House Clearance Help & Advice: Who to inform when a loved one dies

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Losing a loved one is a terrible experience, but it is life and eventually it is something which we all go through no matter how much we don’t like to think about it. During your time of grief it can be hard to think about other things, but after the family there are certain people that need to be informed. Forgetting about outstanding bills, credit cards and benefits your loved one was receiving can lead to problems which you can well do without and which only add to the stress of your loss.

Informing Old Friends

When your loved one passes away perhaps the best thing you can do is to put a death notice in the local newspaper. Your loved will probably have lots of old friends that would like to attend the funeral and say their goodbyes, this is an excellent way of informing those you have lost contact with or don’t know about.

Taking care of finances and bills

When friends have been taken care of the next factor you should take into consideration is letting everyone else know such as banks, building societies, benefits and insurance companies. Making a list can be a great idea and can help you to see which way you need to go first. Here is a list of some of the most common factors you should take into account:

If your loved one was receiving benefits then you will need to inform the Social Security office regarding the death of your loved one, so benefits can be dealt with efficiently.

Council tax benefit or housing benefit needs to be informed.

The Inland Revenue.

Gas, electricity and telephone companies all need to know.

Any hospital that the person was attending or Doctor.

If your loved one drove a car then the car insurance company needs to know.

Inform the life insurance company.

What items do I need to return?

Along with informing certain people, certain items of your loved one will also need to be returned to the appropriate people or company. Again looking around and writing a list can be helpful. Here are some of the most common items that need dealing with and returning:

If you loved one was a reader then any library books need returning to the local library.

Any benefit books need returning to the social services.

Any car registration documents.

Driving license.

Season tickets or club memberships.

Pension books or order books.

Cheque books.

National insurance papers.

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