The first days

Almost nothing has to happen today. The few things that do are listed first. Everything else can wait, and waiting is allowed.

What needs attention soon

Someone must take the person who died into care.
If the death happened at home and was expected, call the hospice nurse or the doctor. If it was unexpected, call 911. In a hospital or care facility, the staff handle this step and will ask which funeral home to call. You may say you have not chosen yet. That answer is allowed, and the person who died can stay in the facility's or medical examiner's care while you decide.
Choose a funeral home, but you have more time than it feels like.
A day or two to compare is normal. Prices differ more than most people expect, and federal law gives you the right to ask for prices by phone before you go anywhere. Every state licenses funeral homes, so you can check any name you are given with your state's licensing board.
Tell the people who need to know.
Close family first. Then, in the coming days, the person's employer and anyone who depended on them day to day. You do not have to make these calls yourself; it is normal to ask one person to spread the word.
Look for any written wishes.
A will, a prepaid funeral contract, a cemetery deed, or a written funeral plan may already answer questions you are being asked. Check desks, files, and safe deposit boxes before paying for anything someone may have already paid for.

Death certificates. The funeral home usually orders them; ask for ten or more certified copies, because banks and insurers each want their own.
Social Security, pensions, life insurance, and bank accounts. These calls matter, and none of them are urgent this week.
The house, the car, the mail, the bills. Utilities do not shut off because you grieved for two weeks first.
Probate and estate questions. Seeing a lawyer in a few weeks is soon enough for almost every family.
A memorial service. Burial or cremation has to be decided sooner; the gathering does not. It can happen weeks or months later.

Anything you have not seen a price list for.
Federal law requires every funeral home to give you an itemized general price list before you pick anything. If papers are in front of you and the price list is not, ask for the list first. That is your right, and asking is not rude.
A package, if you only want parts of it.
You may buy items one at a time. A package is only a good deal if it contains what you actually want.
Anything about the estate, insurance settlements, or waivers of claims.
Papers about money, property, or giving up rights are not funeral arrangements. They can all wait until someone you trust has read them.

Never done any of this before? Who moves the body, when the obituary runs, what needs a death certificate: the questions nobody teaches you, answered plainly. Next: read your rights before the arrangement meeting, or get the print version of all of this, with the phone script and worksheets, in the Binder.