What To Do When a Death Occurs
Losing someone you love is overwhelming. You may feel pressure to make many decisions quickly, but only a few things need to happen right away. Start with these first-week steps — everything else can wait until you're ready.
What Must Happen Right Away
In most situations, focus on three things first.
- Confirm the death
- Contact a CMS funeral service provider
- Secure the home, pets, and property
If organ or tissue donation may be considered, this is also time-sensitive and should be raised immediately with the hospital or medical team.
Confirm the Death
What you do depends on where and how the death occurred.
Staff will confirm the death and explain what happens next.
Call the attending nurse, physician, palliative care team, or hospice contact.
Call 911.
Ask About Organ and Tissue Donation, If Applicable
If the deceased was a registered donor, or if the family wishes to explore donation, notify the hospital or medical team immediately. This step must happen before many other arrangements are made.
Contact a CMS Funeral Service Provider
The funeral home will arrange transportation of your loved one and guide you through the next steps.
Tell the funeral home they were a Cooperative Memorial Society member. Members have access to negotiated plans and pricing through our partner funeral homes. No membership number is needed — the funeral director can look up membership using name and address.
Ideally, your loved one shared their funeral preferences in advance — including which CMS funeral service provider to contact, their wishes for burial or cremation, and which CMS plan they chose. The funeral home can check the member's profile to see if these wishes were recorded. If they were written down instead — in a Ducks in a Row booklet or on a CMS guidance form — bring it along.
If they didn't leave guidance, the most commonly chosen and most affordable options are usually Basic Cremation or Basic Burial, but the right choice is the one that reflects your loved one's wishes.
Before agreeing to services, ask for a full written quotation and make sure you understand:
- What is included
- What is required
- What is optional
- What additional costs may apply
Funeral Resource & Reference Guide
This guide also provides good information for planning the funeral and understanding choices and costs.
Download the PDF guide →Secure the Home, Pets, and Property
If the home will be vacant:
- Lock the home, garage, and vehicles
- Arrange care for any pets
- Notify the landlord, if applicable
- Contact the police non-emergency line if the property may need extra attention
Next Steps & Where to Find Help
Once the immediate steps are handled, everything else can wait. Documents, certificates, the obituary, notifying organizations, the estate — our Forms & Resources page has checklists and templates for all of it, whenever you're ready for them.
Visit the Forms & Resources Page
Checklists for documents to locate, who to notify, registering the death, and settling the estate — plus free templates.
Go to Forms & Resources →Look After Yourself
Grief takes time. You do not have to manage everything alone.
Ask family, friends, neighbours, faith communities, or community groups for help with meals, childcare, transportation, errands, or paperwork. You can also ask your family doctor or funeral home about grief support resources.
Take one step at a time.