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What should you do when someone dies in Sweden?

They say nothing in life can be certain apart from death and taxes, but if there's a third certainty, it must be Swedish bureaucracy. Here's how to register a death, arrange a funeral and figure out who inherits what.

Published: 26 March 2024 11:32 CET

Navigating Swedish bureaucracy is difficult in the best of circumstances, but what should you do when a loved one dies? Photo: Gorm Kallestad/NTB Scanpix/TT

If your loved one dies unexpectedly at home or elsewhere, you should call Sweden’s emergency number 112. If their death was expected, due to illness or old age, you can call the person’s medical contact if they have one. A doctor will come to the house and confirm their death.

If the person dies in hospital or a care home a doctor will confirm their death.

The doctor will send the death certificate (dödsbevis) to Swedish authorities. As soon as the Tax Agency receives the certificate, they will register the death in the Swedish population register.

Who do I need to inform?

If the person is a foreign citizen, you need to notify the authorities in their home country. If you contact their country’s embassy in Sweden, they will be able to help you figure out the process.

You need to inform people as soon as you can, including friends, family and colleagues.

The first step after that may be to contact a funeral home (begravningsbyrå) who will be able to organise the funeral and the reading of a will, but also advise on what needs to be done next.

One of the first admin tasks is to order a so-called dödsfallsintyg (which also translates as death certificate, but is different from the one the doctor writes) from the Swedish Tax Agency. This will show the date of death and remaining family members, including spouse and children. If you choose to use the services of a funeral home, they will be able to order a dödsfallsintyg for you.

Swedish authorities run a site called Efterlevandeguiden for people who have lost a loved one. It contains among other things a checklist in English for what to do when someone dies (their guide is genuinely very helpful, so we advise having a look if you’re in this situation).

A funeral home can help you with as much as you need, but there’s usually a lot of decisions and tasks that you’re best placed to do, so it’s a good idea to get as much help as possible.

Many Swedes don’t like to intrude on other people’s business, so there is a risk you find that fewer people than you expect will reach out to you to offer to help or even send their condolences. In most cases, this is due to a (perhaps misplaced) respect for privacy rather than an unwillingness to help, but we’ve generally found that Swedes, when asked, are more keen to help than you think.

How do I organise the funeral?

Sweden allows a lot more time between the death and the burial than many other countries and cultures, with the laws stating that the burial must take place within one month of the death.

That said, the aim is always to respect the traditions and culture of the deceased person.

All residents in Sweden, including foreign citizens, pay a yearly funeral fee (begravningsavgift – it’s part of your tax statement, so chances are you’ve never noticed you’re paying it). This gives them the right to be buried or cremated in their Swedish home municipality for free.

Most cemeteries in Sweden are public spaces and are run by the Church of Sweden on behalf of the state, which means people from other religions may also be buried there. If you want the Church of Sweden to organise a funeral ceremony for you as well however, the deceased person will have had to be a member of the church in order to receive the ceremony for free.

If you want to spread the person’s ashes in a place other than a cemetery, you need to first get permission from the country administrative board (Länsstyrelsen).

Who pays for the funeral?

Some of it, such as a burial plot and a venue in which to hold a ceremony, has already been paid for through taxes, but there may be other expenses such as a fee for the funeral home, flowers, food for the funeral goers, a bespoke coffin, any music you wish to play, and so on.

A funeral usually ends up costing around 20,000-30,000 kronor, which is primarily paid for through the estate (dödsboet). If there’s not enough money, the estate can apply to the social services for financial support in order for the deceased person to receive a dignified burial.

If you want the deceased person to be buried in another country than Sweden, the transport of the coffin or urn will be paid for by the estate, but it could be expensive, so you should also check whether they had travel or home insurance which could cover the cost of transport.

You need to request documents from the Swedish Tax Agency to transport the body from Sweden. The form is called passersedel för lik or, if the person is cremated in Sweden before their ashes are to be moved abroad, passersedel för stoft.

You also need to get the funeral home to confirm that the coffin or urn is safe for transport and contains what it is said to contain, and you need to get permission from the authorities in the other country.

How do I deal with all the admin?

Again, a funeral home can help you out, but the first step is the death certificate from the Tax Agency. This document will help you not only in organising the funeral, but also in dealing with administrative matters such as cancelling direct debits or contracts, or redirecting post.

Note that banks are automatically informed when someone dies, and then automatically block some of the services used by the deceased until the person’s will has been executed, including joint accounts. If you and your partner have joint bank accounts, it may for this reason make sense for you to also have individual accounts so that you don’t get blocked from all your accounts if your partner dies.

Any outstanding bills that still need to be paid should be paid for by the estate (if there’s money left after paying the funeral and probate costs, which are prioritised). Any debts will also be paid by the estate, or written off. You are not responsible for paying the deceased’s debts yourself.

