If one of your close relatives has recently passed away, and you both lived in the U.S., Empathy can help you. Whether you need help applying for benefits or assistance with the estate, or are overwhelmed by uncertainty and grief, our app can guide you, take tasks off your hands, and help you find information, comfort, and peace of mind.

The first time you open the Empathy app, it will ask you a few questions about your loved one and your situation, and then present you with personalized guidance.

The app is divided into several Paths, each of which helps you navigate a different aspect of loss through simple, manageable steps.

Empathy will recommend which Path and steps will be of most help to you at any given time, but you can choose to take any Path you want, in any order, or elect to use several at the same time. Additionally, you may complete a Path at the pace with which you’re most comfortable.

Our guided experience covers the many aspects of loss: each task, decision, and challenge you may face, plus all of the information and advice you may need to know that you are proceeding correctly. Regardless of what you’re experiencing – whether it’s knowing how to collaborate with your family, understanding how to organize your loved one’s finances, or making sure every detail is private, safe, and secure – our expert guidance can help you.

Topics covered in the app include planning a funeral, searching for important documents, finding and filing a will, preventing identity theft, managing accounts, handling probate, and more.

Grief is a complex emotion that everyone experiences in their own way. The Empathy app provides support and guidance for the many aspects of grief, with audio episodes you can listen to at any point in your journey. Created under the supervision of internationally renowned grief experts, these episodes help you understand and reframe painful emotions, and learn strategies for getting through the most difficult moments.

Our Helpline specialists are also available to offer a listening ear, discuss your state of mind, and offer comfort and advice. Still, our services should not be used as a substitute or replacement for mental health care or professional grief support. The Helpline can assist you in finding the right therapist or grief group, should you need one.

Your account gives you access to all of the app features, including step-by-step guidance for the tasks you and your family are performing, real-time support from care specialists via Empathy’s Helpline, a secure vault for uploading and organizing your loved one’s documents, audio episodes that help you cope with grief, and the ability to collaborate with up to 10 family members on the same account.

Absolutely. The Empathy app is designed to be responsive to your needs and can be used at any stage in the process, whether you’re dealing with immediate arrangements, wrapping up the last details of the estate, or just looking for support during your grief.

Beyond providing guidance, advice, and resources such as in-depth articles, checklists, and audio episodes, Empathy also enables you to upload and organize important documents in a secure digital vault. We can help you fill out forms and contact relevant authorities and offices. And our Helpline specialists can assist you with many other tasks, including contacting service providers, scheduling calls and visits, and finding experts in your area.

We’re continuously updating our app to add new features and tools that will take even more tasks out of your hands and do them for you.

Depending on the size and complexity of your loved one’s estate, as well as where they lived, settling their affairs could take anywhere from a few weeks to a few years. It’s likely most estates can be settled in a matter of months, but with the Empathy app, you can move at your preferred pace and take comfort in knowing we’re here to help you progress through it all with relative ease.

Empathy is for anyone who has experienced a loss in the family. We have resources that can help you if you’re planning a service, writing an obituary, organizing documents, or clearing out a house, as well as dealing with the difficult emotions that come with all of it.

However, some of the Paths in the app, such as those for probate and the estate, will be most useful for the person who is appointed as the representative of your loved one’s estate, such as the executor or administrator.

Not at all. Everything in Empathy is explained in simple, easy-to-understand terms without the legalese and technical jargon. And any important terms you need defined can be found in our helpful in-app glossary.

We give you the information you need to understand how estates and probate work. For personalized legal assistance that applies to your specific situation, we recommend you contact an attorney and can help you find one for you and your family.

The knowledge and advice in our app and on our website have been thoroughly researched, with support from subject matter experts. While our information is not a replacement for individual advice from your own attorney or accountant, it will provide you with a basis for understanding the issues and steps involved with estate settlement.

Empathy is not an accounting or law firm and not a financial advisor, and we cannot replace the services of an attorney, accountant, or financial advisor. Our guidance is meant to help you understand and navigate the estate settlement process, but we are not able to give individualized financial, legal, or tax advice. (Please see our Terms of Service for more details.) We can, however, help you search for professionals in your area if you need them.

Empathy is committed to ensuring your data is safe, secure, and private. We use bank-level 256-bit encryption to store and transmit data over the internet, and your most private information is protected with two-factor authentication that includes your own private PIN code.

If your family needs help with any issue you encounter, our Helpline specialists are available in the app to chat with you in real time. Helpline specialists will respond with sensitivity and understanding, and can provide detailed guidance for your particular situation. They can also help with things like filling out forms and similar tasks.

Helpline specialists are available to chat Monday through Saturday, 9am-8pm ET, and you can leave them messages during other times. Families who sign up through New York Life are given priority with the Helpline to ensure their questions and support needs are resolved quickly.

Empathy’s Care Specialists are experienced professionals with backgrounds in psychology, social work, and similar fields, who are trained to support matters related to the loss of a loved one.

While the Care Specialists can assist with general guidance and information about legal and financial matters, they are not legal or accounting professionals, and cannot provide you with specific legal or financial advice. (Please see our Terms of Service for more details.)

If you should need specific legal or financial advice, a Care Specialist will be happy to help you search for local professionals who can help you and your family.

Empathy and New York Life have partnered to ensure New York Life beneficiaries receive the best care and support for their entire journey through loss. Empathy is proud to be among the range of resources and services that New York Life offers to help families cope with the challenges they face after losing a loved one.

Please reach out to our support team at support@empathy.com and we’ll get back to you right away.

Contact us at help@empathy.com and we’ll do our best to answer any questions you have.