Funeral and notifications

The days following the first hours are about planning the farewell ceremony, gathering the documents you will need, and making a few early notifications. There is no fixed order here — work through things at a pace that suits your family.

The funeral home coordinates most of the practicalities: the ceremony timeline, necessary transport, and formal paperwork. As a family, you choose the framework for the farewell — the type of ceremony, whether there should be a cremation or burial, and the choice of venue, flowers, and music. Remember that there is no right or wrong way to mark this occasion. If you wish to have a death notice in the newspaper or online, the funeral home can usually help with both wording and publication.

Notify insurance companies

If the deceased had life insurance or group life insurance through an employer, let the relevant insurance company know about the death as soon as you are able. These policies often require a formal claim to be submitted, and alerting the insurer early gives the process time to move. Check the deceased's insurance documents or correspondence to identify relevant policies. You will have an opportunity to follow up on any payouts and survivor benefits later.

Gather important documents

Collecting the right documents now, while there is still time to do so calmly, will make the estate process considerably smoother. You will need the deceased's passport or ID, a marriage certificate or registered partnership certificate if applicable, any will (also check NAST — the Norwegian wills register), a cohabitation agreement if relevant, mortgage and property documents, and an overview of insurance policies. If the deceased ran a business you should also locate any shareholder agreements or business registration documents.

Begin cancelling subscriptions

A practical step you can take now is to begin cancelling regular subscriptions that no longer need to run — newspapers, magazines, and streaming services are a good place to start. Utility agreements (electricity, internet, mobile) and digital accounts can wait until the estate administration stage, when you will work through them more systematically. A useful approach is to go through recent bank statements to see what recurring charges were being made.

When the National Population Register (Folkeregisteret) notifies the banks of the death, the deceased's accounts will be frozen. This typically happens within one to two weeks. The freeze remains in place until the district court has issued a probate certificate (skifteattest) and this has been presented to the bank — a process that normally takes between one and three months from the date of death. As an exception, banks can often pay funeral expenses and ongoing estate bills directly from a frozen account if you contact them. It is worth ensuring that the surviving partner has access to their own funds and is not solely dependent on joint accounts that may now become inaccessible.

Within two to four weeks of the death you can expect to receive a letter from the district court (tingretten). This letter explains the legal options for settling the estate and the deadlines you need to be aware of. It is the starting point for the settlement decision stage. If more than four weeks have passed without anything arriving, contact your nearest district court directly.