What to do After Your Loved One Passes on
After your loved one has passed on, there are financial and legal procedures to be done. These include registering his/her death, informing various parties and the relevant authorities for legal and financial procedures to be carried out and processed.
Who Should You Inform?
Banks
Contact the banks which the deceased person held accounts. Make sure any automatic monthly payments or GIRO deductions are dealt with accordingly.
Check if the deceased had a safety deposit box and follow the bank’s instructions to close the account. Check and settle outstanding credit card bills, mortgage, and loans.
Insurance Companies
Inform your deceased loved one’s insurance companies. If there are payouts for the beneficiaries, the insurance company will let you know how it works.
Lawyers/Solicitors
Inform your loved one’s lawyer or solicitor and obtain the will, if there is one.
You will also need to inform the executor of the will (this means the person who will carry out your loved one’s wishes in the will).
Bills and Miscellaneous Items
Go through your loved one’s utilities such as electricity and telephone bills.
You will have to inform the relevant companies and ask them to cancel GIRO, if the bills are being paid by GIRO.
Find out on how to transfer ownership examples of utility accounts, HDB flat, etc here.
CPF Matters
If the deceased was a CPF member, the nominated beneficiar(ies) will receive the deceased person’s CPF savings and any monies or assets owned by them. Find out the type of assets handled by CPF here.
However, if no nomination is made, the Public Trustees will handle CPF savings, other monies, or assets and distribute them to the deceased person’s family in accordance with the law.
The Public Trustee’s office can be contacted here.
The infographic below gives you information on what a CPF nomination covers.
Early planning provides you a peace of mind while caring for your loved one. Start your CPF nomination online here:
Important Documents
For many legal and official post-death matters, these are the important documents that you will need:
- Death certificate or death extract
- Marriage Certificate
- Birth Certificate of deceased’s children
- NRIC and other identification documents of all parties involved
- Bank account information
It is a good idea to compile all these documents in a folder so that you have easy access to them, and to make sure they stay safe.
Learn More
Here are more resources related to end-of-life.
How to manage grief and loss after a death