Before all of this, a so-called bouppteckning will have to be arranged. This is the procedure for going through all of the deceased’s assets and debts. It can be done privately, or with the help of the funeral home, and needs to be submitted to the Tax Agency within four months.

Here’s a useful guide for administering the estate.

What about inheritance?

In general, the inheritance laws of the country where the deceased lives apply.

In Sweden, if the deceased was not married, but had children, the children inherit.

If the children are no longer alive, their children, i.e. the grandchildren of the deceased person, are next in line, followed by the great grandchildren (and so on, if they exist).

If there are no direct descendants left, inheritance passes to parents, followed by siblings, nieces or nephews, grandparents, and aunts or uncles.

Cousins do not automatically have inheritance rights, and note that neither do sambos (co-habiting but non-married couples) unless they are listed in the deceased’s will.

If there’s a will, it trumps the above order with one major exception: direct heirs (bröstarvingar), i.e. children, grandchildren et cetera, always have the right to half of their inheritance, the so-called legal share (laglott).

If the person was married, a division of joint assets (bodelning) first needs to be carried out to see how many of their assets belong to the estate and how many belong to the surviving spouse – unless they did not have children, in which case all their assets are automatically inherited by their spouse.

If the deceased and their spouse had children together, the spouse inherits everything and is allowed to spend the assets as they wish as long as he or she is alive. Their joint children are only entitled to their share of the inheritance – whatever is left – once both parents are dead.

If the deceased had children with someone else before they married their current spouse, those children (known as särkullbarn) have the right to get their share of the inheritance before their parent’s spouse dies. They are however free to waive this right in favour of the surviving spouse.

There’s no inheritance tax in Sweden.

The above guide tries to address some of the main matters, but barely scratches the surface. Do you have any specific questions about what to do when a loved one dies in Sweden? You’re always welcome to email our editorial team at [email protected].

Member comments

Anonymous - 27 March 2024 at 08:08 CET

I’d say that on the whole, the related bureaucratic procedures further to death in Sweden are very efficient – particularly so when compared with some other countries. I found the most stressful and frustrating moments were trying to cancel the deceased’s subscriptions for magazines, book clubs, satellite/cable TV, computer antivirus and so forth. Nearly drove me crazy.
Anonymous - 27 March 2024 at 09:33 CET

To expand on my comment below: The ‘personnummer’ is a vital key to the administrative process and some things go at a frighteningly fast pace within hours of the person’s passing. As for cancelling subscriptions, if you use the deceased’s email they don’t believe you, and if you use your own email they don’t believe that you’re acting honestly on behalf of the deceased’s estate… It’s a kind of Catch 22 moment.

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How to grow your own fruits and vegetables in Sweden

Know your growing zone

Sweden is split into eight different growing zones, known as växtzoner in Swedish, with one being the mildest zone in the far south of the country and eight being the harshest, in the far north.

The easiest way to figure out which zone you live in is to search your address on a digital growing zone chart like this one from the Swedish Garden Association.

There are two “bonus” zones too, which you’re unlikely to see on plant labels: zone zero, which refers to extra mild conditions in zone one, like a sheltered south-facing garden or the climate inside an unheated greenhouse, and the fjällzon or zone nine, which is found in mountain regions.

Lots of fruit trees can handle snow, for example, but not all of them will survive the winters in harsher, colder zones.

“Apple trees or fruit trees will survive snow,” British gardener and cider maker John Taylor, known for presenting Swedish gardening show Trädgårdstider (Garden Times), told The Local.

“You can grow all kinds of apples, pears, plums, cherries, we can grow edible quince in southern Sweden, so there’s a bunch of fruit trees which will survive, but it depends what rootstock they’re on – that’s called grundstam in Swedish,” he explained.

“There’s one rootstock called B9 that survives down to minus 40, because it’s from Russia, then there’s another called M106, and that probably doesn’t want to live in the depths of Norrland.”

Buy plants local to you

An easy way to make sure the plant you’re planning on buying is going to survive in your zone is by sourcing it from a local plant nursery or garden centre, as they won’t sell plants that can’t handle the local climate.

“There’s a nursery in the north of Sweden and Finland called Blomkvists, they sell lots of fruit varieties which will survive up there,” Taylor said. “You can grow pretty much anything you want up there, just as we can [in Skåne, southern Sweden], but it will be different varieties that taste different and will survive the frost.”

You won’t be able to grow Mediterranean fruits like lemons or oranges in Sweden unless you bring them inside during the winter, although you should be able to grow peaches or nectarines in most of the country.

“The further up in the country you go, the further north you are or the further away from the coast, the harsher the climate becomes, so you might need to have them on a south-facing wall or in a greenhouse,” Taylor said.

