During the first 24 hours, focus on people, immediate safety, the decedent’s instructions, and preserving the home—not selling, distributing belongings, or making permanent title decisions. Secure doors, protect pets and medications, identify urgent water or electrical risks, notify the appropriate funeral professional, locate the original will without removing other records, and document who entered the property.
Not Sure Where Your Situation Fits?
Start with the documents, deadlines, ownership, and balances affecting the property.
Handle Safety and Essential Personal Matters First
Confirm that emergency, medical, and funeral responsibilities are being handled by the appropriate people. At the house, address hazards that cannot wait: running water, fire risk, unsecured doors, pets, refrigeration of medication, extreme heat or cold, and vulnerable occupants. Do not use the emergency as a reason to begin emptying rooms.
Create a written entry log. Record who has keys, who entered, what urgent work was performed, and what was moved for safekeeping. That protects the family and the future executor.
Secure the Home Without Claiming Ownership
Lock doors and windows, change or control access if reasonably necessary, collect loose keys, stop unauthorized entry, and photograph each room. If the house is vacant, check the insurer’s notice requirements and arrange lawful monitoring. A relative who secures the house does not thereby become owner or executor.
Avoid destructive cleanout, renovations, new occupants, or promises to buyers. Those decisions require authority, inventory, and an understanding of the will, deed, debts, and insurance.
Locate—Do Not Rewrite—the Estate Records
Look for the original will, trust papers, deed, mortgage statements, insurance declarations, tax bills, utility notices, safe-deposit information, and attorney contact. Keep originals together and record where they were found. Do not mark, staple, discard, or circulate the original will unnecessarily.
Forwarding mail may later help identify bills and deadlines, but preserve envelopes and dated notices. A foreclosure, tax-sale, or reverse-mortgage letter may create a separate urgent calendar.
Identify the Correct New Jersey Starting Office
The county Surrogate commonly handles uncontested probate and administration. The correct county generally follows the decedent’s domicile, while real estate in another county still requires title review. Obtain certified death certificates and ask what documents the Surrogate requires before an appointment can be issued.
The family can organize information immediately even though formal authority is not yet available. A simple property, people, documents, debts, and deadlines checklist prevents avoidable loss.
What Not to Do on Day One
Do not sign a deed, distribute cash, sell vehicles or valuables, cancel essential insurance, shut off heat without winterizing, post financial documents online, or let one relative take control without records. Do not assume the person named in the will already has unrestricted power.
Urgent legal threats deserve same-day counsel. Ordinary administration decisions can wait until the facts and authority are clear.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the family enter the house immediately?
Necessary, authorized entry for safety and preservation may be appropriate, but ownership, occupancy, privacy, and conflict facts matter.
Should the locks be changed?
Control access when security requires it, while documenting keys and avoiding exclusion of a lawful co-owner or occupant without advice.
Can belongings be divided?
No. Preserve and inventory property until the authorized fiduciary can administer it.
Should utilities be cancelled?
Not automatically. Heat, water, alarms, sump pumps, refrigeration, and insurance conditions may require continued service.
Does the person named executor already have authority?
Formal authority generally follows probate and qualification; nomination in a will is not the complete appointment process.
Where should the original will go?
Preserve it securely and contact the county Surrogate or estate attorney for filing instructions.
How many death certificates are needed?
The number varies by assets and claims; order multiple certified copies after identifying likely institutions.
When should a lawyer be called immediately?
Call promptly for disputes, unsafe occupants, missing property, foreclosure or sheriff-sale dates, tax foreclosure, or unclear authority.
