What an executor actually has to do in the first week after someone dies is something most people have never thought about until they're already in it.
You may have agreed to serve as executor years ago, maybe for a parent or a sibling, without fully understanding what that role requires when the moment finally arrives. Now you're sitting in a house in Clayton or Kirkwood, surrounded by decades of accumulated belongings, holding a folder of documents you haven't had time to read, and fielding calls from family members who each have their own ideas about what should happen next. Heritage Property Transitions works with families across St. Louis, MO who find themselves exactly here — not in crisis, but in unfamiliar territory, trying to do right by someone they loved.
This article won't tell you everything about probate law or estate administration. That's your attorney's job. What it will do is walk through the practical, physical side of the first week — the part that often gets overlooked in the legal guides.
Secure the Property First
Before anything else, your job is to make sure the home is physically secure. That means knowing who has keys and making sure the right people do — and the wrong people don't. This isn't about suspicion. It's about protecting the estate from loss or liability before you've had a chance to inventory anything.
If the deceased lived alone in a house in Ladue or Webster Groves, walk through the property as soon as you reasonably can. Note any obvious maintenance concerns — a leaking pipe, an unlocked window, a freezer full of food. These are small things that can become larger problems if left unaddressed for even a few days. You're not there to clean or sort. You're there to make sure nothing deteriorates while you get your footing.
Locate the Key Documents
The first week is largely about paperwork, even if it doesn't feel that way. You'll need the original will, any trust documents, financial account information, insurance policies, and the death certificate — usually multiple certified copies of it.
Banks, title companies, and courts in St. Louis County each have their own requirements, and most will ask for an original certified copy rather than a photocopy. Order more than you think you'll need. The county recorder's office and your probate attorney can help you understand how many to request.
This is also the time to look for any outstanding bills, mortgage statements, or lease agreements. You don't have to resolve them immediately, but you need to know they exist. A probate deadline can sneak up quickly if you don't have a clear picture of what the estate owes.
Notify the Right People
There's a short list of notifications that belong in the first week. The Social Security Administration needs to know relatively quickly. So does any pension provider, the post office if mail needs to be forwarded, and any subscription services that might be drawing from accounts. Your attorney will guide you on the legal notifications required by the court.
You don't need to notify every distant relative or contact in the first week. That can come later. Focus on the institutions that have financial or legal standing.
Don't Rush the House
This is the part where most executors make their first mistake. The house feels like a problem to solve, and so the impulse is to solve it immediately — to start sorting, donating, discarding, or calling a real estate agent before the estate is even opened with the court.
Understanding what an executor actually has to do in the first week means recognizing what you don't have to do yet. The house can wait a little longer than you think. Rushing a cleanout before you've inventoried the contents can mean losing track of items with legal or financial significance — documents, jewelry, collectibles, financial instruments tucked inside books or drawers.
When the time does come to address the property, an estate cleanout is a distinct kind of work. It's not a standard moving job, and it's not a dumpster load dropped in the driveway and filled over a weekend. A proper estate cleanout accounts for donation coordination, item sorting, and the physical removal of what remains. The timeline for that work should fit around your closing date and any probate deadline the court has established — not the other way around.
Heritage Property Transitions connects families in St. Louis County with vetted, insured, and background-checked providers who understand how estate cleanouts actually work. The family sets the pace. There's no pressure to move faster than the situation requires.
Write Things Down
You will not remember everything. The first week involves more conversations, decisions, and details than any person can reasonably hold in their head while also grieving. Keep a simple log — a notebook or a document on your phone — of who you called, what was said, and what the next step is. This protects you later if questions arise about how the estate was administered.
If you're working with siblings or other family members, written notes also reduce the chance of miscommunication. People hear things differently when they're under stress, and a brief written record of decisions made can prevent conflict down the road.
Know What You're Not Responsible For Yet
Understanding what an executor actually has to do in the first week is, in part, about understanding what belongs to later weeks. You are not responsible in the first week for selling the house, distributing personal property, filing the final tax return, or closing every account. Those things come in time, usually after the court formally opens the estate and issues letters testamentary — the document that gives you legal authority to act on behalf of the estate.
What you are responsible for in the first week is securing the property, locating key documents, making the most time-sensitive notifications, and beginning to understand the scope of what you're managing. That's enough. It's genuinely enough.
A Note on the Property Itself
When families in Kirkwood, Clayton, or elsewhere in St. Louis County eventually reach the point of addressing the home's contents, they often have no idea what an estate cleanout should cost or how long it should take. That uncertainty is completely normal. Every home is different — the volume of belongings, the condition of the space, the number of items that need donation coordination versus disposal, and whether there are items of value that need to be separated before general removal begins.
What an executor actually has to do in the first week does not include figuring all of that out immediately. But knowing that the question has an answer — and that there are experienced, measured people who can help you find it when you're ready — can make the first week feel a little less like standing at the edge of something too large to see.
Heritage Property Transitions is based in St. Louis, MO and works with executors, families, and trustees across St. Louis County and the surrounding area. When you're ready to talk through what comes next for the property, we're here to help you think it through — at whatever pace makes sense for your family.
Ready to get started? Heritage Property Transitions can help.