Your First 30 Days

You don’t have to figure out the whole thing right now. You just have to do a handful of things so the situation doesn’t get worse while you catch your breath.

 

Here’s the short list, in order.

 

Week 1

Order certified death certificates

Get more than you think you need — six to ten. Every bank, insurance company, and government office will want its own certified copy. Photocopies usually won’t work.

 

The funeral home can usually order these for you. Doing it once is much easier than ordering more later.

Find the important papers

Look for:

 

  • The will (check a home safe, a file drawer, a safe deposit box, and the attorney who handled their last closing)
  • The deed to the house
  • Mortgage statements
  • The homeowner’s insurance policy
  • Property tax bills
  • Any trust documents

 

Put it all in one box. You will look at this box a hundred times.

Secure the house

  • Change the locks, or at least find out who has keys
  • Bring in the mail, or forward it
  • Take in anything sitting outside
  • Make sure the house doesn’t look empty from the street

 

Empty houses attract problems. This is the least glamorous item on the list and one of the most important.

 

Week 2

Call the insurance company — do this one now

This is the item families miss, and it can cost you the entire house.

 

Most homeowners’ policies have a vacancy clause. If nobody lives in the house for a set period — often 30 or 60 days — coverage can be reduced or dropped. It usually happens quietly. Nobody calls to warn you.

 

Then there’s a fire or a burst pipe, and you find out you had no coverage.

 

Call the insurance company. Tell them the owner died, and the house is empty. Ask what you need to do to stay covered. You may need a vacant home policy, which typically costs more, not less.

 

Also, tell them who to contact now. And ask what they require — some policies require the water to be shut off or the property to be checked on a schedule.

Keep the utilities on

Do not shut off the power and water to save money.

 

In the Lowcountry, a house without air conditioning grows mold fast. A house without heat can cause pipes to freeze in January. You’ll spend far more fixing that than you saved.

 

You also need working utilities for showings and inspections later.

Keep the yard cut

It signals that someone is paying attention. It also keeps you out of trouble with the HOA and with town code enforcement.

Talk to a probate attorney

Even one meeting. You’ll learn:

 

  • Whether the house has to go through probate at all
  • Which county does the estate belong to
  • Whether the will gives power to sell
  • What has to happen first

 

An hour of an attorney’s time now prevents most of the expensive mistakes.

 

Which county is your court in? →

 

Week 3

Open the estate with the probate court

File in the county where the person lived — not where the house is.

 

Bring: the original will (if any), a certified death certificate, and the names, addresses, and birth years of the heirs.

 

Call the court first to confirm current fees and what they accept. Berkeley County has posted that it does not take credit cards.

Get a date-of-death value on the house

This matters for taxes, and you want it while the information is fresh.

 

This is not today’s market value, nor is it the county tax assessment. It’s what the house was worth on the day the person died.

 

Get it in writing, with the comparable sales attached. Why this matters →

Make a list of the bills

Mortgage, property taxes, insurance, HOA, utilities, credit cards, any medical bills. See the mortgage, taxes, and liens.

 

Talk to the attorney before paying anything out of pocket. There’s a specific order in which estate debts are paid, and paying the wrong one first can create a problem for the personal representative.

Watch for a reverse mortgage

If the person had a reverse mortgage, the clock is short, and it starts at death. These have hard deadlines. Tell your attorney immediately — this is one of the few genuine emergencies on this list. What to do →

 

Week 4

Get the family on the same page

Have the conversation now, while things are calm:

 

  • Does anyone want to keep the house?
  • Can that person actually afford to buy out the others?
  • If we sell, is everyone agreed?
  • Who is handling what?

 

Doing this in month one prevents the fight in month seven. If people disagree →

Start the cleanout

Take your time on the sentimental things. But start.

 

A practical approach: keep, give to family, sell, donate, trash. Photograph anything meaningful before it leaves. Handle the paperwork and photographs first — those are the things people regret losing.

 

If it’s overwhelming, estate sale companies and senior move managers do this professionally. It costs money, and it is often worth it.

Talk to a realtor — even if you’re not selling yet

No obligation. What you want to know:

 

  • What is the house actually worth today?
  • What’s worth fixing and what isn’t?
  • What would it net if we sold?
  • How long would it take?

 

You need those numbers to make a good decision, whatever you decide. Don’t wait until you’re ready to list.

 

Things you can do without court permission

This is the part families don’t realize. You don’t have to wait for the legal process to finish before doing useful work:

 

  • Cleaning out the house
  • Getting values and estimates
  • Keeping insurance and utilities current
  • Yard and maintenance
  • Family conversations
  • Talking to professionals

 

Run these in parallel with the paperwork. It’s the single best way to shorten the whole process.

 

Things to avoid in the first 30 days

  • Don’t sign anything a cash buyer puts in front of you without an attorney reading it
  • Don’t distribute belongings before checking with the attorney, especially anything valuable
  • Don’t pay estate debts out of your own money before getting advice
  • Don’t shut off the utilities
  • Don’t let the insurance lapse
  • Don’t promise anything to any heir until you know what’s actually possible

 

Print this

If you do only five things this month:

 

  1. Order the death certificates
  2. Call the insurance company about vacancy coverage
  3. Secure the house and keep the utilities on
  4. Meet with a probate attorney
  5. Get a date-of-death value in writing

 

Everything else can follow.

 

Just inherited a house in Berkeley or Dorchester County? Call or text Jim Mills, CRS, SRES, ABR, GRI, at 843-830-3800. No pressure and no charge to ask questions — most of the families he helps aren’t ready to sell when they first call.

 

← Back to Selling a House After Someone Dies — the full guide.

 

Jim Mills is a licensed South Carolina real estate agent (License #98112) with The Mills Team, NextHome The Agency Group. He is not an attorney, a tax advisor, or an insurance agent. This is general information, not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Confirm your coverage with your own insurance carrier and your legal questions with a South Carolina probate attorney.