What You Need to Do After a Funeral

After funerals at funeral homes in Beltsville, MD, the family of the deceased will need to take care of the final affairs of their loved one. This includes handling their estate (which will typically include a will or a revocable trust), taking care of their financial affairs, and handling administrative tasks.

The first thing that should be done is hand-writing and sending thank-you notes or cards (these are provided by the funeral home) to all the people who participated in the funeral (including pallbearers and clergy), people who sent plants and flowers, people who provided meals or other gifts during the funeral process, and people who made memorial donations in the name of your deceased loved one.

The next thing that will need to be done is to start handling estate matters. If your loved one had a will or revocable trust, then the person named as executor or trustee will be responsible for handling anything related to the estate.

They will be responsible for paying any outstanding debts, making claims for life insurance and other death benefits, distributing assets to heirs or beneficiaries, and notifying the Social Security Administration (if the deceased was retired) of the death.

The executor or trustee must also cancel credit cards, online shopping accounts, and they must manage financial accounts, including transferring banking and investment accounts into the name of the executor or trustee.

If your loved one had property that was mortgaged or that has outstanding loans on them, the odds are good that the executor, if they want to retain the property, will have to get a new mortgage and loans in their name to pay off the property. If they choose not to keep the property, then they can sell it to pay off anything that is owed on the property.

None of these things can be done without death certificates. When you meet with the funeral director to plan the funeral, they will ask you how many copies of the death certificate you will need. If your loved one’s estate is not large, 20 or 25 copies of the death certificate should be sufficient. If the estate is large and there are a lot of assets, you will need more copies of the death certificate.

If you get 20 or 25 copies of the death certificate and discover later that you need more, just let the funeral director know how many more copies you need and they will be able to get them for you.

If your deceased loved one was employed, you’ve already notified their employer that they are deceased. However, you should check with the employer’s human resources department to see if there are benefits available. These would include things like outstanding pay, personal time off pay, 401(k) accounts, life insurance, and profit-sharing plans.

You should notify fraternal, social, academic, and religious organizations that your loved one belonged to of their death. You should also notify the Department of Motor Vehicles so that all vehicle licenses and titles can be transferred to the estate.

Don’t forget about digital assets. These include things like social medial accounts, email accounts, and blog accounts (if your loved one had one). If you don’t plan on using or checking the email accounts, then you can save the messages and delete the accounts.

If you’d like to know more about what to do after funerals at funeral homes in Beltsville, MD, you can talk with our knowledgeable team at Donald V. Borgwardt Funeral Home, P.A. You can visit our funeral home at 4400 Powder Mill Rd., Beltsville, MD, 20705, or you can call us today at (301) 937-1707.