In addition, when all teen and older household members die, all businesses owned will be released back to the community (even if the deceased Sim has a living offspring residing somewhere else) and their prospective owners can generally only buy them as unfurnished lots. In The Sims 2, any orphaned babies, toddlers, or children will be taken away by an on-screen social worker, whereas in The Sims 4, a message indicating that the orphaned Sim(s) will be cared for by social services will appear. When all Sims die in a household, or there are only children in the household (as in the case of The Sims 2 and later games), a game over occurs. Sims who witnessed the death of an enemy will receive a happy moodlet. All Sims who witnessed the death, including those not particularly close to the deceased Sim, will receive a very sad moodlet for 48 hours (though household members who were not in the same room as the deceased Sim at the time of death will not be affected). In The Sims 4, no such monetary inheritance takes place, although items in a deceased Sim's inventory will be transferred to their offspring who live in the same lot. If a Sim is married or joined at the time of their death, any community lots or vacation homes owned are inherited by their spouse. In The Sims 2, a deceased Sim's closest friends and family members will inherit a small amount of money through life insurance. In other games, the gravestone that appears may depend on their aspiration level, the number of lifetime happiness points, or the life state they were in. In The Sims, the appearance of gravestones is randomized except for pets and for Sims who are famous. These can be moved around the lot or sold like any other object in buy mode. Sims will leave behind a gravestone or an urn after they die.
In The Sims 3, Sims can beg for their own life depending on the mood they were in when they died. In The Sims 2: Pets, the Grim Reaper plays a different animation for pets that die. In The Sims 4, Sims cannot plead for the dead Sim's life before the actual reaping begins. Also, in The Sims 2: FreeTime, Sims who have summoned a genie and successfully wished for the power to cheat death can plead for their own lives even if they are in the middle of a pool or have died of old age. However, if The Sims 2: Apartment Life is installed, an infallibly good witch or warlock with 9 or more magic skill can use the spell "Expello Mortis", which will reach further out, though it will not be able to reach the middle of a very large pool. Also, it may not be possible to plead for a drowned Sim, as living Sims will not be able to get to the Grim Reaper if he is out in the water. In The Sims 2, it is not possible to plead for a Sim who has died of old age. In The Sims, the Grim Reaper may be in a bad mood, and bring the deceased Sim back as a zombie.
The chances of success are determined by the relationship of the pleading Sim with the newly deceased, and pure chance. In The Sims Livin' Large, The Sims 2, and The Sims 4, a living Sim who is on the lot can plead with the Grim Reaper, asking him not to take the newly deceased Sim. His nice side shows when a Sim with a gold or platinum aspiration bar dies of old age, during the animation of a pet's death, or resurrecting kids with the Resurrect-O-Nomitron. His personality is perhaps a reference to the personified Death character in Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" novels. Unlike most legends of the Grim Reaper, he seems to be a kind being in The Sims series. In The Sims 2 and The Sims 3, the Grim Reaper plays a cameo depending on the method of death and the aspiration level of the Sim in question.
However, the Grim Reaper does not come if a Sim dies in a Skydiving Simulator in The Sims: Superstar, if a Toadified Sim is eaten by a dragon in The Sims: Makin' Magic, and if a Sim is eaten by the Cowplant in The Sims 2: University. Starting with The Sims: Livin' Large, Sims that have died are visited by the anthropomorphic personification of death in the form of the Grim Reaper.