When Someone Dies The Practical Guide to the Logistics of Death

A lawyer and venture capitalist provides a complete, practical guide for dealing with the concrete details surrounding the death of a loved one, from funeral and estate planning to navigating the complexities of online identities. Scott Smith had plentiful resources and yet, after his mother died, he made a series of agonizing and costly mistakes in squaring away all her affairs. He could find countless books that dealt with caring for the dying and the emotional fallout of death, but very few that dealt with the logistics of death. Written with compassion and firsthand knowledge, When Someone Diesprovides a useful framework for dealing with everything from funeral arrangements to what to do with a Facebook account. Navigating the bureaucracy associated with banks, the IRS, social security, and so forth is tough on any day. But in a state of grief, the process becomes vexingly difficult. Funeral and estate planning is a money-making business and decisions made in the chaotic thirty days after a loved one dies can have a profound and lasting consequences. Featuring concise advice and checklists in each chapter, this definitive guide offers answers to practical questions, enabling loved ones to save time and money and focus more on healing.

Scott Smith is a partner in Viant Capital, a San Francisco-based boutique investment bank and tech business incubator committed to providing emerging growth and small to mid-market companies with high quality strategic advisory and capital-raising services. When Someone Dies is his first book.

Michael Castleman has written more than 2,000 magazine and Web articles, four mystery novels, and thirteen nonfiction books in the fields of health and sexuality. During his thirty-five-year career as an award-winning journalist and novelist, his books have sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide.