The short answer
Keep things safe and running, and change as little as you can. This week, that means the pets, the locks, the heat and water, and the mail.
Closing accounts, selling the car and deciding about the house can all wait. Most of this week is about leaving things as they are, on purpose.
This chapter explains how things usually work in the United States. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and the rules where you live may differ. Before you act on anything here, check it with one of the people named at the end of the chapter.
What to do
- Make sure someone feeds any pets today.
- Find every key, and lock the house.
- Check the heat and water.
- Ask someone to be at the house during the funeral.
- Collect the mail by hand.
- Leave the car parked and the bank accounts open.
What can wait
- Selling or giving away anything, including the car.
- The car title and the motor vehicles office.
- Closing the utilities, the phone line or the bank account.
- Closing email and social media accounts.
- Sorting the mail, beyond the dated letters on top.
- Deciding about the house. Book 4, Their House, covers whether to keep, sell or rent it, and how to look after a house that stands empty for months.
Who can help
A neighbor can hold a key, bring in the mail and look in each day. If there is nobody nearby, a paid house sitter or pet sitter can do the same.
The home insurer can say what the policy needs while the house is empty. Once someone has been appointed, the Post Office can forward the mail.
The rules, phone numbers and web addresses in this book were checked against the agencies’, courts’ and organizations’ own pages in October 2026. Where a rule differs by state, the book names one state as an example. Check anything you rely on with the office itself.
From Book 1: The First Month
This page has the short answer and the closing lists from chapter 7. The full chapter explains, in plain words, what exists, what to ask, and who can answer. The book covers the first month after the death.
Questions near this one
Other questions on related subjects, from this book and the others.
- What can wait until after the funeral? Book 1, The First Month
- How do I find the will and the papers, and what if I can't? Book 1, The First Month
- Who tells Social Security and the other offices? Book 1, The First Month
- Who do I call, and in what order? Book 1, The First Month
Hear when The First Month is out
A short note when each book is out. Five or six emails a year at most. You can unsubscribe whenever you like.