Who to Notify When a Parent Dies, and in What Order

When a parent dies, the funeral home usually reports the death to Social Security, and Social Security tells Medicare. In the first week, confirm that report with Social Security and tell the bank where your parent's benefits were deposited. Then add the VA or federal retirement office if they apply, any Medicare Advantage, drug or supplement plan, life insurers and former employers. The credit bureaus, card issuers, lenders and utilities follow within the month, and the IRS, DMV, passport office and election office can wait until later.

This guide is about who to tell, in a sensible order. If you're still working out which banks and insurers your parent used, our checklist for finding a deceased parent's accounts runs alongside it. You can chip away at both.

Why the order matters

Most of this list can wait, some of it for months. Three things make the early calls different.

Some money has to go back. Social Security doesn't pay for the month a person dies, and payments that land after a death get recovered. The longer they sit and get spent, the messier that is.

Authority changes at the moment of death. If you were your parent's agent under a power of attorney, that ended when they died. From here on, accounts generally go through the executor or court-appointed administrator, or straight to a joint owner or named beneficiary.

Some calls make other calls for you. Social Security tells Medicare. Medicare tells a Medicare Advantage plan. One credit bureau tells the other two. Knowing the chain saves you hours on hold.

Who to notify: the whole list at a glance

The first 24 to 48 hours

The funeral home

Medicare says that in most cases the funeral home reports the death to Social Security, as long as you give them your parent's Social Security number. So bring the number to the arrangements meeting and ask one plain question: "Will you report this to Social Security, and when?" Write down the answer. They'll also ask how many certified death certificates you want, so think about how many places will need one.

Family, and anyone who comes to the house

Tell close family before word travels. If your parent still worked, call their employer. If a home care agency, meal delivery, visiting nurse or cleaner comes on a schedule, call them too. Nobody wants a caregiver to find out at the door.

What not to do yet

• Don't close the checking account. Returned benefit payments, refunds and the autopays you haven't found yet all run through it.
• Don't cancel the phone line or email. Banks send verification codes there. Our guide to digital estate planning for parents explains why keeping the line alive for a while helps.
• Don't use the power of attorney. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's guide for agents says your authority ends when the person dies: promptly notify their bank and the businesses you dealt with as their agent, and stop paying bills, even easy ones. The OCC's consumer help site agrees that a POA generally expires automatically at the account holder's death.

If you were your parent's Social Security representative payee instead, the rules differ a little. Our comparison of a representative payee vs. power of attorney covers what the payee has to send back.

The first week

Social Security: confirm, then ask about survivors

Even if the funeral home said it would report the death, call once the funeral is behind you. USAGov explains that Social Security only accepts death reports by phone or in person, and that if you report it yourself you can start without the death certificate and send it later. The number is 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778).

The rule that trips people up: Social Security can't pay benefits for the month of death. USAGov's example is that if the person died in July, the payment that arrives in August, which is July's payment, has to go back. Social Security's booklet How Social Security Can Help You When a Family Member Dies says not to cash paper checks for the month of death or later, and to ask the bank to return direct deposits.

Then ask about survivors. If your other parent is living, they may qualify for monthly survivor benefits, and the booklet notes that eligible family members may be able to get benefits for the month the person died. There's also a small one-time death payment for a qualifying spouse or child. Social Security says you can't apply for survivor benefits online, and that the one-time payment must be applied for within two years of the death.

The bank where the benefits land

Call the bank or credit union that received your parent's Social Security, VA or federal pension deposits. Tell them about the death and ask them to return any federal payment for the month of death or later.

Sooner is kinder to yourself. The Treasury's rulebook for banks, the Green Book chapter on reclamations, says a payment that has been credited legally belongs to the joint account holder or the estate, so the government recovers post-death payments through a formal claim on the bank. If the money was already withdrawn, the paying agency will try to collect it from whoever withdrew it. Leave that deposit alone, even if it would cover the florist.

If the account was joint, the money may be the surviving owner's now. The CFPB explains that most joint accounts are held with rights of survivorship, so the money passes to the other owner, but some are held as "tenants in common," where your parent's share goes to their heirs. An account in your parent's name alone generally waits for the executor, unless it names a payable-on-death beneficiary.

Medicare and the plan cards in the wallet

You don't need to call Medicare. USAGov says that once the death is reported, Social Security will notify Medicare.

Medicare Advantage plans hear it from Medicare. CMS's model letter that those plans send the family opens with "Medicare told us of the death" and says premiums paid for months after coverage ended are refunded to the estate within 30 days. If the premium came out of Social Security, that refund can take up to three months.

Still, call the number on each plan card, including a stand-alone Part D drug plan. A short call stops a premium being drafted from the checking account and gives you a name and date for your notes. A Medigap supplement is a separate insurance policy, so call that company too. Our list of Medicare documents to keep for a parent shows which cards and letters to look for.

The VA, federal retirement or military retirement

For a veteran getting VA benefits, the VA says calling is the fastest way to report a death and stop payments, which helps survivors avoid owing back overpayments: 800-827-1000, option 5. Have the Social Security or VA claim number, date of death and branch of service.

For a retired federal employee, family members or friends can report an annuitant death to the Office of Personnel Management online. Military retiree deaths go to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

Life insurers, the employer and any pension

Call each life insurer for claim forms, and call the benefits office of any pension or retirement plan. Payments stop, and there may be a survivor benefit for a spouse. These don't have to happen on day three, but they're slow, so start them early.

