When a spouse dies, what to do falls into a predictable sequence: get a legal pronouncement and order death certificates, protect your health coverage within the first 60 days, notify Social Security and the financial institutions that held your spouse’s accounts, apply for survivor benefits, open the estate so debts and assets can be handled, file the required tax returns (including a portability election that can shelter millions from future estate tax), and finally update your own will and beneficiary forms. The federal lump-sum death payment is only $255, but the deadlines around health insurance, survivor benefits, and estate taxes involve far larger sums, so order matters.
The First Hours and Death Certificates
The first requirement is a legal pronouncement of death. In a hospital, nursing home, or hospice facility, staff handle it. At home, the right call depends on the circumstances. For an unexpected death, call 911; paramedics will either pronounce the death or transport your spouse to a hospital where a physician can. For an expected death under the care of a physician or hospice team, call that provider directly. Hospice staff and attending physicians can make the pronouncement at home, and calling 911 in a planned home death can trigger unwanted emergency intervention.
Once death is pronounced, contact a funeral home. The funeral home will help with arrangements and will order certified copies of the death certificate, the one document you will need for nearly every task that follows. Order at least 10 to 12 copies. Banks, insurance companies, government agencies, and courts typically require originals rather than photocopies, and running out means delays. Fees vary by state, usually between $15 and $30 per copy.
Protect Your Health Insurance Within 60 Days
If you were covered under your spouse’s employer-sponsored health plan, your coverage does not end the moment they die, but it will lapse if you do nothing. Two federal options are open to you, and the clock is already running.
COBRA lets you continue the same employer group plan for up to 36 months. You have at least 60 days from the date of death or from the date you receive the COBRA election notice, whichever is later, to decide.1Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. COBRA Continuation Coverage Questions and Answers The cost is the catch: you pay up to 102 percent of the full premium, including the portion your spouse’s employer previously covered, plus a 2 percent administrative fee.2U.S. Department of Labor. FAQs on COBRA Continuation Health Coverage For many people, that makes COBRA a short-term bridge rather than a lasting answer.
A spouse’s death also qualifies you for a Special Enrollment Period on the ACA Marketplace, where coverage may cost less depending on your household income.3HealthCare.gov. Getting Health Coverage Outside Open Enrollment You do not have to wait for open enrollment. If you are 65 or older and not already enrolled in Medicare, contact the Social Security Administration about enrolling.
Gather the Documents You’ll Need
Before you can handle finances, insurance, or the estate, you need your spouse’s paperwork in one place. Start with any will or trust document. Check a home safe, a safe deposit box, or your spouse’s attorney’s office.
You will also need your marriage certificate (required for survivor benefits), your spouse’s Social Security number, bank and brokerage statements, real estate deeds, vehicle titles, and recent tax returns. Returns are especially useful because they give a consolidated picture of income sources and accounts you may not know about.
Life insurance policies are a priority. If you cannot locate one, check with your spouse’s current or former employers, which often provide group life as a benefit. Your state insurance department may help you search for unclaimed policies.
If your spouse rented a safe deposit box in their name alone, banks often restrict access once they learn of the account holder’s death. Rules vary by state, but most banks will allow a surviving spouse supervised access to inventory the contents. If the bank refuses, the executor or administrator can request a court order to open the box.
Who to Notify
With death certificates and documents in hand, work through the organizations that need to know. The funeral home usually reports the death to the Social Security Administration, but confirm this has been done. If not, call the SSA at 1-800-772-1213.4Social Security Administration. What to Do When Someone Dies
Beyond the SSA, contact:
- Life insurance companies. File a claim with each insurer. Most require a certified death certificate and a claim form. Payouts typically arrive within 30 to 60 days.
- Banks, credit unions, mortgage lenders, and brokerage firms where your spouse held accounts. Joint accounts generally remain accessible; solely owned accounts will be frozen until the executor has legal authority.
- One of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion) to report the death and flag the credit file. The bureau you contact will notify the other two. This helps prevent identity theft.
- Credit card companies, to close accounts in your spouse’s name. If you were an authorized user, the card company may close the account entirely, so be ready to apply for your own card.
- Your spouse’s employer, to ask about any final paycheck, accrued vacation, 401(k), pension, or group life insurance.
Digital Accounts
Email, social media, cloud storage, and online financial accounts all need attention. Nearly all states have adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which gives executors the right to access and manage a deceased person’s digital accounts. Under that law, a platform must act on an executor’s request to access account data or close an account within 60 days of receiving the required documentation, which includes a certified copy of the executor’s letters testamentary or letters of administration.
