30th May 2024
Written By Jenna Savage – Office Manager
In the aftermath of Hull – Some honesty! Part two.
Paperwork:
The last thing anyone wants in the midst of the loss of a loved one is the headache of forms and paperwork! And your FD will understand that and should be dealing with as much as they are legally allowed for you, this is their job, however considering the uncertainty that the awful situation in Hull has created, it is i think important that you know what you should see, sign and be given.
So the one most people know about is the death certificate, this is actually something the Funeral Director cannot do for you, in most cases the registrar will call you to arrange an appointment with the next of kin when they themselves have received the medical certificate from the medical examiner. You would then attend said appointment and register the death. Your Funeral Director does not need a copy of the certificate given to you, we will be sent what we need by the registrar.
The next form you will see for a cremation is The Application for Cremation Form that your Funeral Director will fill out with you, this requires a signature from you as the next of kin, you don’t need a copy of this, but you are entirely entitled to have a copy given to you if you wish. As with signing any document, do read this carefully and ask your Funeral Director any questions you have.
Forms for Burials are an interesting one, not all graves are owned, for example those in a churchyard are owned by the church and remain so, so there is no paperwork to sign for this. However cemetery burials are often different to this and are owned by the applicant for burial so there is a form for this, again your Funeral Director should be able to, and happy to explain the regulations for a burial in your area. If the place you have chosen for a burial does require a form to be signed, again do read this carefully and ask any questions you may have before signing.
Paperwork you should receive from your Funeral Director should be fairly simple, after you have completed an arrangement with a Funeral Director you should be given a written estimate for the cost of the Funeral, now please be aware in most cases this is exactly what it says…an estimate, there may be things you have requested that the Funeral Director is not able to give an exact price for in the moment, for example flowers, so do bare this is mind. This is however an important document, this estimate should be signed by you and returned to the Funeral Director, this protects both of you, this is the document that says that Funeral Director has been engaged by you to start making these arrangements and it gives you, if not an exact cost, then a good ballpark figure as to what this is going to cost. Before signing your estimate have a comprehensive look at it, if there is anything to be questioned this is the time to do it before they undertake any further work for you. If the estimate is more than you were expecting, or is beyond what you can afford, please do speak to your funeral director and explain your concerns, any good firm should be happy and confident to explain pricing to you, and they should also be willing to discuss less expensive options for you if what you have been quoted is out of your budget.
Your estimate should come with a terms and conditions document, or atleast the information as to how you find that document online, again do read this before signing anything, these documents tell you what the funeral directors obligations are to you, what the terms of payment are and what the consequence of any breach to the arrangements you have made will be. Hopefully you will never need to refer back to this document but it is there for the worst case scenario and you should know what it is you have agreed to.
Last but by no means least is the document that has made so many question what on earth has been happening in the Hull firm! The Cremated remains certificate, this is a document that will be handed to whoever has collected the ashes from the crematorium, in a lot of cases this is the Funeral Director, but this is not a document that they should be keeping, when you collect ashes from the Funeral home, this document should be with them. Furthermore the cremation number on this document should match the cremation number on the box that contains the ashes. If you have requested that ashes be put into scatter tubes or an urn for you, you should still be given this certificate. You may need this document if you ever wish to inter the ashes anywhere official.
Furthermore to the above about Cremated remains certificates, and this is particularly for Direct Cremations where there has not been anyone in attendance, if for any reason you have a query about the ashes you have had returned to you, or the documentation you have been given, please do ring the crematorium that the cremation took place. They will be more than willing to confirm the cremation to you or talk you through the authenticity of the document you have been given. Everyone in the industry is aware of what has happened in Hull and should be 100% prepared to answer any concerns anyone has.
There is also a safeguard in place that happens behind the scenes that you are probably not aware of, It has been suggested that this may have been what alerted authorities to irregularities in Hull. When a person is either cremated or buried, the venue is required to send part of a document back to the registrar to confirm the final resting place of the deceased. This is a legal requirement that you as the next of kin would not be informed of, but it should and does happen in the background.