h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think this would make a very useful Entry. There already is one on dealing with bereavement, but I'm thinking more of the businesslike practicalities that need to be attended to. What public bodies need to be notified, sorting out wills, graves and so on. There are a lot of things people who haven't been in that situation would probably never think of.

(prays that SWL doesn't take up the challenge)

One of the keywords which would need to be included is "probate". Eg:

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/wills.htm
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/1159.htm
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/RightsAndResponsibilities/Death/BenefitsAndMoney/DG_10029716
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/RightsAndResponsibilities/Death/index.htm
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cto/pa.htm + http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cto/pa1.htm
etc

Another one which might be worth including is "CAB" (free advisors who have done everything before zillions of times with zillions of people):
http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

Of course, customs differ from culture to culture and legalities differ from nation to nation, so it would have to be a specific 'What to do when someone dies in the UK' or be quite an involved entry. It would be very interesting, though.

Then there's the difference between "expected" and "unexpected" death. With the first you don't have to deal with police, a post-mortem and coroners. I can't even imagine how harrowing that would be for the relatives/significant others. Maybe there should be separate entries for each kind. I don't know. Maybe I could write this, but not yet.

When my father died they froze his bank account for almost a year while they investigated how he died.

Conclusion: 'Erm...we don't actually know how he died...we think he might have hit his head somewhere, but we aren't sure. Sorry about putting you into debt and forcing your family to all live off your one and only wage packet while it was all sorted out. Still, at least you're now able to access the funds you needed 11 months ago to pay for the funeral, putting your mother into residential care, and finishing all the partially complete building work that had to be done on the house before the winter arrived. What's that? The money will barely cover the costs incurred after the bank charges are repaid? Well, sorry about that, have you thought about going bankrupt?'

Actually, they didn't say any of that, they just said the result of the investigation was inconclusive and left me to pick up the pieces afterwards. The stress caused my relationship to break up and ruined my family life forever, but never mind eh? At least all the bank charges are taken care of thanks to the debt management plan I was forced to take out as a result, but am I bitter?

Well, yes, actually. I piggin' well am.

...I'll get my coat.

Radox, I've heard irt's the same here with bank accounts, it happened to my m-i-l when her husband died. Fortunately, it didn't take all that long in her case. What did I learn? In case my husband suddenly died, I'd have to go and get all the money off the bank before letting them know he's dead (or vice versa, because we have an avccount together). How sad is that?

Yeah, I know B'Elana. Wish I had done that now. If I had known how long they would take I would have done just that, but I also had to sort out power of attorney documents because of mums health and by the time that was sorted the account was well and truly locked up.

Thanks Radox, that proves my point that you really can't write an entry "What to do when someone dies" - there are so many variables, and each experience would be different.

Possibly: "What to do when someone dies unexpectedly" but then you'd need to cover murder, accident, suicide, missing/no body, etc.

It's probably better to write an entry as in Radox's case: "What happened when my father died unexpectedly" and me: "What happened after a cancer death"

Well, in any case it's good advice for those who haven't yet experienced it.

Wouldn't clearing out the account before reporting the death look a bit dodgy? Or have I been watching too much Colombo? Probably the latter.

Hmm, didn't think of that Roymondo, but you're right. It would look a bit dodgy.

You know what? I couldn't care less how that would look, after all, the children and me would need the money.