r/personalfinance • u/daniellita2011 ​ • Jan 31 '24

Husband died yesterday

My (38F) husband (37M) died yesterday morning and we are making all the arrangements for him. My question is about his benefits and life insurance which is tied to his job.

How do I go about letting his employer know that he passed? Once they know will they take away the life insurance policy? I had just called them the day before to request leave of absence for him so now I have to call them back.

This is all new to me so I have no idea how to handle my new financial life. He was the main breadwinner so I will need the money for me and my daughter.

For context we live in Florida but his employer is a large healthcare company.

Also any advice you all have for me? I want to make sure I do this right because I don’t want to struggle in top of dealing with the grief and pain this is causing me.

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u/ShakerOvalBox ​ Jan 31 '24

I'm sorry for your loss. As other said, the wiki and the HR department should be able to offer better specifics than I can.

Unsolicited advice: Don't make any more big decisions than you have for for the next year. You may be tempted to quit your job, move across the country, stage a broadway musical or similar.... just be aware that grief gives you a cloudy head and you want to take some time to process before you make big life changes. Give yourself a year.

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u/thefirebuilds ​ Jan 31 '24

Don't make any more big decisions than you have for for the next year.

Write this down, repeat it to yourself, repeat it to onlookers. Take your time to grieve and keep things stable for now. You have plenty on your plate. Try not to move, try not to uproot. You cannot escape the grief unfortunately.

I am sorry for your loss OP.

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u/kamorra2 ​ Jan 31 '24

I see what you all are saying but I would not personally want to stay in the home where all my memories are tied to a person who passed. This is just how I feel so it's not a 1 solution fits everyone situation. Also distracting yourself with other things that take mental processing can be a healthy coping mechanism. As long as you're ALSO working through the grief properly.

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u/not_falling_down ​ Jan 31 '24

I see what you all are saying but I would not personally want to stay in the home where all my memories are tied to a person who passed.

Even when this is true, it's still better to wait until time has buffered the grief a bit before making such a large and expensive change. For me, it has taken two years for me to feel ready for that fresh start in a new place. (Just now starting to look for the place.)

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u/andmen2015 ​ Jan 31 '24

I agree, packing up and moving because of memories can delay the grieving process.