Guides
A death brings a series of steps and decisions, rarely at a moment when anyone feels ready for them. These guides take them in order, one stage at a time, so you can move forward at your own pace.
Three things genuinely press, and the funeral home takes on a good share of them.
Everything else — the bank, the home, the estate — can wait several days or weeks.
Step 1
Arranging the funeral, informing relatives, and handling the steps that cannot wait.
What a funeral home actually does, ten questions to ask before you sign, funeral costs in Switzerland line by line, burial or cremation,…
8 minute readWhat goes into a Swiss obituary, the wording families use, three complete examples to copy and adapt, the printed announcement card, and…
8 minute readWhat to write for condolences in Switzerland: 20 short messages to copy, the phrases to avoid, the card and when to send it, funeral…
8 minute readCertifying the death, reporting it within two days, the death certificate, who to notify and in what order, bereavement leave and the four…
7 minute readStep 2
This is when the paperwork takes over: the decisions about money, accounts and housing. They take time, and they have it.
Who inherits and in what order in Switzerland, the statutory entitlement since 2023, the three-month deadline, the certificate of…
10 minute readWhy a Swiss bank freezes the accounts, what it pays anyway, how to get the certificate of inheritance, the widow's pension and what falls…
7 minute readEnding the lease after a death under art. 266i CO, the notice period that really applies, what not to throw out, and what a clearance costs…
8 minute readValuing an inherited property, market value or tax value, keeping it, renting it out or selling, buying out the other heirs, property gains…
9 minute readStep 3
A few months later, once the urgency has faded, come the decisions tied to remembrance. The gravestone, the urn, grief itself: none of this needs deciding in the first weeks.
What is normal after a death, how long grief lasts, the signs that support would help, children and grief, and where to find bereavement…
7 minute readChoosing an urn, how a columbarium works, the garden of remembrance, scattering ashes in Switzerland, keeping an urn at home: what is…
7 minute readGranite and natural stone, what a gravestone costs in Switzerland, how long before the stone can go up, municipal authorisation, the grave…
7 minute readStep 4
Deciding while you still can: many people arrive here after seeing a relative through all of this. A few decisions taken now spare those left behind all of it.
A prepaid funeral plan, death benefit insurance or money set aside: how to arrange your funeral in Switzerland, what it costs and what to…
8 minute readHolographic will or public deed, contract of succession, the statutory entitlement since 2023, deposit and revocation: what makes a will…
9 minute readAn advance directive covers your treatment, an advance care directive (Vorsorgeauftrag) everything else. Neither is a power of attorney:…
12 minute readSeven free documents for Switzerland: who to notify after a death, letters to the bank and the landlord, a holographic will, an advance…
5 minute readThis guide provides general practical information for Switzerland. The competent authorities, fees and some deadlines are set by the cantons. For a decision that commits you, consult a professional in your canton.