Large print guides for the weeks after a death
The first days
Registering the death, the forms around the funeral, and what can safely wait.
The first week after a death
The seven-day sequence after a death: what to do, in what order, when thinking is hardest.
What to do when someone dies
The first seventy-two hours: registration, who to tell, and what can safely wait.
First-week pack
The seven-day sequence after a death, with the specific contacts, forms and timings for each step.
Registering the death
What to bring, where to go, and what the registrar will issue.
Do not do yet
The list of things that look urgent but can safely wait, so nothing expensive or irreversible is decided in the wrong order.
Who to notify when someone dies
Government, banks, insurers, utilities and digital accounts, with a blank date-told column.
The medical examiner and the coroner
Who examines the death, what they certify, and when the family is involved.
When a coroner is involved
When a coroner must be involved, what happens, and what the family does and doesn't control.
Cremation: the forms and who signs them
Which medical authorisation forms apply, who signs them, and the timelines involved.
Donating a body to medical science
If the person wished to donate their body, the process and what the family can expect.
Benefits, pensions and telling the government
Who has to be told, who tells them, and what can be claimed afterwards.
Tell Us Once
What the service covers, what it doesn't, and which organisations still need telling directly.
Telling the DWP
Different benefits need different routes. Who sends each notification, and what to expect.
The BD8 form
The BD8 notifies DWP of a death. Your three options, who sends it, and who doesn't need to.
Bereavement Support Payment
Eligibility, the DWP claim process, and the lump-sum and monthly payments for widows, widowers and civil partners.
For a surviving spouse
What transfers automatically, what requires a grant, and what changes in year one.
Being the executor
The jobs that fall to an executor, from the first hour to the probate application.
The executor's first hour
The immediate actions, in order, with the context stripped back for speed.
Executor checklist
The full twelve-month estate administration, from the first week through the first year, with date fields.
Executor checklist, complete edition
Every task an executor or administrator can face, in four phases. Each task names the official page it comes from and the date we read it.
The PA1P probate application
What to include, what the Probate Registry checks, and the most common reasons for rejection or delay.
The IHT400 form
What each box is asking for, where to find the information, and common errors that delay the grant.
Planning ahead
Documents to fill in while you can, so the family is not left to guess.
Death folder checklist
Every document, account, access route and wish a family will need, gathered into one place.
Letter of wishes
Personal guidance for executors, trustees and family. Not binding, but usually followed.
Funeral wishes form
Burial or cremation, service type, music, readings, flowers and personal messages, recorded before anyone has to guess.
Original documents register
Where the originals actually live (will, LPA, deeds, certificates, policies) versus the copies.
Ten-minute check
Whether your most important documents are in place: a fast signal of the gaps that matter most.
The COP3 capacity assessment
Who can complete the COP3 assessment of capacity, and what it costs.
Online accounts and memorials
Social media, email and tribute pages after a death.
Social media after a death
What happens on each platform, who has authority, and how to close or memorialise an account.
Digital memorial pack
Guidance and templates for social profiles, tribute pages and account settings after a death.
What large print means here
Every edition is set at 18 point. That is the size the UK’s clear and large print standard (UKAAF G003, version 4) calls ideal; it asks for 16 point at the least. The standard versions are set much smaller, so these run to more pages.
Nothing is smaller than 16 point. The reading text is 18 point or bigger, and so are the page numbers. The only 16 point text is the line at the foot of each page that gives the document’s reference and address. The typeface is Arial, regular and bold, with no italics.
Each PDF is tagged for screen readers. Its headings are marked as headings and listed as bookmarks, so a screen reader can move from heading to heading, and the window shows the title of the document, not the file name.
The content is the same as the standard version of the document. The size and the layout change, so a family member holding the standard copy and you holding the large print copy are working from the same guide.
The type size, the page count, the file size and the day each PDF was prepared are on its card, so you know what you are printing before you press the button.
Printing them
Print at 100%, or “actual size”. “Fit to page” can shrink the type back down, and then it is no longer large print.
Each file is set for A4. If you would rather read on a tablet or a phone, open the PDF and pinch to zoom.
How each file measures
These figures are read from the PDFs themselves, not typed in: every character in the file is counted at the size it is drawn, the headings and bookmarks are read from the file’s structure, and the table is rebuilt each time a file is replaced. Last prepared 2 Nov 2026.
| Document | Pages | Body text | Smallest text | Tagged PDF | Bookmarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The first week after a death | 15 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 37 |
| What to do when someone dies | 13 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 34 |
| First-week pack | 12 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 13 |
| Registering the death | 6 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 8 |
| Do not do yet | 6 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 10 |
| Who to notify when someone dies | 39 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 11 |
| The medical examiner and the coroner | 35 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 44 |
| When a coroner is involved | 10 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 11 |
| Cremation: the forms and who signs them | 44 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 65 |
| Donating a body to medical science | 28 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 22 |
| Tell Us Once | 12 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 9 |
| Telling the DWP | 25 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 10 |
| The BD8 form | 12 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 14 |
| Bereavement Support Payment | 17 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 37 |
| For a surviving spouse | 16 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 18 |
| The executor's first hour | 5 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 5 |
| Executor checklist | 18 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 16 |
| Executor checklist, complete edition | 101 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 41 |
| The PA1P probate application | 12 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 20 |
| The IHT400 form | 24 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 20 |
| Death folder checklist | 23 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 41 |
| Letter of wishes | 17 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 19 |
| Funeral wishes form | 15 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 24 |
| Original documents register | 21 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 42 |
| Ten-minute check | 6 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 7 |
| The COP3 capacity assessment | 39 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 51 |
| Social media after a death | 27 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 45 |
| Digital memorial pack | 44 | 18 pt | 16 pt | Yes | 22 |
Body text is the size most characters in the file are set at. Smallest text is the running line at the foot of each page. Tagged means the PDF carries its structure for a screen reader. The measuring script is in the Valoren project at scripts/measure-large-print.py, and a PDF that fails these checks cannot be published on this site.
Not on this page?
If there is a Valoren document you need in large print that is not here, tell us which one at hello@valoren.uk. The ones people ask for come first.
For libraries, hospices and charities
Print these, link to this page, put them in a pack for families. No permission needed and nothing expected back. The only request is that you print them as they are. The organisations page has the full line. What council websites say about large print after a death is on a page of its own, with the data.
The standard versions, and many more documents, are in the free library and the resources index.