Order fifteen, not five

Sometime in the first day or two, the funeral director will ask you a quiet, practical question: how many copies of the death certificate would you like ordered. Most people, caught off guard, say five. A few say ten. The honest answer is fifteen, and the reason is more boring, and more aggravating, than you would expect.

Why one is never enough

A death certificate is a state-issued vital record. Banks, insurers, brokerages, retirement custodians, and government agencies all require an original: embossed, raised seal, ordered through the county or state. Not a photocopy. Not a scan. Many institutions keep the certificate they receive. Some promise to return it after recording. The ones that promise often do not.

What each one costs depends on the state: about five dollars for the first copy in Florida, thirty-five in Utah. Many states charge far less for extra copies ordered at the same time. In Texas, the first is twenty dollars and each additional one is three. The CDC keeps every state’s current fees in one place.

Reordering is where the time goes. In person, many offices issue copies the same day. By mail, Texas quotes six to eight weeks and Washington eight to ten. If you run out at week three of settling things and have eight more institutions to notify, that can be weeks of standing still while accounts you needed to close keep moving.

A working list of where each one goes

In the rough order most families meet them:

1. Life insurance. One per policy.
2. Each retirement account: 401(k), IRA, pension.
3. Social Security Administration.
4. The employer, for benefits and the final paycheck.
5. Every joint bank account.
6. The mortgage company, if there is a mortgage.
7. Each brokerage or investment account.
8. The vehicle title, one per vehicle.
9. The deed to the house, if it needs to be retitled.
10. The IRS, if it asks for one with the final tax return.
11. Sometimes the utility company, sometimes not. Pension survivors’ benefits, if any. The veterans’ administration, if applicable.

A typical household of two cars, one mortgage, one life policy, two retirement accounts, and a couple of bank accounts is already at ten. That is before anything unusual.

The math

What fifteen certificates cost upfront depends on the state: about sixty dollars in Texas or Florida, where extra copies ordered together are cheap, and a few hundred where every copy is full price. A reorder later is a new request, often at the first-copy price again, and another wait. The alternative is weeks or months of waiting between rounds. During those months, accounts go into limbo, automatic payments fail, and you find yourself making the same call to the same county clerk you already called.

Order more than you think you’ll need. The small expense is the cheapest thing about this entire process.

What people wish they’d known

Three things almost no one says out loud until you are in the middle of needing to know them:

• The funeral home can usually order them for you at the time of the first arrangement, and bill them with the rest of the services. You do not have to figure out the county vital records office in the first week.
• Some institutions will accept a certified copy from a different state if the person travelled or moved. Some will not. Ask before you send.
• Keep two certificates aside, in a folder, in a place you will remember. If the IRS asks for one, that is the certificate you will wish you still had three months later.

What the binder does with this

The binder’s Documents page is a map of where the papers live: each document, and the place it is kept, in your own words. It is a good place to write this down too: order fifteen, not five. Much of the other paperwork depends on it.

This is not interesting writing. It is just true, and almost no one says it out loud until you are in the middle of needing to know.