How to Write a Death Notice (With Templates and Examples)
Someone at the funeral home will ask you for a death notice, usually on the first or second day, and usually while you are still deciding much larger things. It is a small piece of writing with a deadline attached to it, because the service details in it are what tell people when to show up.
It is also the piece most often confused with the obituary. They are different documents with different jobs, and writing the wrong one is how families end up paying for four hundred words in a newspaper column when eighty would have done the same work.
Death Notice vs. Obituary
A death notice is a paid announcement. It states that a person has died, and it gives the practical details: the name, the date, and where and when the service is. It is factual, compact, and formatted almost like a classified ad, because historically that is what it was.
An obituary is a piece of writing about a life. It has a narrative, it names survivors, it usually mentions what the person did and what they were like. Some newspapers write these themselves for public figures at no charge; for everyone else, a long obituary is a paid submission too, priced by length.
| Death notice | Obituary | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 40–120 words | 300–800 words |
| Purpose | Announce the death and the service | Tell the story of a life |
| Tone | Factual | Personal |
| Written by | Family or funeral director | Family, or newspaper staff |
| Typical cost | Lower — priced by line | Higher — priced by length and photo |
Most families end up doing both, but not in the same place. The death notice goes to the local paper because that is where the people who will attend the service still look. The full obituary increasingly goes online, where there is no per-line charge and no word limit. If you are deciding between them, our guide to writing an obituary covers the longer form in detail.
What a Death Notice Must Contain
Six things. Everything else is optional.
- Full name, including the maiden name and any name the person was actually known by, in quotation marks: Margaret "Peggy" Ellis Doyle.
- Age and place of residence — town or city, not the street address.
- Date of death. The place is optional and often omitted.
- Service details — type, date, time, and full venue address. This is the line people are reading for.
- Immediate survivors, if you want them named. A death notice usually lists a spouse and children only, because each additional line costs money.
- Memorial contribution instructions, if the family prefers donations to flowers.
What to leave out: the exact home address, the date of birth in full, and any detail that helps someone impersonate the deceased or work out when the house will be empty. Funeral directors will tell you the same thing. Announcing a service is announcing a window of time when a home is unoccupied.
The Cost Is Real, and It Is Per Line
Newspapers price death notices by the line or by the column inch, and the difference between a spare notice and a generous one can be several hundred dollars in a large metro daily. Rates vary enormously by market — a small-town weekly may charge very little, and a major city paper considerably more, with a photo priced as its own item.
Two things follow from this:
Ask for the rate card before you write. Not after. Write to the length you have decided to pay for, rather than writing freely and then cutting the parts you can no longer afford.
Put the long version somewhere without a meter. Almost every family now writes a short paid notice for the paper and a full tribute online, where length costs nothing and the page does not disappear after thirty days. Our comparison of places to publish an obituary covers what each option actually charges.
Three Templates
Adapt the wording; keep the order. The order is what makes these scannable to someone looking for a time and an address.
Template 1 — Standard, with service details
DOYLE, Margaret "Peggy" Ellis, 81, of Portland, died on September 3, 2026. She is survived by her husband John, her daughters Anne and Clare, and four grandchildren. A funeral Mass will be held at St. Brigid's Church, 412 Wilson Avenue, Portland, on Saturday, September 13 at 10:00 a.m., followed by burial at Riverside Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Oregon Food Bank.
Template 2 — Short form, service private
HALVORSEN, Erik J., 67, of Madison, passed away peacefully at home on August 29, 2026, surrounded by his family. A private service will be held. A celebration of his life will be announced at a later date. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Heart Association.
Template 3 — Arrangements not yet made
NAKAMURA, Yuki, 54, of San Jose, died unexpectedly on September 8, 2026. She is survived by her husband David and her son Kai. Funeral arrangements are pending and will be announced by Hillcrest Funeral Home.
That third template exists because families are often asked for a notice before anything is scheduled. It is entirely normal to publish twice: once to announce, once with the details.
How to Submit It
Your funeral director will submit it for you, and in most cases should. They have the account with the paper, they know the deadline, and the submission fee is usually already inside the package you have signed. Ask two questions anyway:
- What is the deadline for the edition we need? Papers typically close death notices a day or more before publication, and the service date sets the real deadline — a notice that runs the morning of the funeral has failed at its one job.
- Will you send me the proof before it runs? Names, dates and street numbers are what get transposed, and the correction runs at your cost.
If you are submitting it yourself, most newspapers have an online form or an email address for obituaries and death notices. Send plain text rather than a formatted document, spell out the month, and include a phone number they can call to verify — many papers require confirmation from the funeral home before they will print a death announcement, which is a safeguard against hoaxes.
Small Things That Matter More Than They Should
Read it aloud to one other family member. Not for the writing — for the omissions. A stepchild left out of the survivors list is remembered for years, and it almost always happens by accident, at midnight, by someone exhausted.
Decide about "in lieu of flowers" as a family. It is a small phrase that redirects real money, and it should not be one person's call at the last minute.
Check the venue address against the venue's own website. Churches move, funeral homes merge, and the address in someone's memory is often the old one.
Keep a copy of the final text. You will need it again for the online tribute, the service program, and the thank-you notes. Retyping it later, when the details are fuzzier, is how the date on the program ends up disagreeing with the date in the paper.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a death notice legally required? No. It is a customary announcement, not a legal filing. The legal step is registering the death and obtaining certified copies of the death certificate — which is a separate process, and the one that actually matters for banks, insurers and pensions. Who to notify when someone dies walks through that list.
How soon should it be published? Early enough that people can arrange to travel. Two to four days before the service is common; less than 48 hours means distant family will hear about it afterwards.
Can I write a death notice without service details? Yes — Template 3 above. "Arrangements are pending" is standard wording and no one will find it strange.
Does a death notice stay online? Only as long as the newspaper keeps it, which is often 30 days to a year, and sometimes behind a paywall afterwards. If you want something that stays reachable, publish the longer version on a page you control.
GetMemorial helps families build beautiful, lasting online memorials in minutes — a permanent home for tributes, photos, and stories. Create an online memorial for them whenever you are ready.
