What to do when someone dies

When someone dies:

• a doctor signs and issues a death certificate
• a funeral company takes the deceased into care
• the funeral director in charge of the funeral arrangements registers the death with the NSW Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages. If a funeral director is not involved:
  • the person who is managing the final arrangements for the deceased must register the death.

It's then important to notify other people and organisations and government departments. Services Australia for example will share the information across Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support.

The Australian Death Notification Service (ADNS) provides people with a single online location to notify multiple organisations that someone has died.

Services Australia also provide assistance in a variety of areas including social work services and financial support.