What happens to my job when I die?

The last paycheck goes to your estate

Federal law doesn't require an employer to hand over a final paycheck at once, the Department of Labor says; some states do. The IRS tells employers how to report wages paid after an employee's death: on a Form 1099-MISC made out to the estate or the beneficiary, and, when the money is paid in the year of death, on the final W-2 for Social Security and Medicare, though not as ordinary wages.

So the check will be made out to your estate or your beneficiary, not to you. If a regular payday passes and nothing arrives, your family can call the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division or the state labor department.

Unused vacation is a matter of agreement

The Department of Labor is plain about this: federal law doesn't require payment for time not worked, such as vacations. Whether your unused days are paid out depends on your employer's policy and your state's law. The employee handbook will say.

Your family can keep the health plan, for a while

If your employer has 20 or more employees and a group health plan, COBRA generally applies, and the death of the covered employee is one of its qualifying events for a spouse and dependent children. They can keep the same coverage for up to 36 months.

The clock is set by notices. Your employer has 30 days to tell the plan, the plan then has 14 days to send your family an election notice, and they have at least 60 days to decide. The catch is the price: up to 102 percent of the plan's full cost, the part your employer used to pay included. It buys time, not a bargain.

The 401(k) or pension follows the beneficiary form

A retirement plan passes by its own paperwork, outside your will. In most 401(k)-type plans, the Department of Labor says, a married participant's benefits go automatically to the surviving spouse; naming anyone else needs the spouse's written waiver, witnessed by a notary or a plan representative. If you have no spouse, it's important to name a beneficiary, and if you were single when you joined the plan and married later, tell the plan.

A traditional pension works differently: unless you and your spouse chose otherwise in writing, the payment includes a survivor's benefit for your spouse of at least half of what you received together. Every plan's Summary Plan Description spells out its rules, and your family can ask for it. If a pension plan ends without enough money, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation pays vested benefits up to limits set by law; it doesn't cover 401(k)-type plans.

Questions about a plan go to the plan administrator first, and then to the Department of Labor's benefits advisors at 1-866-444-3272.

Life insurance through work has its own form too

If your job came with life insurance, there's a beneficiary form on file with the plan, and that form decides who is paid, whatever your will says. Make sure it names the person you'd pick today. HR can tell your family which insurer carries the policy and how to claim.

Social Security pays a little, and sometimes a lot

The Social Security Act provides a one-time lump-sum death payment of three times your primary insurance amount or $255, whichever is smaller, paid to a widow or widower who was living with you, and otherwise to a spouse or children entitled to benefits for the month of death. It has to be applied for within two years. Beyond that, a surviving spouse and children may qualify for monthly survivors benefits on your record, which can matter far more; Social Security's own pages explain who qualifies.

What to write down now

• •Your employer's HR contact, and where the employee handbook is
• •The 401(k) or pension plan's administrator, your account number and who you named on the beneficiary form
• •The life insurance through work: the insurer, the amount and the beneficiary on file
• •Whether your family is on your health plan, so they ask about COBRA in time

Our page on your life insurance covers policies you bought yourself, and your taxes covers the last return.