Security in plain words, quoting the letter's own lines, and suggests questions to ask the sender
- Lists the dates printed on the letters she reads
- Emails a reminder before each due date a letter prints, and a weekly check-in, with the assistant plan
- Says when a letter is for a lawyer, an accountant or the office that sent it, and links the official pages that go with it
- Lets a relative read the letters as she read them, with a family seat, which is an extra on the assistant plan
- Takes a PDF of a letter as well as a photo
- Looks up what your letters ask for, the dates printed on them and the next steps on your plan, and shows where each came from, on her Ask June page or when you reply to one of her emails
A letter can come now or later.
Where do the facts on this page come from?
These are the official pages the facts on this page come from. If an official page says something different, go with the official page.
USAGov
- USAGov Agencies to notify when someone dies usa.gov, official page, opens in a new tab
- USAGov Report the death of a Social Security or Medicare beneficiary usa.gov, official page, opens in a new tab