The Estate Organiser

What to Do When Someone Dies: A Checklist for Australia

Published 26 September 2026 by Will Kimak.

When someone dies in Australia, the first three things are a doctor, a funeral director, and the death certificate. A doctor or the coroner confirms the death and completes the medical certificate, a funeral director usually registers the death with your state's Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, and the registry then issues the death certificate that almost every organisation will ask to see. Nothing financial can really start until that certificate exists, so everything else waits behind it.

The rest of this page is the order it usually happens in. Registering a death is a state and territory job, and the timings and fees differ across the country, so each step below names the state it comes from and links to that state's own page.

The checklist, in the order things happen

  1. Call a doctor, or triple zero if the death was sudden or unexpected.
  2. Let the doctor or the coroner complete the medical certificate of cause of death.
  3. Choose a funeral director, who will usually handle registering the death.
  4. Find the will, and check whether it names an executor and sets out funeral wishes.
  5. Order several certified copies of the death certificate.
  6. Tell Services Australia within 28 days.
  7. Use the Australian Death Notification Service once you have the certificate.
  8. Tell the banks, the super fund, the insurer and the landlord or mortgage lender.
  9. Secure the home and check the insurance is current.
  10. Notify the Australian Taxation Office.
  11. Find out from each bank and fund whether they need probate.
  12. Ask for help, and take the compassionate leave you are entitled to.

Most of that spreads across the first month. Very little of it has to happen on day one.

The first hours: who to call

What you do first depends on whether the death was expected.

Victoria's Better Health Channel, run by the state government, puts the expected case plainly: an expected death is not an emergency, and you do not need to call for the police or an ambulance. (Source: betterhealth.vic.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) A doctor still needs to attend and confirm the death, but there is no siren and no rush.

An unexpected death is different. The same page describes it as a person who appears to be healthy dying suddenly, and says unexpected deaths need to be reported to the police and coroner. (Source: betterhealth.vic.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) In Victoria you can contact police, or call Coronial Admissions and Enquiries on 1300 309 519, which the Coroners Court of Victoria says is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (Source: coronerscourt.vic.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

New South Wales works through the same idea with its own list. The Coroners Court of NSW says doctors, healthcare professionals, emergency service workers and police are under a statutory obligation to report certain deaths to the coroner, including a death that was violent or unnatural, a death that was sudden and of unknown cause, and a death where a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death has not been signed and is not likely to be signed. (Source: coroners.nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

If the death happens in hospital you have less to organise. In Victoria the hospital will care for the deceased person until plans have been made with your chosen funeral director, and the doctor will advise you if the death requires the attention of the coroner. (Source: betterhealth.vic.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

A coroner being involved is not a sign that something is wrong. It is a process, and it can add time before the death is registered, which is worth knowing early so the delay does not frighten you later.

Registering the death and getting the certificate

Two different documents get confused here, so it is worth separating them.

The medical certificate of cause of death is completed by a doctor or the coroner. In Victoria it must be completed within 48 hours of a person's death. (Source: betterhealth.vic.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) The death certificate is the later one, issued by the state registry after the death is registered, and it is the one banks and super funds want to see.

The funeral director usually handles registration. Victoria's registry says that usually the funeral director registers a death as part of their services, completing the death registration after the burial or cremation has taken place, and that you can register a death without a funeral director by contacting the registry for help. (Source: bdm.vic.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) In New South Wales a funeral director will normally register the death and apply for the death certificate on your behalf, within 7 days of burial or cremation. (Source: nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Waiting times differ by state, and by how you apply. Victoria quoted up to 14 days generally, or up to 7 days where the death was registered within the last 3 months, with extra time for public holidays and postage. (Source: bdm.vic.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) New South Wales quoted up to 1 week where the certificate is ordered as part of registration, up to 3 weeks for a standard online application and up to 2 weeks for the priority service, with 5 to 7 days for delivery. (Source: nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) Those were the figures shown on the day this was checked, and registries change them.

