What to Do When Someone Dies in Berks County: The First Week

The first call depends on where the death happened. At home under hospice care, you call the hospice's 24-hour number. At home with no hospice, you call 911. In a hospital or nursing home, the staff pronounce the death and you call a funeral home. Then a funeral home brings your loved one into its care, files the death record with the state and usually reports the death to Social Security.

The notifications and the estate come after, and most can wait a day or two. The funeral home call can't, and our page of funeral homes in Berks County lists them with phone numbers and reviews.

The first hour: who pronounces the death and who you call.

Someone has to make the pronouncement, the legal declaration that a person has died; in a hospital, a nursing home or a hospice house, the staff handle it.

At home under hospice care, call the hospice first, not 911. A hospice nurse comes to the house, pronounces the death and releases your loved one to the funeral director you choose, so that call comes next. If anything about the death wasn't expected, the nurse calls the Coroner, who decides when the release happens. At home with no hospice, call 911 and let the emergency crew pronounce the death.

A hospital won't call the funeral home for you; you make that call, and funeral homes answer around the clock. In a hospital death the hospital also contacts Gift of Life, the region's organ and tissue donor program; if your loved one hadn't signed up as a donor, the next of kin decides.

When the Berks County Coroner is involved and what happens next.

By law the Berks County Coroner's office looks into a death that's unusual or unexplained, sudden in someone who seemed healthy, violent, under suspicious circumstances, in prison or police custody, or of a person who hadn't been under a doctor's recent care.

Your loved one is taken to a secure morgue at Reading Hospital and released to the funeral home of your choice once the investigation is done. When there's no suspicion of foul play and a natural disease explains the death, the office releases the body without an autopsy. When one is needed there's no charge, and most are done within a few days.

How long the release takes depends on the case, so call the office with questions. The Coroner's office completes its part of the death certificate within 96 hours; if the cause isn't settled by then, it issues a pending certificate so the funeral isn't held up, and the final one can take 8 to 12 weeks or longer. Cremation is a separate, smaller step: the funeral home sends the death record to the Coroner's office and gets back a signed authorization by email or fax, for a $50 fee; the office asks funeral homes to follow up if the signed form hasn't come back within three hours.

The funeral home call and the arrangement meeting.

The funeral home then sets a time for the arrangement meeting. That meeting decides burial or cremation, the service and its date and place, a casket or an urn, and the obituary. Bring clothing, a recent photo, any life insurance policies, your loved one's parents' full names, and the DD214 discharge paper if your loved one was a veteran.

A funeral home has to give prices over the phone when you ask and hand you its price list when you sit down to talk arrangements; our post on what a funeral costs in Berks County explains the lines on it. The director usually writes and places the obituary; our post on how to write an obituary and where to publish it in Berks County walks you through it.

Death certificates: who files them, how many, what they cost.

The funeral director files the death record with the state within 96 hours of the death: the director fills in the personal half, and the doctor or the Coroner certifies the medical half. The funeral home then orders the first certified copies and helps you decide how many.

Count who will ask for one: each bank and any safe deposit box, each insurance or benefit claim, property you'll transfer or sell, the vehicle title and the estate itself. Each certified copy costs $20 as of 2026, and the first ones usually arrive a few business days to a week after the doctor signs.

Extra copies later come from the state: ordered online or by mail they take about three weeks plus mailing, and a state branch office can hand one over faster; there's a fee waiver for veterans' families on up to ten copies a year, which the funeral home can claim when the person who died was a veteran. Our guide to how to order a Pennsylvania death certificate has the step-by-step.

Who to notify in the first week.

The funeral home files the death record, orders the certificates, reports the death to Social Security and helps with the VA; the rest of these calls are yours, and the numbers are in one place below.

