What Do I Need to Do After Someone Dies?

When someone dies, there are important legal and administrative steps you must take in a specific order. This article walks you through registering the death, arranging the funeral, and beginning to deal with the deceased person's estate. Understanding these steps will help you navigate what can be...

Registering the death

After someone dies, their doctor must confirm the death before contacting the medical examiner. A medical examiner (a senior doctor who was not involved in the person's care) will check the cause of death to make sure it's accurate.

The medical examiner's office will contact you to explain the cause of death and answer any questions you have about the healthcare provided before the person died. Speaking to them is voluntary.

You must wait for the medical examiner's office to confirm you can register the death. Once you receive this confirmation, you must register the death within 5 days (8 days in Scotland). This includes weekends and bank holidays. If you need more than 5 days, tell the register office immediately.

When a coroner is involved

If a death is reported to a coroner, the documents you need to register the death may be different. The coroner will try to find out how the person died and will release the body for cremation or burial once they've carried out their examinations.

The coroner might decide they do not need to investigate. If so, the medical examiner will contact you to confirm you can register the death as normal.

If the coroner finds the cause of death is clear, they'll issue a certificate to the registrar saying an inquest is not needed. The registrar will then contact you to arrange for the death to be registered.

A coroner must hold an inquest if:

The cause of death is still unknown
The person might have died a violent or unnatural death
The person might have died in prison or police custody

If you need proof of the death while waiting for an inquest to finish, ask the coroner for an interim death certificate. Once the inquest is over, you can get the final death certificate from the registrar.

The coroner may decide a post-mortem is needed to find out how the person died. You cannot object to a coroner's post-mortem, but if you ask, the coroner must tell you (and the person's GP) when and where the examination will take place. The coroner will release the body for a funeral once they have completed examinations and no further examinations are needed.

Arranging the funeral

After you've registered the death, you'll receive a certificate for burial or cremation (often called 'the green form'). Give this certificate to your funeral director, crematorium or burial authority. You must do this before the funeral can take place.

If someone dies abroad

You must register a death with the local authorities in the country where the person died. You can also register the death with UK authorities if you want a record held in the UK, though you do not need to do this if you bring the body home to be buried or cremated.

To bring the body home you must:

Get a certified English translation of the death certificate
Get permission to remove the body, issued by a coroner (or equivalent) in the country where the person died
Tell a coroner in England or Wales if the cause of death was unknown, violent or unnatural

Once the body is home, take the death certificate to the register office in the area where the funeral is taking place. The registrar will give you a 'certificate of no liability to register' to give to the funeral director so the funeral can go ahead.

Reporting the death to government organisations

The Tell Us Once service lets you report a death to most government organisations in one go. Contact a register office to use Tell Us Once. They will either complete the service with you or give you a unique reference number so you can use the service yourself online or by phone.

If you cannot use Tell Us Once, you'll need to tell organisations about the death yourself.

Beginning estate administration

As a personal representative (an executor or administrator), you're legally responsible for the money, property and possessions of the person who died (the 'estate's assets'). You're responsible for the assets from the date of death until the date everything has been passed on to the beneficiaries. This period is known as the 'administration period'.

You may have to apply for probate before you can deal with some assets.

Settling debts and taxes

You must pay any debts and settle the taxes for the person who died. This includes:

Paying any unpaid bills
Paying any unpaid personal taxes
Applying for tax refunds
Filling in a Self Assessment return for income the person earned before they died if needed
Repaying any overpaid benefits

To find out what taxes are owed or if any tax refunds are due, you can either use the Tell Us Once service or contact HMRC directly. It can take at least 30 days for HMRC to contact you after using Tell Us Once.

Tell any employer or private or workplace pension provider about the person's death. Ask them to tell HMRC if there's a last salary or pension payment, as HMRC needs this to calculate the final amount of Income Tax due.

Place a notice in The Gazette giving any creditors 2 months to claim anything they're owed. Do not distribute the estate's assets until the 2 months is up. If you do and the estate then cannot afford to pay a debt, you may have to pay it yourself.

Dealing with estate income and assets

You may have to pay taxes for the estate if there is any new income while you're dealing with it, such as profits from selling shares or property, or dividends from investments.

If you sell shares, investments or property that belong to the estate, you may have to pay Capital Gains Tax on them if they have gone up in value since the person died or since being valued for Inheritance Tax. You do not pay Capital Gains Tax from the estate if you transfer assets directly to a beneficiary.

If you owe Capital Gains Tax on residential property, you usually have to report this within 60 days.

Some assets can continue to generate income after the death until you transfer or sell them, such as rental income from property, profits from the deceased's business, or interest or dividend payments on savings and investments.

You must work out and pay Income Tax on the full amount of income the estate receives between the day after the death and the date everything has been distributed. Estates do not get any allowances on savings, income or dividends.

For dividends received on or after 6 April 2026, estates pay tax at 10.75%. For dividends received between 6 April 2022 and 5 April 2026, estates pay tax at 8.75%. For any other income, estates pay tax at 20%.

Reporting estate income to HMRC

Whether you need to report the estate's income to HMRC depends on the value of the estate, how much income it generated during the administration period, and if there was any tax to pay.

For income received from 6 April 2024 onwards, if the estate's income from any sources is £500 or less, you do not need to report the estate to HMRC. The £500 tax-free amount applies for each tax year of the administration period from 6 April 2024, but you cannot carry over unused amounts from one tax year to the next. It applies to all types of income except ISAs, which continue to be exempt from Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax until the estate is closed or up to 3 years after the person's death. If the estate's income is over £500, you must report all of the income and you cannot deduct the £500 tax-free amount.

For 'simple' estates valued at less than £2.5 million where the total Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax due is less than £10,000 and you did not sell more than £500,000 worth of assets in any single tax year during the administration period, you can report tax owed simply by writing to HMRC at the end of the administration period. This letter should include your contact details, the deceased's details including their National Insurance number and Unique Taxpayer Reference, and a year-by-year breakdown of any income and capital gains for the whole administration period.

You should consider getting professional legal advice, such as from a solicitor, if the estate has many assets or includes things like trusts.

Sources

This article provides general guidance based on current HMRC rules. For advice specific to your situation, speak to your accountant.