About this guide
If you're here, someone you love has died, and you're facing a list of tasks you never asked to learn. I'm sorry. This guide is here to make that list shorter, clearer, and a little less lonely.
I'm a physician, and I built it after going through this myself. When my father died in 2018, settling his estate took far longer than it should have. I had no family to share the work and no one to tell me what came next, so I learned the order of things the hard way: which documents to get first, which deadlines mattered, and which mistakes couldn't be undone.
This is the guide I wish I'd had. It won't make the loss easier. It can make the paperwork faster, help you avoid the costly mistakes, and let you spend more of your energy on the people around you.
What you'll find here
- A short set of questions about your situation, then a checklist for the first days, weeks, and months.
- The rules for your state, taken from statutes and official agency pages, with links so you can check them yourself.
- No ads, no sign-up, nothing for sale. Nobody listed here pays to be included.
This is general information, not legal or financial advice. Before doing anything you can't undo, confirm it with the court, the agency, or a licensed attorney in your state.
Take it one step at a time. You don't have to do all of it today.