Losing someone in aged care often comes after a long period of decline. It is rarely sudden in the way that deaths at home or in hospital can be. But the practical steps that follow are still unfamiliar to most families, and the days after can feel disorienting even when the death was expected.
Understanding who does what makes the process easier to move through.
What the aged care facility will do
When a resident dies, the facility staff take responsibility for several immediate steps. You do not need to manage these yourself.
The facility will contact a doctor to certify the death. In most cases this will be the resident's regular GP or an on-call medical practitioner. Staff will ensure the person is treated with dignity while arrangements are made, and they will contact you or the nominated next of kin as soon as possible if you were not present.
Most aged care facilities have processes for notifying families gently and offering an initial point of contact for questions. If you have concerns about how you were notified or how the facility handled the death, you can raise them with the facility manager or contact the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.
What you need to do
Choose a funeral director
Once the death has been certified, the facility will ask you to nominate a funeral director to collect the body. You are not required to use any particular funeral director, and the facility cannot direct you to one. Take your time if you can. A brief comparison of local options is worth doing, even in grief.
See our guide to choosing a funeral director in Australia if you are not sure where to start.
Collect personal belongings
The facility will hold the resident's belongings until you are ready to collect them. There is no immediate rush. When you are ready, bring a bag and someone to help if you can. Some families find this step harder than expected.
If the person had valuables held by the facility, these will typically be returned to the executor of the estate or next of kin. Ask the facility manager what their process is.
Formally end the care arrangement
Aged care fees are generally charged up until the date of death, and in some cases for a short period after, depending on the facility's policy. You will need to formally notify the facility to end the residency and request a final account. Any bond or accommodation deposit (RAD) paid is refundable to the estate, minus any outstanding fees, within 14 days under aged care legislation.
If your family member paid a lump-sum RAD to enter the facility, this amount is refundable to the estate after the death, less any unpaid care fees. The facility is legally required to refund it within 14 days of the date of death. If you are unsure whether a RAD was paid, check with the facility or look through the person's financial records.
Notifying Services Australia
If the person was receiving the Age Pension, any Centrelink payments or DVA benefits, these need to be cancelled promptly. Overpayments will need to be repaid by the estate. Services Australia has a Bereavement Team that can help with this, and you can notify them by phone or through myGov.
There may also be a Centrelink bereavement payment available to an eligible partner or carer. See our guide to the Centrelink bereavement payment for more detail.
Registering the death
The death must be registered with the relevant state or territory Births, Deaths and Marriages registry. In most cases, the funeral director coordinates this on the family's behalf. You will need to provide some information about the deceased, which the funeral director will collect from you before lodging the registration.
Once the death is registered, you can obtain certified copies of the death certificate. You will need several of these for banks, superannuation funds, insurance companies, and the estate administration process. Read more in our guide to getting a death certificate in Australia.
The broader estate process
After the immediate steps are handled, there is a longer process of notifying organisations, closing accounts, and administering the estate. This can take weeks or months, and there is no need to rush it.
Our guide to who to notify when someone dies covers banks, superannuation, government agencies and more. If the person had a Will, the executor is responsible for administering the estate. If there was no Will, see our guide to what happens if someone dies without a Will in Australia.
There is no set timeframe for clearing a resident's room in aged care. Most facilities will give you several days or even weeks before the room is reallocated. If you need more time, ask. It is a reasonable request and most facilities will try to accommodate it.
Planning the funeral
Many families who have a loved one in aged care have already thought about the type of farewell they would want, or have had conversations with the person themselves. If any preferences were recorded, this is the time to refer to them.
If you are starting from scratch, our funeral checklist for Australian families walks through what needs to be decided. Our guide to how to plan a funeral in Australia covers the process in more detail.
A guide for everything that follows.
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