Photo: GaoKyle / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Nobody plans to spend the worst month of their life on hold with a bank. But that’s what happens to a lot of families after someone dies. There’s a funeral to pay for, accounts to close, and a stack of forms that seems to grow every day.
A new report from the Groundwork Collaborative, written by Zoe Butler and released Oct. 29, 2026, puts numbers on that burden. Based on an industry survey, it estimates the paperwork after a death can take about 570 hours. That’s more than three months of full-time work. Here’s what the report found, and a checklist to help your family get through it with less cost and less stress.
What dying costs now
Groundwork puts the average funeral at $7,726, and says add-ons can push the total past $10,000. It reports funeral prices are up 310% since 1986, while overall prices rose 193%.
The report also found that 14% of families took on debt to pay for a funeral in 2024, and that share jumped to 37% in 2025. Only 18% of funeral homes post their prices online, the report says.
Probate adds more. Groundwork estimates it can cost 3% to 8% of an estate’s value. On a $250,000 house, that’s $7,500 to $20,000. Yet fewer than 1 in 4 Americans have a will, and 13% have a living trust, the report says.
Meanwhile, the federal help is tiny. Social Security’s lump-sum death payment is still $255, and surviving spouses must apply within two years.
Your checklist for the first few weeks
1. Call around before you choose a funeral home. Under the FTC’s Funeral Rule, funeral providers must tell people who ask by phone “any accurate information from the price lists” they’re required to keep, according to the federal regulation. When you visit in person, you’re entitled to an itemized price list. Comparing two or three homes can save real money.
2. Order plenty of death certificates. Groundwork notes families often need 10 or more certified copies. Banks, insurers, pension plans, and the DMV may each want one.
3. Let the funeral home notify Social Security. SSA says a funeral home will usually report the death, so you may not need to. Ask to be sure, and ask about survivor benefits for a spouse or children.
4. Look for life insurance you don’t know about. The NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator is a free tool that lets you search participating insurers for policies and annuities. If it finds a match and you’re the beneficiary, the company will contact you.
5. Don’t pay debts out of your own pocket. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says survivors generally aren’t responsible for a loved one’s debts unless they co-signed, held a joint account, or fall under a specific state law, such as community property rules. The estate pays the debts. It’s illegal for a collector to suggest you have to pay out of pocket when you don’t.
6. Be wary of “inheritance advances.” Groundwork warns that companies offering cash now in exchange for a future inheritance often fall outside consumer protection laws. Read every term, or skip them.
What Groundwork wants to change
The report calls for funeral homes to post prices online, a Social Security basic life insurance program worth $15,000, higher limits for simplified small-estate procedures, rules for inheritance advance companies, and a national death notification portal modeled on the United Kingdom’s “Tell Us Once” service. It also notes a 2024 bill from Sen. Peter Welch that would raise the Social Security death payment to $2,900. These are proposals from an advocacy group, not current law.
A word on life insurance
Groundwork points out that nearly half of Americans lack life insurance and that median household savings is about $8,200. It also notes a big gap in workplace coverage: 77% of full-time workers can get it through an employer, versus 14% of part-timers.
The report criticizes term policies for expiring and favors permanent coverage. We see it differently. A level term policy covers the years when your family depends on your paycheck, at a fraction of the cost of whole life. Investing the difference builds a fund that can cover final expenses, and it stays yours. Coverage through your job is a nice extra, but it usually ends when the job does, so don’t make it your only plan.
The Bottom Line
Death is expensive, and the paperwork can feel endless. You can’t make it painless, but you can make it cheaper: compare funeral prices, order enough certificates, search for lost policies, and don’t let anyone pressure you into paying debts you don’t owe. And while everyone’s healthy, write a will, name your beneficiaries, and lock in affordable term coverage.
Sources and Further Reading
- Groundwork Collaborative, Zoe Butler, “Death, Debt, and Paperwork” (Oct. 29, 2026)
- Groundwork Collaborative, press release on the report (Oct. 29, 2026)
- 16 CFR 453.2, Funeral Rule price disclosures (eCFR)
- Social Security Administration, Lump-sum death payment
- Social Security Administration, Survivor benefits
- NAIC, Learn How to Use the NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator
- CFPB, Does a person’s debt go away when they die?
- Photo: GaoKyle, “White Plains Rural Cemetery in autumn, 2024,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0