When A Death Occurs

No matter what time of day or night, call Krueger Funeral Home at (315) 455-6131. We are available at any time to take your call.

During the initial call, one of our directors will assist you in determining the general timeline of events and suggest various scenarios of service plans. We will need to meet to gather vital information that will be needed to complete various state and local documents.

We will contact your clergy to help determine a time and place of the funeral or memorial service.

We will assist you in determining the number of copies of the death certificates you will be needing and can order them for you.

We can help you decide on appropriate memorial to which gifts may be made (church, hospice, library, charity or school).

We will gather obituary information, including age, place of birth, cause of death, occupation, college degrees, memberships held, military service, outstanding work, list of survivors in immediate family. give time and place of services. We can draft an obituary or work with one you provide and submit it to the newspapers locally and out of town if needed.

We will prepare Social Security Form SSA 721. This will notify Social Security and will see that the deceased's number is retired.  However, if a benefit is due or benefits need to be transferred to the surviving spouse, click here for more information.

Things You Should Do

• Make a list of immediate family, close friends and employer or business colleagues. Notify each by phone.
• Arrange for family members or close friends to take turns answering door or phone, keeping careful record of calls.
• If Social Security checks are automatic deposit, notify the bank of the death.
• Coordinate the supplying of food for the next several days.
• Consider special need of the household, such as cleaning, etc., which might be done by friends.
• Arrange for child care, if necessary.
• Arrange hospitality for visiting relatives and friends.
• Select pallbearers and notify the funeral home. (Avoid anyone with heart or back difficulties, or make them honorary pallbearers).
• Plan for disposition of flowers after funeral (church, hospital or nursing home).
• Prepare list of distant persons to be notified by letter and/or printed notice, and decide which to send to each.
• Prepare a list of persons to receive acknowledgments of flowers, gifts of food, etc. Send appropriate acknowledgments (can be written note, printed acknowledgments, or some of each). Include "thank you's" to those who have given their time as well.
• Notify insurance companies.
• Locate the will and notify lawyer and executor.
• Check carefully all life and casualty insurance and death benefits, including Social Security, credit union, trade union, fraternal, and military. Check also on income for survivors from these sources.
• Check promptly on all debts and installment payments, including credit cards. Some may carry insurance clauses that will cancel them. If there is to be a delay in meeting payments, consult with creditors and ask for more time before the payments are due.
• If deceased was living alone, notify utilities and landlord and tell post office where to send mail.