The retailer on the bill closes the account or moves it into someone else’s name.
Who usually does this
A close family member, the executor, or whoever will keep living at the property.
What they will ask for
- The person’s account number
- A certified copy of the death certificate
- Your name and contact details
- Proof of your identity, if the account is being transferred into your name
How to tell them
Contact the retailer named on the bill. Say whether the account should be closed or transferred to someone else.
One free government form tells many organisations at once. The death has to be registered first. How it works, or go straight to deathnotification.gov.au.
What happens next
The retailer closes the account and issues a final bill to the estate, or transfers the account to the new account holder. The detail differs from retailer to retailer.
The official page
Things change, so check their own page before you start: Australian Death Notification Service.
This is one of many. The tracker holds all of them.
The notification tracker lists every organisation most families have to tell, with a place to mark each one off and keep the reference number they give you. The checklist for the weeks after a death is free, with no account needed.
Checked against the official sources on 13 September 2026. General information, not advice. 18December is not affiliated with any organisation named on this page.