What to Do When Someone Dies – Immediate Steps After Death

1.1.1 Legal Documents
1.1.2 Estate Assets & Liabilities Inventory
1.1.3 Read About The Deceased Estate Administration Process

1.1.1 Legal Documents

If you are the Next of Kin or the Executor nominated in a person's Will, who may be passing away soon, it's recommended to make some final administrative and legal preparations.

Most importantly, if the person currently doesn't have a valid Will, and still has the mental capacity to do so, then it is advisable to put a valid Will in place. This will generally make the Deceased Estate administration process simpler for you as the Executor, less costly and less likely to end in dispute.

A non-valid Will could mean that:

• an existing Will no longer reflects the wishes and needs to be updated and signed;
• a Will was prepared but wasn't signed by all the required parties as required under law in your state/territory; or
• a Will isn't in place and may need to be drafted altogether.

1.1.2 Estate Assets & Liabilities Inventory

Another key preparation is to get a good understanding of what will form part of the person's Estate, including all assets, liabilities and belongings. As Executor, finding all these items, transferring them to the Estate and then distributing these to Beneficiaries per the Will or intestacy laws in your state/territory is one of your main Executor responsibilities. Our specifically designed Assets & Liabilities Inventory helps Executors capture all this information and it automatically determines what falls in the Estate and what passes to other people directly. These details will be required when you apply for Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration, so the earlier you can start compiling this the better.

Download Here

1.1.3 Read About The Deceased Estate Administration Process

We recommend getting an overview of the administration process to understand what you need to do as Executor. Download our Executor & Administrator Handbook Summary, which highlights all key activities step-by-step. This will help you identify any other items you can prepare and get an understanding of while the person may still able to explain if necessary.

Download Here

The three most common locations of a death are:

• Death at Home;
• Death at a Nursing Home or Hospital; and
• Death in Regional and Rural Australia.

1.2.1 Death at Home

Call Emergency Services on triple zero '000' immediately if your loved one has passed away unexpectedly, if you are unsure if the person is still alive or if you suspect a medical emergency.

If the person's death was expected, call the treating doctor to request a visit as soon as possible. If there was no general practitioner (GP) treating the deceased, call the police.

Depending on the location of the death, the family's wishes and any pre-paid funeral arrangements, you may not want to engage a funeral director for another day or two until you better understand the situation. For more information read, Step 1.3 below.

Even if you're dealing with a death at home, a doctor will need to determine the cause of death and complete a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death outlined in Step 1.4 below.

If the natural cause of death cannot be established by the medical practitioner, the coroner will need to get involved. For more information, read Step 1.6 below.

Only once the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death is completed can you engage a funeral director (see Step 6 – Transporting a Dead Body in Australia)

1.2.2 Death at a Nursing Home or Hospital

Most Australians die in a nursing home or hospital where staff are well prepared and trained. Nursing home and hospital staff will, in most cases, be able to provide further details on the immediate requirements.

After the death at a nursing home or hospital is established, the body will ultimately be transferred to a funeral home. Sometimes a funeral director is not immediately engaged, and the nursing home or hospital may allow you to leave the body in a mortuary for an agreed duration if available. For more information, read Step 1.4 below.

A doctor will need to establish the cause of death and complete a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death outlined in Step 1.4 below.

If the natural cause of death cannot be established by the medical practitioner, the coroner will get involved. For more information, read Step 1.6 below.

Only once the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death is completed can you engage a funeral director (see Step 6 – Transporting a Dead Body in Australia)

1.2.3 Death in Regional and Rural Australia

In Regional and Rural Australia, getting a medical practitioner to determine the cause of death, transporting the body and completing the necessary documents to notify the state's/territory's Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages may be more challenging due to distance and relatively limited access to medical practitioners.

Your local health district should be able to provide advice and information for your specific circumstance. If the death was expected, specific procedures may have already been put in place beforehand.

A doctor will need to ascertain the cause of death and complete a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death outlined in Step 1.4 below.

If the natural cause of death cannot be established by the medical practitioner, the coroner will get involved. For more information, read Step 1.6 below.

Only once the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death is completed can you engage a funeral director (see Step 6 – Transporting a Dead Body in Australia).

Note: It is important to remember that you do not need to engage a funeral director immediately but can take a few hours or even a day or two to better understand if pre-arranged funeral insurance or pre-paid funeral plans are in place and what arrangements you want to make.

After the death at home, a nursing home or hospital, the body will ultimately be transferred to a funeral home. Sometimes, a funeral director is not immediately engaged if pre-arranged funeral insurance or pre-paid funeral plans are in place. For more information, read Step 4 – How to Find a Will & Funeral Insurance Information.

While you find out the necessary details before engaging a funeral director, you and your family may want to have the deceased person at home for religious, ethnic or cultural reasons. The body can be safely kept at home unembalmed and unrefrigerated for up to 24 hours after death.

The body can be kept by an unlicensed person or facility for up to five days after the death in NSW and WA. However, the body should be placed in a coffin, container or tray that ensures bodily discharges, contaminants or infectious materials are confined to the enclosure. Moreover, the body needs to be stored at a temperature of 5 degrees Celsius or lower.

If the death occurred at a nursing home or hospital, you may be allowed to leave the body in a mortuary (if available) for an agreed duration.

The Chief Health Officer in WA or the Director General in NSW may approve, in particular circumstances, a body being retained for longer than 5 days, subject to any conditions considered appropriate.

While the body is in the custody of a funeral director, the body may, at any time, be unrefrigerated for a maximum of 8 hours if not embalmed.

The Medical Certificate of Cause of Death, as referred to on this website, may also be called a Cause of Death Certificate in Queensland or a Doctor's Certificate of Cause of Death in South Australia.

A registered nurse, paramedic or medical practitioner will be able to declare the death and pronounce the date and time of death. Unless there's a need to involve a coroner, as outlined Step 1.6 below, a doctor will issue a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death.

Depending on the relevant state/territory the following applies:

If the deceased made wishes to donate their organs and/or tissue, it is important to have made certain decisions before the death or immediately after the death. Organs need to be removed as soon as possible to prevent damage.

Make sure you find out if such wishes were made in the Will (for more information read Step 4 – How to Find a Will & Funeral Insurance Information) or if the deceased person is registered in the Australian Organ Donor Register. This can be checked by authorised medical staff anytime online.

Organ donation always needs consent by the family and cannot be authorised by the Executor nominated in the Will, so this should be discussed with the immediate family and agreed upon ideally before the death or immediately after.

Around 1,650 people in Australia are on the Australian Organ Transplant waiting list at any given time. In 2021, organ donors and their families gave 1,174 recipients a new chance in life, which is a tremendous gift.

For further information, visit the Services Australia (formerly Human Services) website.

In some circumstances a coroner inquest, also called coroner inquiry, needs to be conducted, which means the coroner investigates the cause of the death.

The doctor examining the deceased to ascertain the cause of death may not be able to issue a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death if the death appears to have:

• been unexpected, unnatural or violent;
• resulted, directly or indirectly, from an accident of injury; or
• occurred during a medical procedure.

In these cases, the coroner will be involved to investigate the death and may require an autopsy (also referred to as post-mortem examination) or a coroner's inquest to determine the cause of death.

Under these circumstances, a death cannot be registered with the State's/Territory's Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages until the cause of death is established. The coroner may, however, issue an interim death certificate to allow you to hold the funeral and start with the Deceased Estate administration.

A police officer or another representative of the coroner will collect information and organise transportation of the deceased person's body. Religious, ethnic or cultural wishes may be considered if discussed immediately.