What happens when someone passes at a nursing home?

What will most likely happen? Days before death, facility will reach out to ask what funeral home they will call. After death, they'll call funeral home to remove the body ASAP (Decomp starts immediately after death, so no staying there any longer then need be). They'll remove the body in a way that the other residents won't know someone has passed so as not to upset them.

Once the body is out of the building, funeral home takes over. You'll only hear from facility for business matters and to remove any belongings. As far as notifying goes, once the SSN is noted as belonging to a deceased person, it is a domino affect with anything that the number was used for will be notified (credit cards, Social Security, VA, etc). Notices will be sent regarding the deceased, (usually with condolences mentioned).

That's mostly it in a nutshell.

I'll only deal with the notification aspects of the death. Right now get all the bank account numbers, insurance policy numbers, pension accounts, phone numbers, SSN, DOB, any military service records, etc pulled together into a tidy list. Get a copy of the will if at all possible. Make certain that your first call after family and the funeral home is to the Social Security office. DO NOT COUNT ON THE FUNERAL HOME TO DO THIS. It's a simple automated call and means that they will be notified in time to STOP payment on the next check. Then just start calling through the list of everyone you need to notify. Do not assume that any of the agencies coordinate with one another (SS, VA, etc). Usually the calls are quick if you have all the policy numbers, service numbers etc available. I was able to do this for my father in one morning with a large cup of coffee. The hardest part is getting all the info together so do it before the confusion of death occurs. And be prepared for a million "I'm so sorry for you loss" comments from the people answering the phone. My favorite phone calls were the ones where I just had to punch in numbers to an automated system and get it over with. Some of these organizations will want a copy of the death certificate when you have that available so make a note of that for later. I had all the info on my phone, including copies of all paperwork so it was a simple task. My friend, who is not well organized and had to deal with an unexpected death, spent months trying to straighten out the accounts and notifications. Organization (and coffee) is absolutely key to making this go smoothly.

So my FIL was in a VA home, and we had agreed to move him to hospice care there just a few days before he passed away.

First, it was pretty clear that he wouldn't be with us much longer. He was in a shared room at the time, and they moved his roommate to another room (two-fold - for family privacy, but also so that his roommate didn't have to live in the room as it was happening)

They called the local family in, and even offered to make space for us to spend the night if needed (he was over an hour away, so the thought was sweet, but we did just end up going back and forth over the next few days)

During his last week or so, the nursing home confirmed our funeral home of choice.

When he passed, I believe this is the order it occurred. He was pronounced. Then we were notified. The Funeral Home was contacted. And then they called us back to let us know what time the funeral home would arrive to transport him.

As the timeline was pretty tight- only DH, myself and our youngest daughter (college age) were able to get up there to meet them - it was NOT a requirement though. We went because we wanted to be there for a special event that the VA home does for veterans who have passed away. They call it the Honor Walk We waited in the lobby of the SNF. The funeral home attendant prepared him and covered his body on the gurney, and draped it with an American flag. He was on the 2nd floor, so they had to take the elevator down, but residents (who were able to) and staff line the halls and saluted or had their hands over their hearts as the National Anthem was played. Once he reached the lobby, they did a small bio about him over the intercom and then asked every one for a moment of silence. Then they played "Taps" as the funeral home attendant took him out to their transport vehicle.

Had it not been for that - we wouldn't have even have needed to be there for them to transport. The funeral home would have handled it all.

The next day we met at the funeral home and made all of the arrangements. I believe when they file for the death certificates as part of the arrangements that triggers some of the official notifications. We didn't have to notify SS or the VA. We almost immediately saw SS and VA payments that had gone into his account pulled back out (within days). His bank account was also locked down within days. So I'm fairly certain that his social security number was flagged when we requested death certificates and the county received those requests. (It was a pretty quick update).

Our arrangements came with 10 death certificates. We didn't end up needing more, because some places just wanted scanned copies and emails, some just wanted copies and others wanted the originals. In some cases we could get them to provide the original back

As Geaton said, the executor of the estate takes over. As soon as we had the death certificates, DH immediately filed the will and got his Letters of Testamentary so that he could begin handling the estate.

If the appropriate agencies are NOT notified though through the end of life process with the NH and FH, I would think the executor would handle those notifications. But they will need the appropriate paperwork to prove they are allowed to do that in most cases.

I will leave the financials until you need this information.
As to imminent death, if your loved one is on Hospice care then they will guide you and can even guide you in choosing a reputable funeral establishment. In my brother's case he wanted simple cremation and no services.

Call funeral homes in your area and feel free to explore. Let them know what she would want in terms of services and DO NOT get roped into any pre-need nonsense. Just ask to be reassured they will accept her for the services you/she wishes to have.

As to death and what happens, call the admins at your establishment. Most often the person dies, the coroner or the doctor is called to "pronounce death". If there's a recent fall sometimes there is coroner request for autopsy. You would be notified as next of kin. You would be asked for the name of your preferrred establishment.

As to SS and all of that, yes, the Funeral Establishment notifies them.
You should notify at least one credit agency, either transunion, equifax or the other I cannot think of at the moment. They will notify the other.

You are, if you are speaking of someone on Medicaid, not going likely to have to even file probate. But this is all to be decided after death.

There is a good small book (and likely many others) through Amazon called "Please don't die but if you DO die what do I do next?" (


Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Please-Dont-Die…

Please Don't Die, But if You Do, What Do I Do Next?: …

Jun 19, 2012 · Please Don't Die, But if You Do, What Do I Do Next?: A Practical and Cost Saving Guide for the Estate Executor [Grube, Kurt J., Grube Esq., Keith S., Nevola, John E.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.

It will have answers to many of your questions and is inexpensive.

Thank you, Geaton. I am on her contact list at the NH, and her PoA and medical PoA. I would handle anything that comes up regarding her estate, as there isn't much outside of her personal belongings.

Are you on the contact list of her NH? Are you her medical PoA? If so they will call to inform you as soon as a doctor determines she is deceased. Then you inform the NH what funeral home. The funeral home or crematory comes to take the body. They will ask how many death certificates you want. I would ask for 5. The Executor of her estate takes over doing things once she passes. I never had to inform SS or Medicare but I did for everything else.