Death of a close family member is something that affects us all. About 60,000 people die in Finland each year, which means that the same number of new estates are established. For the close family members of the deceased person, managing the affairs of an estate is often a long and burdensome process involving the collection and combination of information as well as dealing with a variety of different authorities. E-services can only be used to a limited extent.

Digitalisation and automation leave more time for grief work

The challenges arising from the current situation have been known to the actors involved for many years. At the end of the last decade, these actors launched network-based cooperation under the name Kuoleman ekosysteemi (‘Ecosystem of death’) to find a joint view on how these challenges could be tackled in a customer-oriented manner. This work led to an entry in the current Government Programme and the launching of the programme Easing the management of the affairs of a deceased relative set up by the Ministry of Finance in April 2024.

The purpose of the programme is to reduce the administrative
burden of the close family members and leave more time for grief work,
the most important part of the process. 

The purpose of the programme is to ensure easy management of the affairs of a deceased relative by digitalising necessary documents and by increasing the use of automation in official processes. The aim is that the affairs of the estate can be managed electronically and that the necessary information moves in structured format between actors. 

This would reduce the administrative burden of the close family members and leave more time for grief work, the most important part of the process. 

At the same time, official processes can be simplified and manual work reduced. 

Simplifying the processes requires close cooperation with stakeholders 

The overall process is complex and not only from the perspective of coordinating technical development and law drafting. 

The ecosystem around the topic includes dozens of actors and sectors. Even though the development work carried out as part of the programme is limited to simplifying the management of the estate and preparation of the estate inventory deed, the number of stakeholders and the scope of interests involved is nevertheless substantial. 

Simplifying the services used by estates is a common challenge
and serves as an opportunity to demonstrate that services can be developed on the basis of life events,
taking into account the differing needs of individuals and organisations. 

It is thus clear that to fully achieve the programme objectives and to fully simplify the services used by the customer (the estate shareholder), we need solutions that are supported by the organisations responsible for the development work and a wide range of ecosystem actors. This underlines the importance of stakeholder cooperation in the programme. 

Focus on life events and customer perspective

The success factors also include the collective ability to keep the customer perspective at the centre of joint activities and to build a workable service package which is not limited to organisation-specific thinking. 

Simplifying the services used by estates is a common challenge and serves as an opportunity to demonstrate that services can be developed on the basis of life events, taking into account the differing needs of individuals and organisations. 

You are welcome to join the cooperation!

Nico Käräjäoja, Programme Manager, Ministry of Finance