Someone Died in Virginia: What to Do in the First 30 Days

When someone you love dies, the legal system can wait longer than you think. In Virginia there is no deadline to start probate, nothing is forfeited by taking a few weeks to grieve, and most of the urgent-feeling tasks in the first month are practical rather than legal. This guide walks through what actually needs attention in the first 30 days, roughly in order, and flags the few places where acting carelessly can create real problems later.

Days 1 to 3: the funeral and the paperwork that starts everything

Who decides about the funeral? If the person signed a designation naming someone to control their funeral and disposition (a signed, notarized writing accepted by the designee), that person decides, with priority over everyone else (Va. Code § 54.1-2825). Without a designation, the right belongs to the next of kin, and here Virginia is different from many states: it does not codify a fixed priority order among them. If the next of kin disagree about arrangements, any of them may petition the circuit court to decide who has authority (§ 54.1-2807.01), with the court weighing the decedent’s wishes and the family relationships. In practice, funeral homes work from the family’s consensus, which is one more reason the designation form is worth signing while you are alive.

Death certificates. The funeral director will typically offer to order certified death certificates from the Virginia Office of Vital Records. Order generously; ten to twelve copies is common. Banks, insurers, the DMV, brokerages, and the court may each want an original certified copy, and re-ordering later slows everything down.

The first week: find the will, and touch nothing else

Locate the original will, not a photocopy. Check the home safe, the safe deposit box, and the drawer where important papers live, and call the attorney who did the planning, who may hold the original or know where it is. Some Virginians lodge their will with the Circuit Court clerk for safekeeping during life (§ 64.2-409); if so, the clerk delivers it to the person entitled to offer it for probate once notified of the death.

Whoever ends up holding the original should plan to deliver it to the Circuit Court clerk for the city or county where the person lived. Until then: do not unstaple it, write on it, or remove pages. Physical alterations to a will invite challenges and questions that are entirely avoidable.

One reassurance worth repeating: the person named as executor in the will has no legal authority yet, and also no duties yet. Authority comes only from qualifying before the clerk. Nobody is “failing” as executor by taking three weeks to catch their breath.

Weeks 1 to 2: secure things, but do not distribute anything

• The house. Lock it, keep insurance in force (call the insurer; vacant-home coverage matters), and forward the mail through USPS. Mail is also how you will discover accounts and bills you did not know about.
• Vehicles. Keep them insured and parked; transfer comes later through the DMV’s procedures.
• Pets and perishables. Handle immediately; nothing legal about it, just necessary.
• Bills. Essential recurring bills (utilities, insurance, mortgage) can be paid to protect property, ideally from a joint account or by a family member keeping receipts for reimbursement. Do not start paying general debts out of the decedent’s money; creditors are handled in an orderly process later, and paying the loudest creditor first can create personal liability.
• Do not distribute. No “she always wanted me to have this” removals, no dividing cash, no DIY disbursements. Until someone qualifies, nobody has the right to give estate property away, and early distributions are the seed of most family probate fights.

Weeks 2 to 4: take inventory of what is actually there

Make a simple list of what the person owned and roughly what it is worth. This list determines everything that follows, including whether you need probate at all. As you list assets, sort them into two piles:

Assets that pass outside probate automatically: jointly owned accounts with survivorship, payable-on-death (POD) and transfer-on-death (TOD) accounts, life insurance and retirement accounts with living beneficiaries, real estate owned jointly with survivorship or covered by a transfer on death deed, and anything owned by a living trust. These go to the survivor or beneficiary directly; the bank or insurer will want a death certificate and a claim form, not a court order. Our guide to title transfers after death in Virginia covers the mechanics.

Assets that need legal authority to move: accounts in the decedent’s sole name, solely owned vehicles and real estate with no TOD designation, and everything else with no surviving co-owner or beneficiary. This second pile is the probate estate, and its size drives the next decision.

The fork in the road: small estate, full probate, or neither

If the sole-name personal property totals $75,000 or less, Virginia’s small estate law is a gift. After 60 days from the death, the people entitled to the money can collect it with a simple sworn affidavit, with no personal representative appointed at all (Va. Code § 64.2-601). Banks must honor it. Real estate is not counted against the $75,000 because it passes directly to heirs or beneficiaries outside this process. Our small estate affidavit guide walks through it step by step.

If the probate estate is larger, someone (usually the named executor) qualifies before the Circuit Court clerk, takes an oath, posts bond, pays the modest probate tax (10 cents per $100 of estate value, one of the lowest in the country), and receives letters of qualification, the document banks actually respect. From that moment the 30-day notice, 4-month inventory, and 16-month accounting clocks start running; see the 30/4/16 rule and our executor checklist. We cover the appointment itself in our guide to qualifying as executor or administrator.

If everything passed outside probate, you may need nothing more than a probate-of-will-only filing (recording the will without qualification) or nothing at all. This is more common than people expect, especially for married couples who planned well.

Special note for surviving spouses

Virginia protects surviving spouses in ways that have real deadlines, and the clocks differ. The family allowance, exempt property, and homestead allowance elections are due one year after the later of the will being admitted to probate or an administrator qualifying, a 2026 change that replaced the old one-year-from-death rule and gives grieving spouses meaningful breathing room (Va. Code § 64.2-313). The elective share, the spouse’s right to claim a portion of the augmented estate, runs on a shorter clock: it must be claimed within six months of probate or qualification (§ 64.2-302). These are use-it-or-lose-it rights that matter most when the will leaves a spouse little or nothing, so a spouse in that situation should get advice early, well before either deadline approaches.

When to call a probate attorney

Call sooner rather than later if any of these is true: the estate holds real estate that must be sold; family members already disagree; the will is missing, altered, or homemade; there are more debts than assets; a business or farm is involved; or the named executor lives out of state. A single consultation early usually costs far less than untangling a well-intentioned mistake later. If you just lost someone and are not sure which path your family is on, schedule a probate consultation and we will map it out with you.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a deadline to probate a will in Virginia?

No statutory deadline exists. That said, practical pressures (bills, property upkeep, family expectations) usually make within a few months sensible. Waiting years invites lost documents and faded memories.

Can we open the safe deposit box?

Yes, in a limited way. Virginia law lets the bank permit a spouse, next of kin, or other interested person supervised access before anyone qualifies, but only to look for a will or other testamentary instrument, and only the will may be removed, for delivery to the clerk (Va. Code § 6.2-2302). Bring a death certificate and identification. Everything else in the box stays put until someone has legal authority.

Who pays the mortgage and utilities in the meantime?

Whoever pays should keep receipts; legitimate expenses to preserve estate property are generally reimbursable from the estate. A surviving co-owner of the home pays as owner. What you should not do is drain the decedent’s accounts to pay bills before anyone has authority.

The bank froze the account. Is that normal?

Yes. A sole-name account locks at death until someone presents letters of qualification or a small estate affidavit. Joint and POD accounts, by contrast, belong to the survivor or beneficiary immediately.

Do we have to go through probate for the house?

Virginia real estate passes directly to the heirs or the people named in the will at the moment of death, subject to debts. Whether anything must be filed depends on the situation; see our guide to who inherits when there is no will and talk to an attorney before selling.

What does probate cost in Virginia?

Far less than internet horror stories suggest: the probate tax is 0.1% of the estate (plus up to one-third more in some localities), with modest clerk and Commissioner fees on top. Our Virginia probate costs guide has real numbers.