One detail that trips families up: Victoria's standard death certificate is accepted as a legal Australian death certificate but does not provide the cause of death, and a separate version showing the cause is available. (Source: bdm.vic.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) Some insurers want the version with the cause on it, so ask before you order.

Order more copies than feels sensible. Several organisations keep the copy you send them.

Who has to be told, and who does not

Services Australia has the tightest deadline. It says you need to tell it within 28 days, by calling the Older Australians line and saying someone died, completing and submitting the Advice of death form, or visiting a service centre. (Source: servicesaustralia.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) It also publishes a Who to notify checklist you can download. (Source: servicesaustralia.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

The Australian Death Notification Service saves a lot of phone calls. Service NSW describes it as a free online service to advise multiple organisations that a person has died, and adds the condition that matters for timing: to progress the notification, a death certificate must have been issued by the relevant state or territory registry. (Source: service.nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) Services Australia describes the same service as a free government service to help you contact multiple organisations at once. (Source: servicesaustralia.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) So it is a step for after the certificate arrives, not before.

The ATO needs separate notice. It accepts a death certificate, a grant of probate or letters of administration, or the will, and says it takes up to 28 days to update the deceased person's records after it receives the notification. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

The electoral roll looks after itself. The Australian Electoral Commission says you do not need to notify it when a relative or friend has died, because information about a person who has died is provided to it by the relevant Births, Deaths and Marriages registries, though you may notify it directly with a form if you want to. (Source: aec.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

The myGov account also closes itself. The federal myGov checklist says a deceased person's account will automatically close after not being used, and it points people to register the death first so they can get a death certificate, then notify federal agencies including the ATO, businesses, banks and superannuation providers. (Source: my.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) It also notes that you can cancel an Australian passport by visiting your local Australia Post office. (Source: my.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Money: the accounts, the super, the insurance

This is the part that moves slowest, and understanding why makes the wait easier.

Bank accounts vary with how they were set up. Moneysmart, ASIC's consumer site, says joint accounts can work differently depending on the account and your circumstances. (Source: moneysmart.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) A sole account is generally frozen until the bank knows who has authority over the estate, which is why families sometimes cannot pay the funeral invoice from the person's own money.

Superannuation is not part of the estate by default. Moneysmart states that super does not automatically form part of a person's estate. (Source: moneysmart.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) Claiming it is its own process, and Moneysmart sets it out in four steps: find the person's super fund, contact the fund to start a death benefit claim, provide the documents the fund asks for, then keep records and follow up. (Source: moneysmart.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) The fund's trustee checks whether the person made a valid beneficiary nomination and considers who may be eligible to receive the death benefit under super law, so the outcome is the trustee's decision rather than an automatic transfer. (Source: moneysmart.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Life insurance needs a phone call, not a form in the post. If the person had life cover, Moneysmart's advice is to contact the insurer as soon as possible to find out whether a claim can be made. (Source: moneysmart.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Keep every receipt from day one, including the funeral invoice and the travel. Whoever ends up administering the estate will need them, and reconstructing six weeks of spending from memory is miserable.

Will the family need probate?

Sometimes, and it depends on the state and on what the person owned. It is not a box everyone has to tick.

The Supreme Court of Victoria is unusually direct about it. Grants are not always needed, it says, and you should contact each asset holder and find out from them directly whether they will require a grant before releasing money. Where the deceased owned real estate either solely or as a tenant in common, a grant is always required. Where the assets are entirely held in a joint bank account, providing a death certificate may be enough for the money to be transferred to the surviving joint holder. (Source: supremecourt.vic.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Those are Victorian rules from a Victorian court. Probate is administered state by state with different registries, different forms and different fees, so the answer for an estate in Queensland or Western Australia comes from that state's registry, not this page.

The practical first move is the same everywhere. Ring each bank, fund and registry, ask what they need to release the asset, and let the answers tell you whether an application is worth making.

