410. A Death in the Family; New Utensils

59:6 If a person loses his father or another relative, or if an upright person or a Torah scholar who is not a relative passes away and he feels grief, one recites the full bracha of Dayan ha’emes. For the passing of others, for whom one does not grieve, he merely recires the phrase “Baruch Dayan ha’emes,” without mentioning G-d’s Name of His Kingship (which are required to make it a proper bracha). If one's father left him a financial inheritance, he also recites shehechiyanu or, if he is dividing the inheritance with brothers, haTov vehaMeitiv. (He recites shehechiyanu or haTov vehaMeitiv even though he would have preferred his father not die at all because this bracha is not predicated on joy but on a change in the status quo – Mishnah Brurah 223:9.)

59:7 If one bought or built a house, or if he bought utensils or a significant garment, he would recite shehechiyanu. This is true even if he has similar utensils so long as he never owned this particular item before, i.e., he did not sell an object then buy it back. The bracha should be recited at the time of purchase or construction even though he has not yet used the item because the bracha reflects the joy he has at the time of acquisition. (If the object is not fit for use immediately upon purchase, one would say the bracha upon using it for the first time – Mishnah Brurah 223:12.)