Nobody tells you about the practical side of death. Or if they do, they don't tell you about the practical side of death by suicide.
Cancelling their phone contract. Closing their bank accounts. Their name on the lease, the mortgage, the utility bills. The direct debits that keep coming out. The subscription services that send cheerful renewal emails. The gym membership. The loyalty cards.
Each one is a small administrative encounter with the fact that they're gone.
After suicide, the practical layer has additions that other bereavements don't. The police may still have their belongings. There may be an active investigation or a pending inquest. Insurance claims after suicide can involve additional paperwork, delays, or exclusion clauses that feel like the system is punishing you for how they died.
Their digital life needs managing too. Social media accounts, email, cloud storage, photo libraries. Some platforms have memorialisation options. Others require a death certificate to close an account — which means providing the word "suicide" to a form on a website.
You don't have to do all of this at once. Some things have deadlines (bills, legal requirements). Most don't. The phone contract can wait. The wardrobe can wait. The room can wait.
If there are people in your life who can help — a friend who's good with paperwork, a family member who can make phone calls — let them. This isn't your burden to carry alone, even if it feels like it.
If you can afford it, a solicitor or estate administrator can handle the legal side. If you can't, many community legal centres offer free advice for bereaved families.
One thing nobody prepares you for: the emotional weight of administrative tasks. Cancelling a phone contract shouldn't make you cry. But hearing the automated "press one for account changes" while you're calling to say your person is dead — that collision between bureaucratic mundanity and personal devastation can flatten you.
Give yourself space around these tasks. Don't stack them. Do one, then rest. The practical things will get done eventually. They don't need to get done today.