Who do you call when someone dies at home?

A doctor first, the family doctor or the on-call service, to certify the death. Then a funeral home, which arranges the transfer of the body and the report to the civil registry. If the death is sudden or unexplained, call the police before anything else and move nothing.

Who do you have to notify after a death in Switzerland?

In the first week: the OASI compensation office, the occupational pension fund, the health insurer, the employer, the banks and the letting agent. Within the month: private insurers, the municipality, Serafe, telecoms, Swiss Post and subscriptions. The rest can wait. The checklist above runs through all 18 in order.

How many days off do you get after a death in Switzerland?

Federal law fixes no number. It requires the customary time off when something happens in the family. Under collective agreements and staff regulations, one to three days is what you usually see, with three days for a spouse, a child or a parent. Your collective labour agreement is what decides it.

How many copies of the death certificate should you order?

Five to ten. Every insurer, fund and bank asks for one, and several keep it. Ordering them together at the civil registry office costs less time and less running around than a second request made in a hurry.

Are bank accounts frozen straight away?

Yes, as soon as the bank learns of the death, and until the certificate of inheritance is produced. Funeral costs can often be paid straight from the deceased's account against the invoice, which spares the family advancing the money. Ask the bank, because it is not always offered.

What to do when someone dies in Switzerland

The three things that matter right now

If this is all you read today, it is enough.

1
Have a doctor certify the death
At home, call the family doctor or the on-call service. In a hospital or a care facility, it is done on site. The body cannot be moved before then.
2
Choose a funeral home
The one real decision of the first hours. The funeral home then handles the transfer of the body, reports the death to the civil registry and takes on most of the paperwork that follows.
3
Gather three documents
The medical certificate of death, an identity document belonging to the person who died, and the family booklet. Everything else can wait.

The first 48 hours: certifying the death, then reporting it

It starts with a medical document. A doctor has to certify the death and issue the medical certificate of death. At home that is the family doctor or the on-call service; in a hospital, a clinic or a care home (EMS / Pflegeheim), the facility takes care of it. Nothing else can happen without that certificate, including the transfer of the body to a mortuary or a chapel of rest.

If the death is sudden, unexplained or happened in unclear circumstances, call the police. Move nothing and touch nothing. The police come to establish the cause of death, nothing more, and the procedure protects the family as well.

The death must then be reported to the civil registry office (Zivilstandsamt / état civil) of the place of death within two days. In practice the funeral home or the facility almost always does this for you. If you go yourself, take the medical certificate, an identity document belonging to the person who died and the family booklet if you have it.

Good to know

You do not have to do all of this yourself, and you do not have to decide quickly. The estate, the home and the bank accounts come up in the following weeks, with far longer deadlines than the first few days lead you to expect.

Getting the death certificate: where, how, how many copies

The death certificate comes from the civil registry office of the place of death, usually a few days after the death is reported. English uses one phrase for two different papers, which is where families lose the thread: the doctor issues the medical certificate of death, which goes to the civil registry and never to you; the civil registry office then issues the death certificate, the civil-status document that every administration will ask you for.

You will need more copies than you think. The OASI compensation office (AHV / AVS), the pension fund, the health insurer, the banks, the insurer and the landlord each want one, and several of them never give it back. Order five to ten at once. A second order later costs you time and another fee — a modest amount, set by the canton.

One useful detail: most organisations now accept a photocopy or a scan. Keep the originals for the banks, the notary and the authorities.

Who to notify, in what order

Nobody keeps this list in their head, and nobody should have to rebuild it on an evening of grief. The order that works: first whatever pays out or takes money every month, then whatever costs something, and last whatever can wait without consequence.

Tick the boxes as you go — they stay ticked for as long as you stay on the page. Print the page if you would rather have the list on the kitchen table.

A single letter, to adapt for each subscription or contract. Send it in writing with a copy of the death certificate, within the month.

Template letter terminating a contract

First name, surname of the heir
Street, postcode, town

By registered post

Name of the company or organisation
Street, postcode, town

Place, date

Re: termination of contract customer reference or subscription number following the death of first name, surname

Dear Sir or Madam,

We write to inform you that first name, surname died on date in place. A copy of the death certificate is enclosed.

As heirs, we hereby terminate the contract named above on the next possible date. Please cancel the direct debits still running and send us a final statement.

If an amount is owed to us for the period already paid, please transfer it to account IBAN, held by account holder. If equipment or a device must be returned, please tell us how to proceed.

Please acknowledge receipt of this letter and confirm the effective termination date. You can reach us at the address above or on telephone number.

Yours faithfully,

Signature
First name and surname in block capitals

Enclosure: copy of the death certificate

One letter per contract: phone, internet, newspapers, the public transport pass, the club, supplementary insurance. Go through the last few months of bank statements before you write. There is almost always a recurring payment nobody had thought of.

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Bereavement leave: what Swiss law provides

Federal law puts no number on bereavement leave. It requires the employer to grant the customary hours and days off when something happens in the family, and it stops there. The number itself comes from somewhere else: the collective labour agreement (GAV / CCT) covering your industry, your employer's staff regulations, or local custom.

In Swiss practice the usual range is one to three days, often three for a spouse, a child or a parent, and one for a grandparent, a sibling or a parent-in-law. Some agreements go further. Read your collective agreement or your contract before you ask — it saves a negotiation you did not need to have.

If you need longer, two routes exist: holiday, and sick leave if your doctor thinks it is warranted. Plenty of employers turn out to be more flexible than the text they are bound by, but someone has to raise it with them.

The real deadlines: what has one, and what has none

This is the part families look for most, and the part that reassures them most. Out of dozens of steps, only four carry a strict legal deadline.

1
Two daysreporting the death to the civil registry
Done by the funeral home or the facility in almost every case.
2
Immediatelyhanding in a will that comes to light
Anyone who finds a will has to pass it to the competent authority, without keeping it or opening it.
3
One monthapplying for a public inventory
If you suspect debts, this procedure produces an official list of what the estate owns and owes before you decide.
4
Three monthsaccepting or renouncing the inheritance
The period runs from the moment you learn of the death. Do nothing and the inheritance counts as accepted, debts included.
5
Everything elseno legal deadline
Terminations, subscriptions, post, personal belongings, clothes, the home. You set the pace, including doing nothing at all for several weeks.

One exception deserves attention: the rent keeps running until the lease is terminated, and the heirs answer for it. There is no legal deadline there either, but it is the one item that costs money every month you wait. The steps are set out in the page on house clearance and ending the lease.

The documents to gather before the estate is settled

Before you contact a notary or the cantonal succession authority (Erbschaftsamt, Teilungsbehörde / justice de paix), put all of this in one folder. It saves weeks, and it saves looking for the same paper twice.

Official documents: the death certificate in several copies, the family booklet, identity papers, and the marriage contract if there is one.
Wills and contracts of succession: the original document if there is one, or the confirmation from the authority that nothing was deposited.
The assets: bank and securities statements, third-pillar savings, life insurance policies, a land registry extract for any property, the vehicle registration document.
The liabilities: the last tax return, unpaid bills, loans and leasing contracts, the lease.
The income: OASI statements, the pension fund's confirmation, recent payslips.

From here two things run side by side and stay separate. The first is settling the estate itself, who inherits and in what order: inheritance. The second is access to the accounts, frozen until the certificate of inheritance: bank accounts after a death.

Frequently asked questions

The path ahead

04Documents and formalitiesYou are here

05InheritanceHeirs, statutory entitlement, certificate 06Bank accountsUnfreezing, paying the bills 07House clearanceLease, deadlines, clearing out