Resources: what to do after someone dies

Dying Matters and National Council for Palliative Care resources

Find Me Help

Created by Dying Matters and funded by Macmillan Cancer Support, Find Me Help is a comprehensive UK directory of services for people in the last years of life and their carers. Find the support services you need in your area quickly and easily. 

General

Macmillan Cancer Support: After Someone Dies: Coping with Bereavement

Booklet aimed at relatives and friends of anyone who has died from cancer. Offers practical and emotional information and support. 

Gov UK: What to do after someone dies

Detailed guide on what to do when someone dies, including when a coroner is involved and when someone dies abroad.

Cruse Bereavement Care: What to do after someone dies

Comprehensive guidance and check-lists to help cope with practical and emotional issues after someone dies.

Citizens Advice Bureau: What to do after a death 

Practical information covering everything from dealing with the financial affairs of someone who has died to counselling organisations. 

Tell Us Once

Tell Us Once is a service offered by most local authorities on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions. The service allows the bereaved person to inform central and local government services of the death at one time rather than having to write, telephone or even attend each service individually.

Post-mortems and inquests

Department for Work and Pensions: What to do after a death

Clear, simple-to-understand information providing a step-by-set guide to the official steps you need to take following a death. 

NHS Choices: Post-mortem

Explains why post-mortems and inquests are carried out. 

Babies and young children

SANDS

Stillbirth and neonatal deaths. Provides support to anyone who is affected by the death of a baby and promotes research to reduce the loss of babies’ lives.

The Lullaby Trust

Provides specialist support for bereaved families and anyone affected by a sudden infant death.

Child Death Helpline

A free and confidential helpline for anyone who has lost a child.

Organ and tissue donation

NHS Blood and Transplant

Official body for organ donation.

NHS Choices: Organ Donation

Information about organ donor registration and transplant waiting lists.

Human Tissue Authority

A watchdog that supports public confidence by licensing organisations that store and use human tissue for purposes such as research, patient treatment, post-mortem examination, teaching, and public exhibitions. Provides information about how to donate your body, tissues and organs for research.

Organising a funeral

National Association of Funeral Directors

Advice on what a funeral director does and how to choose one (if you decide to use a funeral director), plus the importance of planning your funeral.

Good Funeral Guide

An independent body dedicated to supporting, empowering and representing the interests of dying and bereaved people living in the UK.

Funeral Zone

A useful website that helps you compare funeral directors

Association of Green Funeral Directors

Explains the code of conduct of green funeral directors.

Natural Death Centre

Charity giving free, impartial advice on all aspects of dying, bereavement and consumer rights. Give support on family-organised and environmentally friendly funerals, and run the Association of Natural Burial Grounds.

If someone dies abroad

Citizens Advice Bureau: When someone dies abroad

What to do when someone dies abroad.

Wills and probate

Gov UK Wills, probate and inheritance

Comprehensive information on how to sort through a minefield of legal and financial issues following someone’s death. 

Recommended reading

The Good Funeral Guide

Everything you need to know about organising a funeral.

We need to talk about the Funeral

101 practical ways to commemorate and celebrate life.

The Natural Death Centre Handbook

Important information about approaching the end of life and organising funerals from a green perspective. 

View more Dying Matters book recommendations

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• What to do after someone dies

This content has been funded by Macmillan Cancer Support. It was commissioned as part of Find Me Help, Dying Matters' new online search tool which gives access to a comprehensive database of national and local organisations providing support and advice for people coping with death, dying and bereavement.