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Guide

What has to be done afterwards

It looks like a lot, but the order is fixed and only the first part is urgent. The death certificate, registration within seven days, the cremation permit, one visit to the ward office, and returning the insurance card within fourteen days. Inheritance is left to the professionals.

The order things happen in

  1. Call the doctor, not an ambulance

    Where a doctor has been attending, ring them or the visiting nurses first. They come, confirm the death and issue the death certificate. Without that certificate nothing else can start.

    If you panic and call an ambulance, nobody will hold it against you. But if the attending doctor can be reached, that call is the one that matters.

  2. Register the death

    Take the certificate to the ward office. The registration must be made within seven days of learning of the death. A funeral director usually files it on the family’s behalf.

    Within 7 days

  3. Get the cremation permit

    Issued at the same counter, on the same visit. Cremation cannot take place without it.

  4. The funeral

    Nothing at the ward office moves during this time, and it does not need to. Take the days you need.

  5. Go back to the ward office, once

    Ask for the bereavement desk. Most of what follows can be done in one visit: Each ward office has one, and it walks you through the procedures that follow a death registration.

    A bereavement guidebook and checklist are handed out at each ward office.

  6. Hand back the care-insurance card

    Return the insurance card and the burden-ratio certificate to the Elderly and Disability Division. The notification is due within 14 days.

    Within 14 days

    If care services were used in the final month, the charges are settled afterwards. Any refund the person was owed but had not received can usually be claimed by the family.

  7. The rest can wait

    Pension, health insurance, utilities, bank accounts. The deadlines on these are longer, and the ward office will tell you which apply.

    Inheritance is not covered here

    Dividing an estate, and whether to renounce it, are matters for a judicial scrivener or a lawyer. This site does not advise on them. Note only that renouncing an inheritance has a three-month limit — if that is on the table, get advice early.

It looks like a lot, but the order is fixed and only the first part is urgent. Apart from two deadlines — seven days and fourteen — the rest can wait until things settle.

Inheritance is not covered on this page. Dividing an estate, or renouncing it, belongs with a judicial scrivener or a lawyer. Keep only this in mind: renouncing has a three-month limit.

A little more on the care-insurance side

That part is this site's territory, so here is the detail.

  • What to return — the insurance card, the burden-ratio certificate, and the reduced-charge certificate if there was one
  • Deadline — within 14 days
  • The final month's charges — bills for services used that month arrive after the death. This is normal
  • Money still owed — an unpaid high-cost refund can sometimes be claimed by the family. Ask at the counter

Rented equipment has to be collected. The care manager will arrange it.

Find your support centre Official page (Japanese)

Source: Kawasaki City · Last verified 2026-09-13. Rules change. Check the source page before you act on this. This is a plain-English summary of public information, not an official translation.

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