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My Parents Are Dead: What Now?: A Panic-Free Guide to the Practicalities of Death
An approachable, expert-fueled guide to dealing with the legal, financial, and logistical hurdles of parent death—without losing your sense of humor.
Whether you’ve recently lost a parent or are just trying to plan for the toughest day of your life so far, you’re probably experiencing a lot of dizzying emotions. Unfortunately, our legal and financial systems don’t care about your feelings. Whether you’re holding it together or falling apart, you are going to need to enter an overwhelming labyrinth of paperwork and bureaucracy.
But you don’t have to do it alone.
After losing both parents, Becky Robison devoted herself to making death and post-death logistics easier on others—reading up on estate law, becoming a trained death doula, and starting her website DeadParentsWhatNow.com. She draws on her own experience, plus interviews with experts from monument makers to morticians, to hold your hand
Asking your parents about their end-of-life wishes while you canGetting a body buried, cremated, or donated to sciencePlanning a funeralSecuring a death certificateDealing with your parents’ property—or debtHandling even more tricky issues you never wanted to be in charge ofAnd still being able to laugh, a little, sometimes
Nothing about this is easy. The good news is, you have someone on your side.
Whether you’ve recently lost a parent or are just trying to plan for the toughest day of your life so far, you’re probably experiencing a lot of dizzying emotions. Unfortunately, our legal and financial systems don’t care about your feelings. Whether you’re holding it together or falling apart, you are going to need to enter an overwhelming labyrinth of paperwork and bureaucracy.
But you don’t have to do it alone.
After losing both parents, Becky Robison devoted herself to making death and post-death logistics easier on others—reading up on estate law, becoming a trained death doula, and starting her website DeadParentsWhatNow.com. She draws on her own experience, plus interviews with experts from monument makers to morticians, to hold your hand
Asking your parents about their end-of-life wishes while you canGetting a body buried, cremated, or donated to sciencePlanning a funeralSecuring a death certificateDealing with your parents’ property—or debtHandling even more tricky issues you never wanted to be in charge ofAnd still being able to laugh, a little, sometimes
Nothing about this is easy. The good news is, you have someone on your side.
288 pages, Paperback
Published January 6, 2026
5 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Becky Robison
2 books9 followersBecky Robison is a writer and certified death doula living in Louisville, Kentucky. A graduate of UNLV's creative writing MFA program, she has been published in Salon, Slate, Business Insider, and elsewhere. After her parents died, she created My Parents Are Dead: What Now?—a website documenting her journey through the legal, financial, and bureaucratic aftermath in order to help others do the same. She continues to educate others about death and dying through her writing and public speaking.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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January 9, 2026You think I'm not going to give my own book five stars? Come on, now. 😉
January 10, 2026
I loved this book. I felt really unprepared in terms of going through the legal logistics of a parent's death, and I also can't afford a lawyer for unlimited consultation--so this book was a great primer in that regard. It is written conversationally, with lots of interesting facts, and will put you in a more knowledgeable place for looming, overwhelming tasks. It is also a relatively quick read given the amount of stuff covered. Highly recommend!
November 2, 2025
I received an electronic ARC from Quirk Books through NetGalley.
Informative and relaxed style. As the title says, Robinson offers a guide to the myriad of details surrounding a parent's death. She separates the pieces into manageable chunks and brings in experts (through interview questions) to give further information in each chapter.
The familiar tone she chose pulls readers in during the most difficult times in their lives. Intended readers could be preparing to delve into this process or are in the midst of grief while handling all of these details. For me, it was affirming as I've already walked there and informative as I think of my children dealing with the steps. Her friend to friend style should let readers process at their own pace while still getting the complicated steps done in the United States death process. It's worth reading for the compiled Resources alone.
Informative and relaxed style. As the title says, Robinson offers a guide to the myriad of details surrounding a parent's death. She separates the pieces into manageable chunks and brings in experts (through interview questions) to give further information in each chapter.
The familiar tone she chose pulls readers in during the most difficult times in their lives. Intended readers could be preparing to delve into this process or are in the midst of grief while handling all of these details. For me, it was affirming as I've already walked there and informative as I think of my children dealing with the steps. Her friend to friend style should let readers process at their own pace while still getting the complicated steps done in the United States death process. It's worth reading for the compiled Resources alone.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews