Organising a death book

[MikeRafone]

New year organisation

i need to put together a death book

ive started & listed savings accounts
bsnk account
pension
solicitor where original up to date will is lodged

password and code for iphone
password for Apple ID

one page for each item in case of change I can tear out page

what else do I need to put in the book?

I am wanting to make it as easy as possible for my dds

Poa is redundant on death. It would be an executor who deals with everything

We didn’t need any other certs to register a death.

in many cases it simply wouldn’t be possible- if someone dies and the certs are lost you only have a number of days to register a death, you wouldn’t have time to get new ones.

having been through it I would suggest:

will. Up to date and done through a solicitor. Have more than one executor as it is very easy for one to hide/steal assets. I would also suggest you have multiple copies lodged with beneficiaries/solicitor/executors. You’d be surprised at the things people will do when money’s at stake, including destroying wills.

list of accounts and how much money roughly in each one. If you can print a letter with account details. Include pension, life insurance, mortgage.

letter with employer details and contact for your line manager.

only have one current account all your dd’s come out of so that can be stopped asap and you can deal with utilities etc later, or get them switched into a spouse’s name.

My parents had this
it made things so much easier

What sort of funeral you want and what music/poems you want.

It can be turned into a memorialised profile.

Excellent idea. I keep meaning to do this because a fair bit of stuff is still in my maiden name and husband isn't on the account. Probably should sort that.

Apple can give you a legacy document that will allow someone else to access your account (think or all the photos that are probably just stored in the cloud somewhere!)

Placemarking. This is something I really must get round to in 2025.

It might be an idea to also set up legacy arrangements with some of the online accounts...so gmail, facebook, ancestry, anything like that if you think someone will need access to them. I still cant get my sister;s facebook account shut down and she passed over a year ago, so have made sure no one is in that position for me. I have all my docs on a flash drive with a password which has a sticky label on it called "Key Documents". Also have a spreadsheet with all important contact details, solicitor etc account numbers , government gateway, ni/nhs number etc etc for both my husband and I. My son/husband know the passwords for flash drive. Anything to make life easier for those you leave behind.

V5C and insurance details for car. Information on any car lease/loan if relevant.

The funeral / non-funeral wishes down to the small details.
Religion or non religion?
Which actual church (temple etc) or other venue if not religious?
What actual hymns, music, poems etc?
Burial or cremation? Exact details.
Contact details of people to be invited, especially old friends or friends from hobbies that your family may not know.

It really helps the family to have things specified so that they do not have to discuss it and make a group decision at a time of deep grief. It takes some stress from the situation and avoids disagreement within the extended family.

Thanks for the excellent info, it's good to know the certificates are not absolutely necessary. The attached is from gov.uk re registering a death, so while not vital, it is useful to have them.
I am being mindful not to include too much in my death file, but can see it would be helpful to have it all in one place.

I just looked and I have DH set up as a legacy contact on my iPhone.
This sends him a QR code but you can also print it off. He would need that and a death certificate and he could access all my data, documents and keychain details so logging into my bank account etc.

Write down the website and telephone number for "tell us once" for all government related affairs, you should be given it when collecting the death certificate but does get left behind or caught up in other info.

But most of all please get all your affairs in order, we are 17 months into a nightmare due to assumptions, being trusting and not understanding paperwork.

He shouldn’t log into bank accounts after death. First job is to notify the bank and they will freeze the account until the documentation is provided.

logging in/using cards and accounts after death without notifying the bank is a crime.

i don’t know further details but logically that would follow for any account. It’s “fraud by false representation” as essentially you are presenting as the deceased to access the account.

if you are responsible for a deceased’s affairs don’t touch any accounts until the death notifications have been made.

Details of subscriptions that will need to be stopped
Email addresses of people / friends and relatives to be informed of death
Details of organisations to contact regarding care for pets.

The last job you do is notify the bank. Just don't touch it until everything else is sorted.

Funeral wishes, bury/cremation. What to do with ashes if cremated. Favourite songs/poem. What sort of service you would like

apple do a legacy contact if you have ios15.2 or later, it gives the person the legal right to access in the event of your death

Having organised more funerals than I would have liked it’s a great idea to do this. I agree with most of the suggestions, especially around music/ readings for the funeral. My family were very practical and had a lot of the admin side organised which helped, but choosing music for my mum’s funeral was really hard.

One more lighthearted thing based on experience - a list (with photos?) of what this key is for and/or where it’s kept. Spent months going through every drawer and cupboard in the house looking for keys to windows and they finally turned up in an old silver gravy boat. Still have random keys and no idea what they’re for. Depends how much you want to wind up your relatives though …

My mum’s ‘death folder’ contained her will plus:

Contact details for friends and family to notify them of death (in some cases ‘tell X to tell Y and Z’.
Details of all utilities
Details of insurance
Bank and savings account details
Pension details
Information on where the house deeds were stored
Copy of advanced directive to refuse medical treatment
Instructions for next of kin from the bequeathal service (she donated her body to a medical school)
She had also made a list of some sentimental items in the house

It made all the admin a lot easier.
Then there is the ‘Tell Us Once’ service.
If you have an Apple account you can appoint a legacy contact.

NI number too.

nope. Ok maybe not the first but it should be one of the first. Definitely not the last. You will need to pay for the funeral out of any funds, and you cannot do that without notifying the bank.

it is likely that there will be DD set up etc which need to be cancelled asap.

believe me, I’m dealing with someone who failed to notify the bank and they are in serious trouble as payments continued to be made which shouldn’t have, someone had access who shouldn’t have, and now the estate is a mess and they are responsible for the lost money, and there’s a possible criminal case.

for the sake of a phone call get it shut down asap. Money owed can be paid later, it stops any activity on the account which is much harder to deal with.

I've been meaning to do this for the whole year and haven't got round to it. I must make time for it. Thanks for the shove OP.

Presumably the power of attorney you're referring to is when the deceased had LPA for someone else's affairs. If someone dies, the LPAs granted by them are no longer valid.

Yes I was. Lots of people assume and plan for being alive, healthy and mobile and then suddenly not but that’s not the reality for most people and we should all plan for declining health.