Arranging a Funeral

When a death occurs, the deceased person needs to be transferred from the place of death to the funeral home or hospital. Before this can be done, however, a doctor needs to be notified of the death. The doctor will then give permission for the funeral director to come or will refer the death to the coroner*, in which case police will need to attend.

After the doctor or police have been to the place of death, the person making the funeral arrangements needs to make the first contact with the Funeral Director. This is required to organise the transfer of the deceased and a time to meet to discuss funeral arrangements. That meeting can take place either at the family home or the funeral home.

The person making the arrangements will discuss details such as:

• Choosing whether the funeral will be a burial or a cremation;
• Selecting an appropriate venue for the funeral service;
• Selecting a clergy or celebrant to speak at the funeral;
• Choosing a coffin or casket, and an urn if the funeral is a cremation;
• Discussing notices for the newspaper;
• Selecting clothing for the deceased person to wear; and
• Providing personal information which is needed to register a person's death with the government. This information can be found on birth and marriage certificates if it is unknown.

These are only some of the details which need to be discussed during a funeral arrangement. Primarily it is important that the funeral service reflects the life of the person that has died and meets the needs of the family to assist in the grieving process.

William Barrett and Sons also offer services such as embalming, photo tributes, DVD recording of funeral services and others that will be discussed at the time of making arrangements.

*If the death is in any way non-natural or the doctor cannot confidently assign a cause of Death, the death will be referred to the coroner. In this case the police will need to organise transport of the deceased to the closest hospital to await a post-mortem examination. The post-mortem is conducted to establish:

• The manner in which the death arose;
• The cause of death;
• The particulars needed to register the death, and/or
• The identity of the deceased.

In most cases a post-mortem examination will not delay the timing of the funeral service.