What to Say When Someone Dies

When someone you care about loses a loved one, it's hard to know what to say. To help you comfort a grieving colleague, friend or family member, LegacyConnect offers advice from condolence and etiquette experts. Click on the links below to learn more about how to write condolence notes, what not to say and more.

Offering Sympathy or Condolences:
• Why Write Sympathy Notes?
• Writing a Condolence Note
• Writing a Condolence Note to a Grieving Child or Adolescent
• What Makes a Condolence Note Memorable?
• Timing Your Condolence Notes
• Condolence Stationery
• Speaking of the Deceased
• Leaving a Message

What to Say in Specific Situations:
• When Loss Hits the Workplace
• Condolences from the Group
• What to Say When Someone Dies Unexpectedly
• Supporting the Bereaved After a Suicide
• Youth Suicide: What You Can Say and Do to Help the Survivors
• When a Baby Dies
• Grieving Miscarriage
• How to Be Supportive After a Miscarriage
• What to Say to a Grieving Spouse
• What to Say When Someone's Ex Dies
• What to Say: Rocky Relationships
• Expressing Condolences for Difficult Relationships

What NOT to Say:
• What Not to Say
• People Want to Be Helpful, But...
• Why Won’t Anyone Let Me Feel Sad?
• Is It Ever Appropriate to Question the Bereaved?
• Making Amends for Something You Said

Being a Good Listener:
• The Gift of Listening
• Why Is It So Hard to Listen?
• 7 Ways to Listen Better
• 6 Distractions That Hamper Listening
• 6 More Distractions That Hamper Listening
• The Importance of Empathy

Writing and Giving a Eulogy:
• Giving a Eulogy
• Star Eulogies

Photo by Lachlan Hardy/Flickr Creative Commons