You may be overwhelmed with grief right now. You may want to leave the administrative matters for a later day. But there are notifications and legal steps that should not be postponed.

• Make funeral and burial arrangements.
• Obtain several copies of the death certificate.
• Gather relevant documents, such as the will, insurance policies, trusts, and stock, bank account and annuity statements.
• Contact the Social Security Administration (if the deceased was an eligible recipient).
• Send a notification and death certificate to the director of health services (if the deceased was a AHCCCS recipient) within 90 days after the death.
• Notify any life insurance companies of the death.
• Contact the trustee of any trust and/or the attorney who prepared it.
• Contact the executor of the will and/or the attorney who prepared it.
• Call the administrator of the decedent’s pension plan.
• Notify the decedent’s banks and financial institutions.
• Contact credit card companies.
• Be sure that insurance or Medicare claims have been processed before paying any medical bills.