Who	Number	When you call
Berks County Coroner's Office	610-478-3280, staffed around the clock	An unexpected death at home, after 911; questions about a Coroner case
Social Security	1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778), weekdays 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.	If the funeral home didn't report the death, or to ask about the $255 payment and survivors benefits
Pennsylvania Vital Records	844-228-3516	Extra certified copies of the death certificate later
Berks County Register of Wills	610-478-6600, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.	When the estate has to be opened
Berks County Bar Association lawyer referral	610-375-4591	A question about the estate the Register's clerks can't answer
Berks County Veterans Affairs	(610) 378-5601, press 0	If the person who died was a veteran
Berks County Assistance Office	610-736-4211 or 1-866-215-3912	If there's no money for the funeral and the person was on SSI or cash assistance
Gift of Life Donor Program	(215) 557-8090	A question about organ or tissue donation after a hospital death
Berks County Election Services	610-478-6490	If you'd rather cancel the voter registration now than wait for the state's report; bring a copy of the death certificate or the obituary

• Social Security and Medicare. Funeral homes generally report the death, so give the director the Social Security number; that covers Medicare too. Social Security can't pay the benefit for the month someone dies in, so the payment that arrives after the death has to go back: if the person died in July, the August payment, which is for July, is returned. Tell the bank if it comes by direct deposit. A spouse might get a one-time payment of $255.
• The employer. Ask about final pay, life insurance and any pension or 401(k).
• Life insurers. Call the number on the policy with a certified death certificate in hand.
• Banks. A bank may release up to $20,000 to the family on a death certificate and a receipted funeral bill without an estate being opened; settling a small estate in Berks County explains how.
• The vehicle title. PennDOT's form MV-39 transfers a title after an owner's death, with no title fee when it goes to a surviving spouse.
• The credit bureaus and voter registration. A spouse or the executor sends a death certificate copy to one credit bureau, which notifies the other two; voter registration cancels by law once the state reports the death, and Election Services takes a family form if you'd rather do it now.
• The mail. Once the Register of Wills has named an executor (the next section explains how), that person forwards the mail at a post office in person with the Register's paper; a death certificate alone isn't enough.
• The landlord or mortgage company and utilities. Payments may still be due while the estate waits, so call and ask; cancel the newspaper and cable.
• Prescriptions. Take them to the police drop box.

When the estate work starts, and where.

The estate starts at the Berks County Register of Wills, 633 Court Street in Reading, weekdays 8:30 to 4, 610-478-6600. The executor first sends in, by email, mail or drop-off, the will and any codicil, the Register's application form (called the petition, left unsigned), the death certificate, a photo ID and the Register's estate information sheet; the appointment to open the estate is held on Microsoft Teams, and the original will, the original death certificate and the fees go to the office after the executor is sworn in. The Register then issues letters, which is the name of the paper that appoints the executor (or an administrator, when there's no will), and sells short certificates, $10 copies of that paper that banks and PennDOT ask for.

Pennsylvania inheritance tax is due within nine months of the death, with a 5 percent discount on whatever's paid within three months; a spouse owes nothing, and the rate for everyone else depends on the relationship. Our guides to probate in Berks County and the Berks County Register of Wills carry the whole process, and our posts on whether you need a lawyer and what happens to a safe deposit box after a death cover those two questions. This is general information: the Register's clerks can't give legal advice, and a question about your own estate goes to a lawyer; the Bar Association's referral line is in the table.

Frequently asked questions.

What if there's no money for a funeral?

Families use a few routes. Donating the body to science is one: most donation programs cremate at no charge and return the ashes. A fundraising page, or help from friends and family, is another. The state pays a funeral director up to $750 toward a burial or cremation for someone who was on SSI or cash assistance at death; the county assistance office decides eligibility. Start with help paying for a burial or cremation through the County Assistance Office.

What if the death happened away from home?

Call your Berks funeral director first. Bringing someone home usually takes two funeral homes, one where the death happened and one here.

What's the one thing to do today?

Call a funeral home. Our page of funeral homes in Berks County lists them with phone numbers and reviews; pick one near you and call.

