In the first 90 days after a death, the job is to secure things, find the paperwork, and let the real deadlines set the order. Order several certified death certificates. Find the will. Tell Social Security, the employer and the banks. Keep paying what protects the house. Then make a list of everything the person owned and owed. Very few money decisions have to be made this quarter. The ones that do include returning any Social Security paid for the month of death and, for estates large enough to need one, an estate tax return due 9 months after the death.
This guide is for the family member or executor handling the estate. If you’re the surviving spouse, our guide for widows and widowers covers survivor benefits and your own taxes. If you’re an heir, see what to do with an inheritance.
The first week
- Order death certificates. The funeral home can usually order certified copies. Banks, insurers, custodians and government offices each want one, so ask for more than you think you need.
- Arrange the funeral, and know your rights. Under the FTC’s Funeral Rule, a funeral home must give you price information on the phone, a written itemized price list when you visit, and let you buy only the items you want. It can’t refuse a casket or urn you bought elsewhere, or charge a fee to handle it. No state law requires routine embalming for every death.
- Secure the home, car and mail. Lock up, keep the insurance in force, forward the mail to the executor and look for statements as they arrive.
- Tell Social Security. Benefits end with the month before the month of death, so a payment for the month of death has to be returned. Leave the bank account open until that’s settled.
- Don’t move money yet. Don’t close accounts, sell investments, cash out retirement accounts or give away belongings. Many of those steps are hard to undo and some can only be done by the person a court appoints.
The first month
Find the documents. The will, any trust, recent statements, the last two tax returns, insurance policies, deeds and titles. If there’s a revocable living trust, the successor trustee can usually act without a court for what’s in it. Everything in the person’s name alone, with no beneficiary or co-owner, will likely go through probate, and the executor named in the will asks the court to be appointed.
Set up the estate. Once appointed, the executor applies for an employer identification number for the estate, files Form 56 to tell the IRS they’re acting as fiduciary, and opens an estate bank account. Keep the estate’s money separate from your own, and keep records of every payment.
Sort out health insurance. If the family’s coverage came through the person’s job, COBRA can continue it for a spouse and dependent children for up to 36 months.
Deal with debts calmly. The FTC says family members usually don’t have to pay a deceased relative’s debts from their own money; the estate pays them. The exceptions are debts you co-signed, a spouse in a community property state or a state that makes spouses pay certain debts such as some medical bills, and an executor who didn’t follow the state’s probate rules. Debt collectors may discuss the debts only with the spouse, the executor or a few others. Don’t pay a debt from your own pocket because a collector called.
Claim what’s owed. Life insurance, the final paycheck and any unused leave, group life cover through work, pension survivor benefits and any annuity death benefit. Each needs a death certificate and a claim form.
By day 90
Make the inventory. List every account, property and debt, with its value on the date of death. Those values matter: most inherited property takes a new cost basis equal to its value at death, so a written appraisal of the house and statements dated near the death will save the heirs tax later. Get the appraisal now, while the house is as it was.
Know the tax deadlines. The executor files the person’s final income tax return, generally due April 15 of the year after the death. The estate files its own Form 1041 for any year it has $600 or more of gross income. If the estate is over the filing threshold, $15 million for deaths in 2026, or the family wants to pass an unused exclusion to a surviving spouse, Form 706 is due 9 months after the death, with an automatic 6-month extension available on Form 4768.
Don’t distribute too early. Pay debts and taxes, or set aside enough to cover them, before handing money to heirs. IRS Publication 559 says the executor of an estate that can’t pay its debts is personally responsible for the tax owed if they knew of it, or didn’t take due care to find out, before distributing.
Leave the heirs’ decisions to the heirs. An heir who wants to refuse an inheritance, so it passes to the next in line, must disclaim in writing within 9 months and before accepting any of it. Inherited retirement accounts have their own rules, including a required withdrawal in the year of death if the owner had one due. See the inherited IRA 10-year rule.
The deadlines in one place
| What | When | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Return any Social Security for the month of death | As soon as it arrives | Family or executor |
| Elect COBRA health coverage | Within the election period in the plan’s notice | Spouse and dependents |
| Disclaim an inheritance | Within 9 months, before accepting it | Each heir |
| Estate tax return (Form 706), if required or electing portability | 9 months after death, or 15 with the extension | Executor |
| Final Form 1040 | April 15 of the year after death | Executor |
| Estate income tax return (Form 1041) | Each year the estate has $600 or more of gross income | Executor |
Common mistakes
- Closing the person’s bank account before payments in and out have settled.
- Paying debts with your own money, or paying them in the wrong order.
- Selling the house or investments in the first weeks, before knowing the values, the tax and what the heirs want.
- Splitting the money among heirs before taxes and debts are known.
- Letting the person’s advisor sell the family new products. You don’t have to keep their advisor, and insurance or an annuity is rarely the answer in the first months.
- Doing it all alone. An executor can pay for legal and tax help from the estate.
When a fee-only advisor is worth it, and what it costs
The estate attorney handles probate and the court. A CPA or enrolled agent prepares the final return and the estate’s returns. A fee-only planner’s part is the money: the inventory, which accounts to tap first, the inherited IRAs, and a plan for the surviving spouse or heirs once the estate settles.
| If you want | Option | Typical cost (US median) |
|---|---|---|
| Help with one decision, such as an inherited IRA | Hourly | $300 an hour |
| A plan for the surviving spouse or heirs | One-time plan | $2,000 |
| Ongoing help managing what was inherited | Ongoing planning fee or percentage of assets | $4,500 a year, or 1% of assets |
These are prices fee-only firms publish on their own websites, from the Wellspent fee report. A one-time plan suits this stage well: decisions in writing now, with no commitment to move money. See what a one-time plan costs. If the estate holds accounts at a firm you don’t want to stay with, see how to switch advisors.
Questions to ask a planner
- What has a deadline in the next six months, and what can wait?
- Will you work with the estate attorney and the tax preparer?
- How should the inherited retirement accounts be withdrawn, year by year?
- What will you not recommend in the first year?
- Do you or your firm earn anything other than what we pay you?
Where to look
In the public graph, start with the estate planning and tax planning specialties, or the lists of family wealth transfer specialists, advisors for retirees and advisors for multi-generational families. The retirees and multi-generational families pages show who serves those households. For the plan the person left, and the one you’ll want for yourself, see setting up an estate plan.