When Death Occurs
01
When death occurs at home or a place of business:
If the person was not under hospice care, notify the police immediately. The police will be dispatched to the home and will place the call to the medical examiner. From there, the medical examiner will determine if they need to bring your loved one into their care for further examination into the cause of death. If the medical examiner does not need to take custody of the deceased, they will release the body to the custody of a funeral home of the family’s choice.
If your loved one was under hospice care, contact your hospice representative. He/she will notify you & your family on what the proper procedures are to follow.
02
When a death occurs at a hospital/nursing home/hospice facility:
The staff of the care facility will notify you and the necessary authorities immediately after the death has occurred. If a funeral home has been provided to the nursing home/hospital, the staff may contact us, but the family should follow up to make sure. If we hear from the facility first, we will reach out to the family directly to confirm we are authorized by the family to bring your loved one into our care. If you are still with your loved one when we arrive, we will ask you a few questions about their wishes and schedule a time with you to meet for arrangements to be made for the funeral. If you are not present, we will contact you by telephone to discuss the arrangements or to set a time to meet.
03
Inform a Funeral Home:
Once everything has been cleared with the proper authorities, the next call you place should be to a licensed funeral director. Funeral directors are here to help you obtain a death certificate, transport the body, and, in the event pre-planning was not done, select a casket or urn and arrange the funeral or memorial service. Funeral directors are there to help you and advise you.
04
Meet with a Funeral Director:
You should meet with a funeral director within 24 hours of a death to begin making final arrangements for your loved one. Deciding on these final arrangements may seem like a very daunting task, especially when you are in heightened emotional state. Do not worry: funeral home staff have years of experience, and will strive to ensure everything goes as smoothly as possible.
05
Make Arrangements:
A funeral director will guide you through all of these steps shown below, using your wants, needs and desires as a foundation to create a memorable funeral for your loved one. From here the funeral services can be personalized. Did your loved one have a favorite sports team? What was their favorite type of music? What activity was your loved one known best for? Sharing these memories with the grieving process will allow you to pay tribute to the life of your loved one.
Arrangements Steps
Information required for the death certificate:
- Full Name and Address
- Marital Status
- Race/Ethnicity
- Date and City of Birth
- Highest Level of Education
- Father’s Name, Mother’s Name (including maiden name)
- Name of Spouse (if married or widowed)
- Occupation and Employer
Pertinent documents required for legal paperwork:
- Account Statements
- Beneficiary Designations
- Life Insurance Policies
- Real Estate Deeds
- Car and Boat Deeds
- Stock and Bond Certificates
- Pre-Nuptial Agreements
- Post-Nuptial Agreements
- Loans and Leases
- Copies of Bills (Water, Cable, Phone etc.)
- Last Will
- Tax Returns
If no pre-planning has been done, necessary arrangements need to be made for the funeral service including:
- Scheduling the location, date, and time of the visitation and funeral service
- Selecting burial or cremation
- Choosing funeral products
- Arranging a cemetery plot
- Preparing an obituary notice
- Scheduling transportation arrangements
