First 72 hours after a death
A calm, prioritized list of what to do — and what can wait — in the first three days. Most of probate isn't urgent. The first 72 hours mostly aren't either.
Almost everything you've read about 'what to do when someone dies' is too long, too scary, and front-loads the legal stuff. The truth is gentler: most things can wait. The bank isn't going to seize the house tomorrow. The IRS doesn't know yet. Probate court is open Monday.
Your first 72 hours are about three things: caring for the person who died, caring for the people who loved them, and securing a few essentials so things don't go sideways while you grieve. That's it.
Below is the calm version. We've walked through this with several thousand families. The pattern doesn't change much.
The first 24 hours
If the death was at home or somewhere unexpected, call 911 or your local non-emergency police line. They'll guide you through pronouncement and arrange transfer to the medical examiner if needed. If hospice was involved, call hospice instead — they handle pronouncement and the funeral home call.
If the death was at a hospital or facility, the staff will hand off to a funeral home you select. You don't need a funeral home pre-picked. Take an hour. Look at reviews. Call two and compare prices on direct cremation or basic services. Funeral pricing varies wildly — sometimes 3x — for the same outcome.
Once the body is in the funeral home's care, you are not on a clock anymore. Take a breath. Call the people who need to know. Sit with what just happened.
- Do: Call hospice, 911, or the facility (whichever applies). Pick a funeral home. Tell immediate family.
- Wait: Banking, legal, insurance — all of it can wait until tomorrow.
- Don't: Sign anything from the funeral home that you don't understand. Cremation is generally a one-way decision; pause if you're uncertain.
The second day — paperwork starts gently
Today is when death certificates become the central artifact of everything else. The funeral home will ask how many certified copies you want. The honest answer is 8 to 12. Banks, title companies, the IRS, the Social Security Administration, the VA, life-insurance carriers, retirement-account custodians — each will demand its own original. Ordering more upfront is far cheaper than coming back later.
If your loved one had a will, find it. Common spots: a fireproof safe, a desk file labeled 'estate' or 'important papers', a safe-deposit box (which may need its own court order to open — call us before you go), or with their attorney. Don't worry yet if you can't find it — Florida has a process for that, and many estates resolve fine without an original.
Today is also a fine day to look at the bank-account statements that arrived in the most recent mail. You're not moving money. You're just orienting: where are accounts, roughly how much, who's named.
Secure the essentials
Day three is about stopping clocks that are ticking and securing things that could disappear. Specifically: the home, the mail, the pets, and the obvious targets for opportunistic theft (jewelry, firearms, cash, prescription medications).
If your loved one lived alone, change the locks or take the key if access concerns you. Have the post office hold their mail at usps.com. Refill or rehome their pets. Take a photo inventory of jewelry, cash, and notable items — phone-camera quality is fine. This protects everyone (including you) if questions come up later.
If they had a homeowner's policy, call the insurance carrier and tell them the home is now vacant (or whether someone has moved in). Vacant-home riders are usually required after 30–60 days; a vacant uninsured home is a real risk.
What you do NOT need to do this week
There's a long list of things that can wait. Some of them you may never need to do — depending on whether probate is required at all (we have a separate guide on that question). Don't burn energy on the wrong things in week one.
- Don't open probate yet. The clock for probate doesn't start ticking just because you wait a week (or even months). There is no statutory deadline to file in Florida.
- Don't notify the IRS, file taxes, or do anything with the estate's tax ID number. That's a Day 30+ task.
- Don't distribute personal property among family. Even with the best intentions, premature distribution creates problems we have to unwind later.
- Don't sell anything. Not the car, not the boat, not jewelry. We can sell things during administration if needed — and the buyer will need clean title anyway.
- Don't sign anything from anyone offering to buy the house, settle debts, or 'help with the estate' for a fee. The vultures arrive within a week.
Common mistakes in the first 72 hours
- Ordering only 1–2 death certificates. Order 8–12. Trust us.
- Picking the first funeral home that calls. Hospitals and ME's offices sometimes refer based on relationships. Compare two — pricing differences are routinely $1,000–$3,000 for similar services.
- Cleaning out the house too fast. A weekend purge is normal grief response. Don't do it. The estate isn't yours to clean yet, and items may have value or sentimental significance you don't realize until later.
- Telling the bank. This is counterintuitive — but if joint accounts exist, sometimes the surviving owner has full access until the death is reported, and reporting too early can freeze accounts you need access to. Talk to us before notifying banks.
- Cancelling subscriptions and credit cards. Some recurring bills should keep running (homeowner's insurance, security system, lawn). We sort this with you in week 2.
What week 2 looks like
Around day 7–10, the funeral or memorial happens. After that, the gentle next-step calendar starts: locating the will, identifying assets, deciding whether probate is even necessary, and (if it is) which type of probate path applies.
We do free 30-minute consults to walk through your specific situation and tell you, plainly, what's required and what isn't. Most callers in their first week leave the call with a one-page action list and a lot less worry. That's the goal.
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