Help that costs nothing

The ATO's own checklist opens, before any tax step, by telling people to look after themselves and listing confidential counselling services. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) That is a reasonable order of priorities from an unlikely source.

Griefline, Lifeline and Beyond Blue are charities rather than government departments. The myGov checklist also reminds people to use compassionate or bereavement leave, which many employers provide. (Source: my.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

What makes the next six months easier

Almost none of the difficulty in the list above is legal. It is the hunting.

The steps assume somebody can answer which bank, which super fund, which insurer, whether there was a second policy, who the accountant was, where the will is kept. When those answers are in one person's head and that person has died, every step turns into a search, a phone call, and a wait. Families describe this part, not the grief and not the paperwork, as the thing that wore them out.

A solicitor is worth paying for the legal corner, and the will especially. Everything else, the map of where things are, is a kitchen table job that costs a fraction of what guided help costs.

If you are dealing with an estate now, the free Executor Toolkit sets the first twelve months out as a roadmap. If this page has made you think about your own family having to do it one day, The Estate Organiser is the book you write the answers into. It is filled in on your own computer or by hand, so the account numbers and the wishes stay in the family rather than on a company's website.

Common questions about what to do when someone dies in Australia

What is the very first thing to do when someone dies at home?

It depends on whether the death was expected. Victoria's Better Health Channel says an expected death is not an emergency and you do not need to call for the police or an ambulance, though a doctor still attends to confirm the death. (Source: betterhealth.vic.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) An unexpected death, described as a person who appears healthy dying suddenly, needs to be reported to the police and coroner. (Source: betterhealth.vic.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

How long does it take to get a death certificate in Australia?

It varies by state and by how you apply. Victoria quoted up to 14 days generally, or up to 7 days where the death was registered within the last 3 months, plus time for postage and public holidays. (Source: bdm.vic.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) New South Wales quoted up to 1 week when ordered as part of registration, and up to 3 weeks for a standard online application, with 5 to 7 days for delivery. (Source: nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) Those were the published figures on the day this was checked.

Who registers the death?

Usually the funeral director. Victoria's registry says the funeral director normally registers a death as part of their services, after the burial or cremation, and that you can register one yourself by contacting the registry. (Source: bdm.vic.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) In New South Wales the funeral director registers the death within 7 days of burial or cremation. (Source: nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Who do you need to notify when someone dies in Australia?

Services Australia says you need to tell it within 28 days and publishes a Who to notify checklist to help work out the rest. (Source: servicesaustralia.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) The Australian Death Notification Service is a free online service that advises multiple organisations at once, and it needs the death certificate to have been issued first. (Source: service.nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) The ATO is notified separately. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) The Australian Electoral Commission says you do not need to notify it, because registries pass the information on. (Source: aec.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Does superannuation get paid to the family automatically?

No. Moneysmart states that super does not automatically form part of a person's estate, and that claiming a death benefit takes four steps: find the fund, contact it to start a claim, provide the documents it asks for, then keep records and follow up. (Source: moneysmart.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) The fund's trustee checks for a valid beneficiary nomination and considers who may be eligible under super law. (Source: moneysmart.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Do you always need probate when someone dies?

No. The Supreme Court of Victoria says grants are not always needed and advises contacting each asset holder to find out whether they require one. A grant is always required where the deceased owned real estate solely or as a tenant in common, while assets held entirely in a joint bank account may transfer on a death certificate alone. (Source: supremecourt.vic.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) Probate is state based, so check the registry in the state where the estate sits.

What happens to the person's myGov account?

You do not have to close it. The federal myGov checklist says the account will automatically close after not being used. (Source: my.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) The same checklist notes that an Australian passport can be cancelled at a local Australia Post office. (Source: my.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Related guides

Educational content only. Not legal, financial or tax advice. Estate laws vary across Australian states and territories. Always consult a qualified professional about your specific situation.

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