The first month

The credit bureaus

California's Attorney General explains that delays in reporting a death can give identity thieves time to open accounts in the person's name, and that a surviving spouse or other authorized person, such as an executor, can ask the credit bureaus to flag the file "deceased."

Equifax says that when one bureau adds a death notice, it notifies the other two, so one request does the job. Expect to send a death certificate and proof that you're the spouse or executor. If you're a grown child without that paperwork, your surviving parent or the executor may need to make the request.

Card issuers, lenders and the mortgage servicer

Tell each credit card company and lender that your parent died, and give them the executor's contact information. You can stop there. The CFPB is clear that you're generally not responsible for someone else's debt: the estate pays under state law. The exceptions are a debt you co-signed, a joint account, and some state rules for spouses. Being an authorized user on your parent's card doesn't make you owe it.

If your surviving parent lives in a house with a mortgage, the CFPB's checklist for surviving spouses says to call the mortgage servicer, report the death, and ask which documents they need if the survivor isn't on the loan.

Autopays, utilities and subscriptions

Read the last few bank statements for anything recurring: insurance, streaming services, a gym membership nobody has used in years, charity pledges. That same CFPB booklet gives the order for stopping an automatic payment: contact the company, then tell the bank the charges are no longer authorized, then give the bank a stop payment order. Our guide to organizing an elderly parent's bills lists the usual suspects.

Go easy on utilities and homeowners insurance if the house is empty. Heat keeps pipes from freezing, and someone has to keep the place insured until it's sold or transferred. Ask to move the account into the executor's or survivor's name rather than shutting service off.

The post office and state benefits

The Postal Service lets someone who lived with your parent manage their mail at that address. Forwarding it elsewhere means going to a Post Office in person with proof you're the executor or administrator. A death certificate alone isn't enough.

If your parent got Medicaid, SNAP or rental help, USAGov says to contact the state social services office to cancel it.

Months two and beyond

The IRS

There's no call to make here. You deal with the IRS on paper. Someone has to file your parent's final income tax return, reporting income up to the date of death. The example in IRS Publication 559 shows the final return is due on the normal date for that tax year, so a death in March means a return due the following April.

The executor tells the IRS they're in charge with Form 56, Notice Concerning Fiduciary Relationship. Publication 559 says to file it once the needed information, including the estate's employer identification number, is in hand. If there's a refund, Form 1310 claims it, though a surviving spouse filing jointly, or a court-appointed representative who attaches the court certificate, doesn't need it. This is a good moment to bring in a tax professional.

DMV, passport and voter registration

USAGov's list of agencies to notify covers the remaining government errands:

• Motor vehicles office: cancel the license or state ID and transfer any vehicle title. Find yours in USAGov's directory of state motor vehicle offices.
• Passport: you can send it to the State Department to be canceled, which helps prevent identity theft. They'll return the canceled passport if you want to keep it.
• Voter registration: contact your parent's local election office to cancel it.

Memberships, loyalty programs and online accounts come last. Handle them as they turn up in the mail.

What to have in front of you on every call

Keep one folder or notebook for all of it. Each call will ask for some mix of:

• Your parent's full legal name, date of birth, date of death and Social Security number
• The account, policy, claim or Medicare number
• A certified death certificate, or a promise to send one
• The executor's name and phone number, and later their court papers

Before you hang up, write down the date, the name of the person you spoke with and any reference number. When a letter arrives six weeks later saying nobody was told, you can read them that line.

Frequently asked questions

Does the funeral home notify Social Security?

Usually, yes, if you give them your parent's Social Security number. It's still worth confirming with a call to 1-800-772-1213, especially if benefits came by direct deposit or your other parent may qualify for survivor benefits.

Do I need to notify Medicare separately?

No. Social Security notifies Medicare, and Medicare tells your parent's Medicare Advantage plan. A quick call to each plan card, including any stand-alone Part D plan and any Medigap insurer, still helps stop premium drafts.

Can I use my parent's power of attorney after they die?

No. A power of attorney generally ends at death, as the CFPB and the OCC both say. From then on, the executor or court-appointed administrator handles accounts, and a joint owner or named beneficiary deals with the bank directly.

What happens to the Social Security payment for the month my parent died?

It has to be returned, because Social Security doesn't pay for the month of death. If your parent died in July, the August payment goes back. Ask the bank to return it, and don't spend it in the meantime.

Do I need to notify the IRS when a parent dies?

Not by phone. You tell the IRS on paper: someone files the final income tax return by the usual deadline, and the executor can file Form 56 to show they're acting for the estate.

A list that makes these calls shorter

Every call on this list goes faster when someone already knows the bank's name, which plan card belongs to which insurer, and where Dad kept his VA claim number. You can build that list yourself with this guide and a notebook. Or Emergency Binder Now can do the organizing from about 25 minutes of guided questions, producing a printable binder that records which accounts and insurance exist, how the bills get paid, whether legal documents exist and where they're kept, and a short list of what nobody knows yet. You can see a sample binder first.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules on estates, joint accounts, debts and benefits vary by state and situation. For your family's circumstances, talk with a probate or estate attorney in the state where your parent lived, and a tax professional about the final return.