When a parent dies, the first steps are getting a legal pronouncement of death, choosing a funeral home, and telling close family. Everything financial can wait a few days. This guide walks through what to do in the first 24 hours, the first week, the first month, and the months after, so you know what needs your attention now and what genuinely does not.

Losing a parent is one of the hardest things most of us will ever go through, and the paperwork arrives before the grief has anywhere to go. You do not have to do everything at once. Most of the estate work happens over months, not days.

The first 24 hours

The only truly urgent tasks happen on the first day, and none of them involve a bank.

• Get a legal pronouncement of death. If your parent died in a hospital, nursing home, or hospice care, the staff handles this. If they died at home unexpectedly, call 911. If they were on home hospice, call the hospice nurse.
• Check for organ or tissue donation wishes. These decisions have a short window. Look for a donor designation on their driver's license or ask the hospital staff to check.
• Call a funeral home. They will transport your parent and guide the next several days. If your parent pre-planned or pre-paid arrangements, the paperwork is often in their files or with their attorney.
• Tell close family and friends. You do not need to announce anything publicly yet. Ask one or two relatives to help spread the word so every call does not fall on you.
• Secure their home. Lock the house and car, arrange care for pets, and take custody of medications, cash, and obvious valuables. If the house will sit empty, ask a neighbor to keep an eye on it.

That is the whole list for day one. Do not cancel subscriptions, call banks, or post on social media yet. Public announcements before the home is secured can invite break-ins, and account changes made without legal authority often create problems later.

The first week

The first week is about the funeral, the paperwork that feeds everything else, and a few time-sensitive notifications.

• Order death certificates. Ask the funeral home to order certified copies for you. Most families need 5 to 10. Our guide to ordering death certificates covers how many you need and why.
• Find the will. Check your parent's files, safe, and safe deposit box, and ask their attorney if they had one. The will names the executor, and that person will need to act soon.
• Notify Social Security. The funeral home usually reports the death, but confirm it happened. If your parent was receiving benefits, payments for the month of death may need to be returned. See our guide to Social Security after a death.
• Notify their employer, if they were working. Ask about final paychecks, group life insurance, and retirement plan benefits.
• Forward the mail. Mail is one of the best tools for finding accounts you did not know existed. Here is how to handle mail after someone dies.
• Notify other key parties. The full notification list includes the VA for veterans, insurers, and landlords.

One warning worth repeating: do not use your parent's debit or credit cards, even for the funeral, and even if you know the PIN. Their accounts legally belong to the estate now. Pay funeral costs yourself and keep receipts; the estate reimburses these expenses before almost anything else.

The first month: getting legal authority

Someone needs the legal power to act for your parent's estate. Until that happens, banks will not talk to you in any detail.

• If there is a will, the named executor files it with the probate court and asks to be appointed. The court issues letters testamentary, the document banks and title companies ask for.
• If there is no will, a close family member, usually a spouse or adult child, petitions the court to be appointed administrator. State law decides who inherits. Here is what happens when someone dies without a will.
• If the estate is small, you may be able to skip probate entirely with a small estate affidavit. Every state sets its own limit, and many are higher than families expect.

Once appointed, two housekeeping steps make everything after easier:

• Get an EIN and open an estate bank account. The estate needs its own tax ID and its own account to collect funds and pay bills. Our guide to opening an estate bank account explains the documents you will need.
• Notify the credit bureaus. Reporting the death to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion flags the credit file and blocks new accounts in your parent's name. You can report a death to the credit bureaus in a few minutes, and it is one of the best fraud protections available.

The months that follow

With authority in hand, the estate work settles into a steady rhythm.

• Build a complete inventory, assets and liabilities both. List every bank account, retirement account, insurance policy, property, and vehicle, and every debt: mortgage, cards, loans, and medical bills. Most families find accounts they did not know about, because parents rarely leave a complete list.
• Notify each institution and transfer or close accounts. Each bank, brokerage, and insurer has its own process. Funds generally move into the estate account until distribution.
• Handle the house and vehicles. Real estate is usually the largest asset and the slowest to resolve. Our guide to transferring a house after a death covers the paths.
• Pay valid debts from the estate. Debts are paid from estate assets, not by the children, in a priority order set by state law. If the estate cannot cover everything, most debts die with the person.
• File final taxes and distribute what remains. The estate files your parent's final income tax return, and once debts and taxes are settled, the executor distributes the remainder and closes the estate.

Most estates take 6 to 12 months to settle, and complicated ones take longer. Our state-by-state look at how long probate takes sets realistic expectations.

If you have siblings

Only one person holds legal authority, and that is the executor or administrator. Siblings often assume everyone has an equal say in every decision, which is a common source of friction.

A structure that works for many families: the executor handles the legal and financial steps, while siblings take ownership of pieces that do not require court authority, like sorting the house, coordinating the service, or managing family communication. Regular updates matter more than perfect ones. Beneficiaries have a legal right to information about the estate, and silence, even well-intentioned silence, is where most sibling disputes start.

How Sunset helps

Sunset settles estates end to end, and it is free for families. We search thousands of financial institutions to find every account your parent held, prepare the probate paperwork for your county, open an FDIC-insured estate bank account, and handle the transfers out of each institution. More than 10,000 families have used Sunset to settle a loved one's estate, on the same platform their attorneys and financial advisors use.

You focus on your family. We will handle the rest.

Frequently asked questions

What is the first thing to do when a parent dies?

Get a legal pronouncement of death. Hospital or hospice staff handle it if your parent died in their care; call 911 if the death happened unexpectedly at home. After that, call a funeral home and notify close family. Financial tasks can wait several days.

How many death certificates do I need when a parent dies?

Most families need 5 to 10 certified copies. Banks, insurers, the DMV, and the probate court each require one, and originals are much cheaper to order upfront through the funeral home than to reorder later.

Am I responsible for my parent's debts?

No. Debts are paid from your parent's estate, not from your pocket, unless you co-signed the loan or held the account jointly. If the estate runs out of money, most remaining debts are written off.

Can I use my parent's bank account to pay for the funeral?

No. Accounts are frozen to everyone without legal authority, and using a card after death can create legal trouble even with good intentions. Pay funeral costs yourself, keep receipts, and reimburse them from the estate; funeral expenses are near the top of the payment priority list in every state.

What if my parent died without a will?

The estate goes through intestate succession: state law decides who inherits, typically the surviving spouse and children, and the court appoints an administrator, usually a family member. The process is similar to regular probate with one extra step at the start.

Settling a parent's estate is a marathon of small tasks, and you do not have to run it alone with a binder and a phone tree. Sunset finds the accounts, prepares the paperwork, and handles the transfers, free for families. Get started today.