You think there is cash hidden in the house

Start with a slow first pass

Before you move anything, walk through the rooms and take photos. Open a cupboard, photograph what is inside, close it. Do this in every room, including the garage, the basement, the attic and the garden shed. The photos are your record of how the house looked, and they help if two relatives later disagree about what was there.

Ask anyone who lived with the person, or who visited often, whether they remember a hiding place being mentioned. A passing remark like "the tin under the stairs" is worth writing down. Do not rely on memory alone. Keep a notebook with you and note the room, the spot and what you found.

Where people commonly put money

These are the places families find things most often. Go through them one at a time, and put everything back as you found it until you have decided together what to do.

• Inside coat and jacket pockets, especially in a hall closet, and in the lining of bags
• Between folded towels, sheets or winter blankets
• In the freezer, inside a container or wrapped in foil
• Under the mattress, inside a pillowcase, or taped under a drawer
• In books, particularly a heavy dictionary, bible or cookbook, or between the pages of a photo album
• In tins, biscuit boxes, shoeboxes and old suitcases
• Behind a loose skirting board, under a floorboard, or in a gap behind a fitted wardrobe
• In the loft or attic, in the garage, or in a shed among tools
• Inside a vase, a hollow ornament, or a tin of buttons and sewing things
• In the pockets of a handbag or in a wallet kept in a drawer

Gold, jewellery and coins often sit in the same kinds of places, sometimes wrapped in tissue or cloth. Check small containers twice. A ring can sit at the bottom of a box of pins.

Search safely and in company

Work with another person and tell someone where you are. Wear gloves if you are handling old paper, and keep a torch handy for cupboards and lofts. Do not pull at floorboards or panels unless you are sure how they lift. If something looks structural, stop and come back to it with the right tools.

Keep a clear bag or envelope for each room's finds, labelled with the room and the date. Do not sort, count or divide anything yet. The first job is to get it all into one safe place and write down what came from where.

Look beyond cash

The same search turns up papers that matter as much as money. Watch for a will, deeds, insurance papers, savings books, share certificates, and keys to a safe or a storage unit. A key with no label is worth photographing and keeping. Our guide on what to do when you find a key walks through the next steps.

If you find a locked box or a small safe, do not force it. Look for a key or a written combination first, and check whether the person left a note about it. If it stays locked, ask the person handling the estate before anything is opened.

Notes and letters found with the money should be read carefully and kept. They may say who the money was meant for, or explain a gift. Put them with the rest of the person's papers rather than in your pocket.

Before anything leaves the house

Nothing should leave until the search is finished and the finds are written down. It is easy for a relative to take a tin "for safekeeping" and for the record to become muddled. Agree as a family that everything stays in one place until the person handling the estate has seen it.

Make a simple list: the item, roughly what it is, the room it came from, and who is holding it now. Two people should sign or initial the list. Photograph cash and valuables on a plain surface, and keep the photos with the list.

If the person left an envelope with SuddenGone, check the Hidden and valuable things section. It may name the spots, describe a container, or say who should have an item. If the envelope has not been opened yet, the guide on how a claim works explains what happens and who can request access.

What can wait

Valuing the items, dividing them, and deciding what to sell can all wait. So can a proper search of the loft or the back of the garage. Set a date for the second pass and tell the family, so nobody feels they have to rush the first one.

The first days are also when bills, subscriptions and accounts need attention. Our guide on the first 48 hours sets out what is urgent and what is not. Money found in the house can sit safely while you deal with those.

If you are the one hiding things

Write it down now, while you can explain it in your own words. Note the room and the exact spot, what is in the container, and anything a family member should know about who it was meant for. Keep the note in your envelope, not in the same hiding place, or it will be found with the money and read by whoever opens the tin first.

You can start an envelope at signup and add the Hidden and valuable things section today. If you are not sure what else belongs in it, the checklist lists the sections people usually fill in.