If your spouse used a platform’s own tool (Google’s Inactive Account Manager, Facebook’s Legacy Contact) to designate someone to manage the account after death, that designation controls. Otherwise, the executor’s authority under the will governs. Build a list of your spouse’s online accounts and begin contacting each provider with a death certificate and proof of authority.
Social Security Survivor Benefits
Survivor benefits can replace significant monthly income, but they do not start automatically. You have to apply.
A surviving spouse can collect as early as age 60, or age 50 with a qualifying disability. You must have been married at least nine months before death, and you cannot have remarried before age 60 (or 50 if disabled).5Social Security Administration. Who Can Get Survivor Benefits If you are caring for your deceased spouse’s child who is under 16 or disabled, you may qualify regardless of your own age or the length of the marriage.
The monthly amount depends on your age when you claim and your spouse’s earnings record. Benefits taken at 60 are reduced compared to waiting until full retirement age. If you are already receiving your own Social Security retirement benefit, you can switch to the higher of the two amounts.
The SSA also pays a one-time lump-sum death payment of $255 to a surviving spouse who was living with the deceased, or who was receiving benefits on the deceased’s record.4Social Security Administration. What to Do When Someone Dies
You cannot apply for survivor benefits online. Call the SSA at 1-800-772-1213 or visit a local Social Security office. An appointment is not required, but scheduling one reduces the wait.6Social Security Administration. Information You Need to Apply for Widow’s or Widower’s Benefits
Are You Liable for Your Spouse’s Debts?
Usually, no. A deceased person’s debts are paid from the assets in their estate, not from a surviving family member’s personal funds. If the estate does not have enough money, those debts typically go unpaid.7Federal Trade Commission. Debts and Deceased Relatives You may be personally responsible in specific situations:
- Cosigned debts. If you cosigned a loan, credit card, or other obligation, you are fully liable for the remaining balance.
- Joint accounts. Debts on jointly held accounts are yours.
- Community property states. In Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin, debts incurred during the marriage may be shared.
- Doctrine of necessaries. Some states hold a surviving spouse responsible for a deceased spouse’s necessary medical expenses, even without a cosigned agreement.
Debt collectors can contact you about your spouse’s debts, but federal law limits what they can say. A collector reaching out to someone with authority to pay from the estate must make clear they are seeking payment from estate assets, and that you cannot be required to use your own money or jointly owned property unless one of the exceptions applies.8Federal Register. Statement of Policy Regarding Communications in Connection With the Collection of Decedents’ Debts You can demand proof of the debt and contest it. If a collector implies you are personally liable when you are not, that is a violation of federal debt collection law.
Settling the Estate
Settling an estate means gathering your spouse’s assets, paying their debts, and distributing what remains to the rightful heirs. How complicated this gets depends on whether your spouse left a will and how their assets were titled.
If your spouse had a will, it names an executor. If not, the probate court appoints an administrator, often the surviving spouse. Either way, the executor or administrator must petition the probate court for legal authority to act. The court issues letters testamentary (with a will) or letters of administration (without one), and financial institutions will require certified copies before releasing information or funds.
The executor’s core duties are inventorying estate assets (real estate, bank accounts, investments, vehicles, personal property), paying outstanding debts and expenses from the estate (final medical bills, funeral costs, remaining loan balances), and filing your spouse’s final income tax return. If the estate generates income during administration, the executor also files a separate estate income tax return.
Small Estate Affidavit
Full probate can take months and cost real money. Every state offers a simplified process for smaller estates, commonly called a small estate affidavit. If the estate qualifies, you collect assets by filing a sworn statement rather than going through full court proceedings. Thresholds vary enormously: some states set the limit as low as $15,000, others allow simplified handling for estates up to $200,000 or more. Whether real estate qualifies for the shortcut also differs. Check with your local probate court.
Retitling Assets
Once debts and taxes are handled, remaining assets need to be transferred into the right names. Each asset follows its own path, driven by how it was titled.
Real estate held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship passes directly to the surviving owner outside probate. You transfer title by filing an affidavit of death of the joint tenant, along with a certified death certificate, with your county recorder’s office. Property held as tenants in common instead passes the deceased spouse’s share through probate.
Bank, brokerage, and similar accounts with a payable-on-death or transfer-on-death beneficiary also bypass probate. The named beneficiary presents a certified death certificate and proof of identity to the institution, and the funds transfer directly.9The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. Pitfalls of Pay on Death (POD) Accounts Retirement accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs transfer to the named beneficiary according to the plan’s rules.
Vehicle titles are retitled through your state’s department of motor vehicles, typically by presenting the existing title, a death certificate, and proof of your identity or legal authority over the estate.
Taxes and the Portability Election
Tax obligations are where surviving spouses most often leave money on the table. There are up to three separate filings, plus one election that can shelter millions of dollars for your future estate.
