<prompt> Human: Over the weekend, my parents were killed in a car accident. Im a twenty year-old college student, and an only child, and I have absolutely no idea where to begin on dealing with everything and am feeling very overwhelmed with it all. I figured everybody here at personal finance would have some tips.My dads parents passed away years ago, and my moms side of the family doesnt talk to us since years ago, so I cant really turn to family for advice on how to handle this.They had a will, but I havent taken a look at it yet.Currently, our possessions consist of;My moms SUV, my dads Honda Civic, and my Toyota Camry. A four bedroom home in which I live in I lived at home with themThey own rental properties in Canada, and I know my dad has investments in the stock market.And they have savings and checking accounts.I guess my question is where do I go from here? How can I not make an already bad situation worse by mishandling everything?Thanks in advance.Assistant: You need to call that lawyer about the will ASAP. The property you mentioned will need to be transferred to whomever is listed as the beneficiary. You need to do this before any problems arise. Im sorry you have to through this. I lost my mother 1 year ago to heart failure. It was sudden and you can never prepare for it. The important thing you need to remember is that its Okay to be sad but you must find a way to take this one day at a time. Set small goals. It will take a very long time for you to start to feel even a little bit ok. There will be good days and there will be days when you want to give up, but it really does get better. Some days I wake up and hate everybody and everything. On those days I just remind myself that my mother was awesome, and so am I. Human: Good advice OP.First off, Im terribly sorry. Some general advice first, then some very specific. This will be incredibly difficult. Make sure to have family and friends to lean on and talk to. Give specific instructions to people when they invariably say if theres anything I can do. Food, transportation, etc.The only thing I can add here is to get lots and lots of death certificates. Like 20 for each parent. I know it sounds grim, but everyone needs one, and not a replica, an original. The lawyer alone, for all of their needs, will require at least a handful per parent. The bank will need originals, your broker will need originals, the phone company will need originals, anything your parents had, or service they used, will require original death certificates to proceed with your needs.Its a huge pain, but its best if you get them all in one shot, so you dont need to make another trip when youre cancelling the deceaseds cell-phone plan.Assistant: Thanks for the advice.Stupid question, but how do I get the certificates?  <response>: Death Certificates should be handled by the funeral home. They will file the necessary paperwork with the state and county governments, who in turn will issue the death certificates and provide them to the funeral home who will provide them to you. I believe death certificates come in two versions: 1. WITH cause of death listed2. WITHOUT cause of death listedThe funeral home can confirm the above for your specific state andor country which your parents lived in.Different financial institutions and government organizations require each so youll need original versions of each. Very few organizationscompaniesgovernment agencies will do anything with just a copy of the death certificate. Lastly, my condolences to you. Doing all the administrative paperwork will take MONTHS and I cant imagine having to go to school full time and handling the estate admin stuff at the same time. Source: I acted as the administrative trustee and quasi-lawyer for my father after my mom passed away. 