Mom and Dad have passed, now what comes next for paperwork?

I just went through the death certificate stuff. The hospital, hospice or whoever will take care of the details of that for you and notify the state. It takes a week or two to receive the actual certificate, and you will want to order ten or twelve of them. Each institution that you deal with will need an original copy in order to close accounts, etc. Utilities, banks, etc, any where she has any sort of an account. Hopefully you have POA, which will make it easier, through POA's expire upon death. Is there a trust, or a will, anything?

Most funeral homes are excellent about helping you through this process. Take advantage of the services they offer.

I went through this with Gordie. The funeral home looked after the things needed right after death including the death certificate. . Glad is right about needing many copies of the death certificate. Your job is to notify all institutions she does business with - banks etc. about her death. If you are executor, you disperse what remains of monies and belongings according to her wishes and close out/wind up any accounts or other business. You will need to do final taxes as well. I suspect you can find a list of the duties of an executor on line. Are you anticipating anything soon or just getting your ducks in a row? I plan on paying someone to do the job of executor when mother dies to avoid issues with my sister who already has shown unfounded mistrust, and, I strongly suspect, would cause me all the trouble she could think up.

Make certain there is a will.
Make certain the will is filed with the probate court.

Make certain the property is locked up and only the executor has key.

Have a good lawyer to help you if your executor.

I lost one of my sisters a year or so ago.
Her daughter used cremation services.
No will was filed with court
Daughter has no public contact information, no phone, no address.
All we have is the Internet notice of her passing.
Town where she lived is of zero help
All we know is she died.

My brother inlaw died in New Hampshire his executor lives in Mass. so NH required a NH lawyer be the exceutor.

Contact a funeral home or cremation service [you can prepay but it will likely be more expensive that way] and they will contact social security, get the death certificates -- yes, they take care of that -- and send them to you, pick up the body and make all arrangements, ship the cremains wherever you wish. Aside from filling out info forms for the crematory/funeral home I know of no other paperwork required -- just went through this myself.

You will also need to contact the state's Asset Recovery team. (The state means the one that has been providing Medicaid payments for mother's long-term care. Go to that state's official Medicaid web site, and look-up their Asset Recovery Rules. Also, using the "Contact Us" from their web site, send them an e-mail with your Asset recovery questions. Do not rely on just any Medicaid worker's opinion at a local or regional office as they do NOT know the rules of Asset Recovery. This process took me about 1-1/2 months to accomplish. Hiring an attorney to close the estate is much easier on the family as this can be a very emotionally draining experience. Best wishes . . .

Ask the memory care facility what happens when she dies (usually a funeral home comes to retrieve the body and death certificate is issued - unless there is a suspicious death), and if she is on Medicaid, ask your state's office what they require because each state has different rules. Medicaid usually asks for reimbursement such as a sale of a home. Probate is still required unless there is a trust.

In Hawaii, the assistance of a funeral home is required as they work with the Medical Examiner's office to obtain a death certificate.
They will also contact Social Security and Medicare (if she was enrolled) to let them know of the death for tax purposes and their records.
You can request for as many copies of the death certificate as you need from the funeral home.
Get more death certificates than you think you'll need, as any additional copies need to be ordered and paid for.
When you receive the death certificates, contact all of your Mom's financial institutions; banks, credit unions, and credit cards, and let them know that your Mom passed away, and send them a copy of the death certificate if needed.
Talk to your tax preparer, and let them know so that they can prepare a final tax statement for your Mom for this year, to avoid IRS complications.

Locking up the property--this is a question I've had. My parents' home is large and lovely, and the often talk about how they want funeral luncheon to be there, in their home.....but in my mind, I'm not sure it would be safe to let 4 sibs, their spouses & kids all thru the house, possibly helping themselves to this or that... likewise I don't want luncheon at my house for them all to snoop around my stuff (to see if parents might have given me something--which they have and it's positively good since I do 97.5% of the work).
So I bettr have a locksmith out there and change garage door code right after someone passes.

The crematorium or funeral home that first took the body will be able to get the death certificate. They can also help you through the process on what comes next and who is notified. Make sure you have certified copies for insurance companies etc, but also keep a could of just copies as you may need one in the future.