Your Spouse’s Final Income Tax Return
File a final federal income tax return (Form 1040) for your deceased spouse covering January 1 through the date of death. If you file jointly for that year, write “Filing as surviving spouse” in the signature area. If a court-appointed personal representative is handling the estate, both the representative and the surviving spouse sign the joint return.10Internal Revenue Service. Filing a Final Federal Tax Return for Someone Who Has Died For paper returns, write “Deceased,” your spouse’s name, and the date of death across the top.
Qualifying Surviving Spouse Filing Status
For the year your spouse died, you can file jointly. For the next two tax years, you may qualify for the “qualifying surviving spouse” status, which uses the same standard deduction and brackets as married filing jointly.11Internal Revenue Service. Filing Status To qualify, you must have a dependent child, stepchild, or adopted child living with you for the entire year, and you must not have remarried. This can save thousands compared to filing single.
Estate Income Tax Return
If the estate itself earns income after your spouse’s death (interest, dividends, rent, gains on sales during administration), the executor must file Form 1041 for any year in which the estate has gross income of $600 or more.12Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 1041
The Portability Election
This is the single most valuable move many surviving spouses miss, usually because they assume estate tax does not apply to them. In 2026, each individual has a federal estate tax exemption of $15,000,000.13Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax If your deceased spouse did not use their full exemption (which is true for most couples), the unused portion can be transferred to you. This is the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or DSUE amount.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 2010 – Unified Credit Against Estate Tax
The catch: the transfer only happens if the executor files a federal estate tax return (Form 706) and elects portability on it, even if no estate tax is owed. The standard deadline is nine months after the date of death, with an available six-month extension. If you miss that, executors who were not otherwise required to file Form 706 may still elect portability within five years of the date of death under a special IRS procedure.15Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 706 Even if your combined estate seems far below $15 million today, asset growth, future inheritance, and possible changes to tax law make the election worth making.
Stepped-Up Basis on Inherited Assets
When you inherit property from your spouse, the tax cost basis is generally stepped up to its fair market value on the date of death. If your spouse bought stock for $50,000 and it was worth $200,000 at death, your basis becomes $200,000. Selling it for $200,000 produces zero capital gains tax on the $150,000 of appreciation.16Internal Revenue Service. Publication 551 – Basis of Assets
In community property states (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin), the stepped-up basis applies to the entire value of community property, including the surviving spouse’s half. In other states, only the deceased spouse’s share of jointly owned property receives the step-up. Document the date-of-death value for every inherited asset, and consider working with a tax professional to lock in the basis.
If Your Spouse Was a Veteran
Military service opens up federal benefits that are separate from Social Security and apply only to eligible survivors.
If your spouse’s death was related to their military service, you may qualify for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC), a tax-free monthly VA payment. The basic monthly rate for a surviving spouse in 2026 is $1,699.36. An additional $360.85 is added if the veteran had a totally disabling service-connected condition for at least eight continuous years before death and you were married for those same eight years. Each dependent child under 18 adds $421.00 to the monthly payment.17Federal Register. Dependency and Indemnity Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA)
The VA also pays a burial allowance to offset funeral costs for eligible veterans. For a non-service-connected death, the maximum burial allowance is $1,002 and the maximum plot allowance is an additional $1,002. For a service-connected death, the burial allowance is up to $2,000. A separate headstone or marker allowance of up to $441 is also available.18Veterans Affairs. Veterans Burial Allowance and Transportation Benefits These allowances are paid to whoever bore the expenses and are not taxable.
If your spouse was a retired service member enrolled in the Survivor Benefit Plan, you may receive an annuity equal to up to 55 percent of their elected retired pay base amount. You must have been married at the time of retirement and still married at death. Remarriage before 55 stops the annuity, with reinstatement possible if that marriage ends; remarriage after 55 does not interrupt it.19U.S. Army Soldier for Life. Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) Fact Sheet Contact the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) to start the claim.
Update Your Own Estate Plan
Once the immediate obligations settle, your own documents need attention. Your spouse’s death almost certainly means your existing plan no longer works the way you intended.
Review and update beneficiary designations on every account that has one: retirement accounts, life insurance, payable-on-death bank accounts, transfer-on-death brokerage accounts. If your spouse was the named beneficiary, those designations need to change. Without an update, assets could pass to a contingent beneficiary you never meant to name, or fall into probate.
Update your will or trust. If your spouse was named as your executor, trustee, or agent under a power of attorney, those roles are now vacant. A new healthcare directive naming a different decision-maker is equally important. Most people assume they will get to these updates eventually, but dying without a current will or power of attorney creates exactly the kind of legal tangle you have just spent months untangling.