Sources

• Berks County Coroner, "Information for Families" (pamphlet marked January 2026) and the Coroner's office page: the cases the office investigates, the morgue at Reading Hospital, release to the funeral home, autopsies, the pending certificate within 96 hours and the final one in 8 to 12 weeks, personal effects, the address, phone and hours.
• 16 Pa.C.S. Chapter 139, Coroner (§ 13918 and § 13952) and the Coroner's letter to funeral homes (February 25, 2024): every death whose body is to be cremated is a Coroner case, the $50 cremation authorization fee, and how the funeral home requests the authorization.
• Vital Statistics Law of 1953 (§§ 501, 504, 507 and 508): who may pronounce a death at home, the funeral director's filing of the death record within 96 hours, and the disposition permit.
• 49 Pa. Code § 13.212: cremation no sooner than 24 hours after the time of death. 16 CFR Part 453, the FTC Funeral Rule: prices by telephone and the General Price List.
• Pennsylvania Department of Health, "Death certificates", its processing times and public offices pages (read November 6, 2026): $20 a copy, the $10 online fee, mail and in-person ordering, eligible applicants, the veterans' fee waiver, about three weeks, the six offices.
• Pennsylvania Department of Health, "FAQ - eVitals Death" (December 6, 2024): the funeral director signs the personal half of the death record and the doctor or Coroner certifies the medical half.
• Social Security Administration, "What to do when someone dies" and "Lump-sum death payment" (Internet Archive captures of October 15 and September 17, 2026): funeral homes generally report the death, the phone numbers and hours, the $255 payment and the two-year limit.
• Medicare.gov, "Report a death" and USA.gov, "Report a death to Social Security": the funeral home reports with the Social Security number, Medicare is covered by the same report, and the payment for the month of death must be returned.
• PennDOT, Form MV-39, "Notification of Assignment/Correction of Vehicle Title Upon Death of Owner" (January 2025): the surviving-spouse transfer without a title fee, when the form isn't needed, and where it goes.
• Equifax, "Reporting a death" and Experian, "How to report the death of a relative": one bureau notifies the other two, who may report, and Experian's mailing address.
• USPS, "Mail for the deceased" and the ANA Deceased Do Not Contact List: forwarding by the appointed executor in person, a single piece by anyone, and the $6 list that cuts advertising mail.
• 25 Pa.C.S. § 1505 and Berks County Election Services with its deceased-family-member form: the registration cancels on the Department of Health's report, and the county's form takes a copy of the death certificate, short certificate or obituary.
• Berks County Register of Wills, "Probate/Estates", the office page, its fee order (effective December 1, 2025) and inheritance tax page: virtual appointments, what to send, letters fees by estate value, $10 short certificates, the no-legal-advice rule and the Bar referral line, the nine-month deadline and the 5 percent discount.
• Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, "Inheritance Tax": the rates by relationship and the three-month discount.
• Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, "Burial and cremation" and 55 Pa. Code Chapter 283: who qualifies, who may request the payment, and the $750 maximum.
• Gift of Life Donor Program, "How does organ and tissue donation work?" and its overview: the program's region, hospitals must contact Gift of Life, the next of kin authorizes when the person hadn't, and the immediate-need number.
• Leibensperger Funeral Homes, "When Death Occurs", Bean Funeral Homes, "Immediate Need", Kuhn Funeral Homes, "Frequent questions" and Lutz Funeral Home, "Death Away From Home" (read November 6, 2026): the first call by where the death happened, the hospital not calling the funeral home, the number of certificate copies, and a death away from home.
• Stitzel Family Funeral Homes, "When Death Occurs" and Cramp-Hummel Funeral Home, "Cremation options" (read November 6, 2026): the weeks-and-months checklist (employer, landlord, utilities, prescriptions) and the first copies of the death certificate in three to seven business days.
• Berks County Veterans Affairs: the office at 20 Commerce Drive, Wyomissing, its phone and hours.
• 20 Pa.C.S. § 3101, Payments to family and funeral directors: the bank release of up to $20,000 on a receipted funeral bill or a licensed funeral director's affidavit (the Register's FAQ adds a death certificate). Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, county assistance office information: the Berks office's two phone numbers.