Afterloss: the tool I wish I’d had
When someone you love dies, the world stops. Then the admin starts. Immediately. And it doesn’t care that you’re running on grief, shock and half a brain.
When my dad died from dementia, I found myself staring at a stack of paperwork - wills, powers of attorney, accounts, forms - trying to work out what any of it meant while also trying to function as a human being. The burden wasn’t just heavy, it was strangely isolating. Lots of people are kind. Very few can tell you what to do next.
Somewhere in that fog a simple thought emerged: there has to be a better way. Nobody should have to navigate this labyrinth alone.
That experience is why I built Afterloss.
The problem nobody talks about (until it’s yours)
The practical reality after a death is brutal: families are suddenly expected to become experts in estate administration. There are easily 70+ steps spanning legal, financial and administrative work - many with deadlines - landing at the worst possible time.
In the UK we also have the extra joy of three legal jurisdictions: England & Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Different terminology, different processes, different quirks. So you’re not just doing the work — you’re working out which rulebook applies. It often feels like a system designed for lawyers, not people.
Afterloss is built around a simple idea:
We’ll help you take it one step at a time.
Not a generic checklist. A guide that reflects how this actually works in the real world.
What Afterloss does (in plain English)
1) It gives you a clear path. The process is broken into five phases, from the first urgent days through to the final wrap-up. You always see a suggested next step, so you’re not constantly wondering what you’ve missed.
2) It adapts to where you are in the UK. If you’re in Scotland, it talks about Confirmation, not Probate. It knows Tell Us Once is available in Great Britain but not Northern Ireland. It reflects the different deadlines (e.g. registering a death is typically within five days in England, eight days in Scotland). This stuff matters, and generic advice is worse than useless.
3) It lets you share the load. You can invite family, friends, or a solicitor, and give them sensible permissions - from “just keep me in the loop” to “help me do the steps”. Because the work shouldn’t fall on one exhausted person.
4) It keeps everything in one place. Documents, call notes, what’s been done, what’s outstanding, and even where the physical stuff is (keys, deeds, the will). At the end you can export a PDF summary if you need a clean record for yourself or a solicitor.
The point of it
Afterloss isn’t trying to gamify grief or turn this into a productivity project. It’s built to give people structure and a bit of control during a chaotic time, with a tone that doesn’t make you want to throw your phone across the room.
I call them steps rather than tasks for a reason. This is a journey you get through, not a checklist you “complete”.
If you’re dealing with this now, you shouldn’t have to figure it all out alone. Join the waitlist for early access.