If today is the day you need this, here is what matters now.

This week

  • Order 10–15 certified copies of the death certificate.
  • Locate the will. Identify the executor.
  • Notify immediate family, close friends, and your partner's employer.
  • Stop or forward mail.
  • Secure the home.

These weeks

  • Schedule a meeting with an estate attorney.
  • Apply for Social Security survivor benefits.
  • File life insurance claims.
  • Notify banks and brokerages.
  • Begin a list of accounts. Don't try to finish it.

Don't this month

  • Don't pay your partner's individual bills until you've spoken to an attorney.
  • Don't close joint accounts.
  • Don't sell, move, or sign anything you don't have to.
  • Don't make any 30-year decision.

If you can only do one thing

Get certified copies of the death certificate. Everything else flows from there.

If you can't make calls

Ask one person — friend, sibling, attorney, steward — to sit with you while you do, or to make them on your behalf.