Funeral Plan Advice
What to do when someone dies - Planning a Funeral
There are two essential steps to take immediately after someone dies.
- a doctor must issue a certificate stating the cause of death;
- the death must be registered with your local Registrar, who will issue a death certificate.
In some circumstances the death must be reported to the coroner. This happens when:
- there is no doctor who can issue a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death
- the deceased was not seen by the doctor issuing the medical certificate after death nor within 14 days before death
- the cause of death is unknown
- the cause of death is believed to be unnatural or suspicious
- death occurred during an operation or before recovery from an anaesthetic
- death is due to industrial disease or industrial poisoning.
How to register a death
Once the cause of death has been certified by a doctor (or, in some cases, a coroner), the next step is to get a formal Death Certificate from your local registrar. Deaths in England and Wales should be registered within 5 days and in the district where the person died.
To register the death, you will need to arrange an appointment with the Registrar. You can find your local Registrar by clicking on www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/deaths or in the Yellow Pages. You need to take the medical certificate of cause of death to the Register Office and tell the Registrar how many copies of the Death Certificate you need. It’s advisable to get more than one depending on how many organisations you think you are going to have to contact regarding the death (e.g. insurance companies, credit card companies and so on) as they might each want to see a certified copy of the Death Certificate.
Funeral Planning
Planning funerals can be very stressful. It can involve either burial or cremation and in some cases repatriation. You can personalise your funerals as much as you wish. Of course, the deceased may have already planned ahead with Ostrich Funeral Plans in association with Goldenleaves and purchased a pre-paid funeral plan, in which case you simply let us know and we’ll do the rest.
The date for the funeral can only be set after the death has been registered. If the death has to be reported to the coroner, the date when the funeral can be held will be affected.
Choosing a Funeral and Funeral Services
Nowadays you have numerous decisions to make when planning a funeral: where to hold the cremation or burial, how to choose the flowers and catering, find musicians and clergymen, how to arrange notices in the local paper, where to hold the reception, where to hold the service or ceremony, and finally send out thank-you notes to your guests.
A good Funeral Director will be able to advise you on all these different funeral options, including the increasingly popular green funerals with coffins made from sustainable woods or natural materials, and woodland burials.
Choosing a Funeral Director
The funeral director is there to help you with every aspect of the funeral planning and it's therefore important you choose a company that is able to meet both your needs and your budget.