Think outside the box

Although the growing season in Sweden may be shorter than it is further south, there are still a number of crops from warmer climates that do surprisingly well.

“People don’t really grow cucumbers outside here, I don’t think they realise that you can actually grow them outside,” Taylor said. “Tomatoes, too. You don’t need a greenhouse, you just stick them in the ground, they’re basically a weed – you’ll get so many you won’t know what to do with them.”

Sweetcorn, for example, performs well in a Swedish climate, Taylor said, although Swedes more often grow it as a feed crop for pigs.

You can also test things by trying to build a microclimate so you can grow things that are one or even two growing zones away from yours. Usually this is done by providing shelter from the wind and the weather using fences, hedges or by planting near buildings, as well as providing protection during the winter.

And if you’re pushed for space, look into companion planting, where you can grow multiple plants which complement each other in the same space.

One example of this is the “three sisters”: corn, climbing beans (or peas), and squash. The corn provides a support for the beans or peas, which anchor the corn in high winds while fixing nitrogen in the soil, while the squash’s large leaves provide shade for the soil, preventing it from drying out.

Don’t be put off just because you don’t have any outside space

Thinking outside the box applies to balconies too.

“If you’re in a built-up area, you will get reflected light from other buildings, so even if you’re on an east-facing balcony, you should be able to grow a lot of stuff. North is a bit more tricky, but east and west are probably better than south as you’re not getting hammered by the sun all day,” Taylor said.

You should be able to grow things like tomatoes, cucumbers and flowers, but it’s important to get hold of good soil and replenish it each year, so your plants have enough nutrients.

“Anybody with a balcony can grow pretty much the same that you can in a garden, you just have to get the soil up there and you always have to fertilise, the soil becomes nutrient deficient after one season.”

“But if you’re prepared to get the soil up on your balcony you can grow anything, even fruit trees. They will be smaller and stunted, and won’t give as much fruit – I’ve done it myself – so don’t see it as an obstacle, see it as a possibility.”

Kale and tomatoes growing on a balcony. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Take inspiration from Swedish growers

Thinking outside the box doesn’t mean that you should completely ignore what all your Swedish neighbours are doing. If you’re not sure what to plant in your garden or what fruit and veg you should try to grow, take a look at what other people who live near you are growing.

You might also come across some crops you’ve never tried before which work well in a Swedish climate, like Alpine strawberries (smultron), honeyberries (blåbärstry), wild garlic (ramslök) or sea buckthorn (havtorn).

This doesn’t just apply to varieties, but also where you plant them in your garden. Some crops need full sun, some work best in shade, and others, like asparagus, can grow tall and cast a shadow over your garden.

“You want a south-facing location for all fruit, and berries – check out what your neighbours are doing,” Taylor said.

If you don’t want tall plants to cast a shadow over other crops, see if you can plant them at the northernmost edge of your garden, while making sure that sun and soil conditions are still optimal. Blueberries, for example, need acidic soil to thrive, meaning you will probably need to amend your soil if planting in the ground, or even plant them in containers.

Think about what you want to do with your harvest

This may seem obvious, but it’s important to plant what you like to eat, too. If you hate the aniseedy, licorice-y taste of fennel, why bother growing it?

You should also choose the variety of crop based on what you’re going to use it for. Do you want to make pickles with your cucumbers, or are you going to eat them on salads? Do you want cherry tomatoes for snacking on, or big beef tomatoes for making sauces?

“Think ‘what am I going to do with my harvest’,” Taylor said. “Am I going to juice it? Am I going to preserve it? Am I going to make cider with it, for example?”

Apples, for example, can range from sweet eating apples to tart cooking apples, so make sure you do your research before you commit to buying an apple tree. Most varieties exist in English-speaking countries, so you should be able to search the name of the variety online and find some information in a language you understand, if you don’t speak Swedish.

“Patience is a virtue,” he added. “A lot of fruit trees are going to take two or three years, or even more, to give a harvest. So you have to have patience.”

Learn to deal with the Swedish weather

Many areas of Sweden along the coast or in the south of the country can get windy, which you’ll have to learn to deal with.

“How to deal with the wind? You can’t,” Taylor said. “We cannot affect this, we are powerless.”

“What you have to do is plant them in areas where there’s less wind, usually behind large buildings.”

Some plants simply won’t survive the wind, so either you plant them close to buildings, protect them, or accept that you’re restricted in what you can grow.

Make sure to provide supports for crops which will grow tall, like sunflowers, peas, beans and sweetcorn, and tie these down well or bury them deep in the ground, so summer storms can’t blow them away.

Listen to the full interview with John Taylor in The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers. Out on Wednesday, May 8th.

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