House Clearance Help & Advice: Arranging the funeral

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Once you have been given a death certificate then you can go ahead and start to organize the funeral, you should take your time when choosing the funeral director as you need to feel comfortable with them. There is nothing wrong in shopping around for a funeral director because they will all have different guidelines and charges and all of them should give you itemized quotes.

It is important that you take into consideration what your loved one wanted if they did have any preference and follow their wishes regardless of if their ideas matched your own. If your loved one left a will then it will be the executor’s decision over whether it is a burial or a cremation, if not then it this is down to the relatives of the deceased. It is also essential that you check to make sure whether your loved one had already purchased a funeral plan or plot.

Decisions regarding the funeral

Once you have determined whether it will be a cremation or burial, you will then have to decide on the type of ceremony. You might want a traditional religious ceremony or you could opt for a quieter, more personal ceremony such as a woodland burial. This of course should reflect on the type of person your loved one was and the family’s wishes.

You will then have to decide what day and time the ceremony will be, this might depend on the funeral director if you have put the funeral in their hands or if you are organising your own funeral then you have more choice and could pick your loved ones favourite time of the day for the burial.

Costs and charges of the funeral

Depending on the type of funeral you have chosen, will all depend on the cost involved in the funeral and ceremony, a funeral can typically cost anywhere from a thousand pound to several thousand. The charges that make up the funeral usually fall under three main categories, the materials, such as the type of coffin. The funeral directors fees such as making arrangements, the cost of vehicles and documentation of the funeral and any dismemberment paid to others such as church or crematorium costs and obituary notices.

The funeral director should give you a breakdown of all the costs of the funeral and also give you the option of changing anything and also point out any choices you have.
If you to have a burial then everyone has the right to be buried in their own parish, if the burial is to be in a family grave or plot then there will be additional fees for opening up the grave, removing the headstone e.t.c. if you want your loved one buried in a parish other than their own, then this will usually cost around double. There are other options to the traditional burial and these include a woodland burial, burial at sea or vault.

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