When a death occurs, the sad duty of making funeral arrangements often falls to relatives or closest friends. Few of us have ever had to deal with this before and it is only human to feel a little anxious.
Here at Richard Williams Funeral Directors our aim is to make each funeral personal, unique and representative of both the loved one lost and those making the funeral arrangements. Full support and advice can be given along each step before, during and after the funeral.
We hope that you find the information in this section useful. This section is primarily designed for use around the time of death when more immediate decisions are required and procedures surrounding paperwork and appointments need to be considered.
The circumstances of the death will dictate what action needs to be taken and when.
A medical professional must come to verify the death before your loved one can be taken into the care of your chosen Funeral Director. If they died during the day, you would need to call the doctors surgery they are registered with. If they died at night, call NHS 111 and ask for an on-call doctor or senior nurse.
Once the Doctor or District Nurse has been and verified the death you should contact your chosen Funeral Director. Richard Williams Funeral Directors are contactable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Arrangements will then be made to take them into our care at our office in Northam.
The medical examiner will issue a ‘medical certificate of cause of death’, which is needed before you can register the death. They will give the certificate directly to the registrars and let you know once they have sent it. The registrar will contact you to make an appointment and explain the process and what information/ paperwork you will need to bring to your appointment.
You will then have 5 days to register the death.
If someone dies unexpectedly you must call emergency services on 999. They will contact the coroner to investigate the cause of death.
The coroner will arrange for a local funeral director to collect the person who has died to take them to the hospital mortuary. You don’t need to use this funeral director, even if the person has been taken to their funeral home after the investigation is finished.
The coroner will issue a medical certificate of cause of death when they’ve finished their investigation, but you can still start arranging the funeral in the meantime. Sometimes, an ‘interim’ certificate is issued whilst further investigations are taking place.
The medical examiner will issue a ‘medical certificate of cause of death’, which is needed before you can register the death. They will give the certificate directly to the registrars and let you know once they have sent it. You will then have 5 days to register the death.
You will need to inform the hospital of your chosen Funeral Director. The funeral director will arrange to bring the person who has died into their care directly with the hospital.
The hospital might need to do a post-mortem examination to find out the cause of death. If they’re unable to find out the cause, the doctor will contact the coroner who will investigate further.
The coroner will issue a medical certificate of cause of death when they’ve finished their investigation. Sometimes, an ‘interim’ certificate is issued whilst further investigations are taking place. A funeral director can then bring the person who has died into their care. This will be arranged directly with the hospital.
Staff at the care home or hospice will contact a medical professional to go in person to verify their death. Once this has happened the care home/ hospice will contact your chosen funeral director to bring them into their care.
The medical examiner will issue a ‘medical certificate of cause of death’, which is needed before you can register the death. They will give the certificate directly to the registrars and let you know once they have sent it. The registrar will contact you to make an appointment. You will then have 5 days to register the death.
If someone dies unexpectedly at a care home the emergency services must be involved. They will contact the coroner to investigate the cause of death.
The coroner will arrange for a local funeral director to collect the person who has died to take them to the hospital mortuary. You don’t need to use this funeral director, even if the person has been taken to their funeral home after the investigation is finished.
The coroner will issue a medical certificate of cause of death when they’ve finished their investigation, but you can still start arranging the funeral in the meantime. Sometimes, an ‘interim’ certificate is issued whilst further investigations are taking place.
Get in touch to let us know someone has died. We cannot bring them into our care until the death has been verified by a medical professional, but we can guide you through what you need to do.
We will ask you for some information about the person who has died, including their:
• Full name
• Date of birth (if you don’t know it, you can tell us later)
• Home address
• The address where they are
• Your name and contact telephone number
• Your relationship to the deceased
• Whether the funeral will be a burial or Cremation (If you are unsure, you can tell us later)
The medical certificate of cause of death will be sent to the registrars by the medical examiner. They will let you know when they have done this.
You can register the death at the Registrar’s Office local to the person who has died or by Proxy. Registering a death by proxy (or “Registry by Proxy”) allows you to register a death at a registrar’s office other than the one where the death occurred, with documents forwarded between offices.
The registrar’s Office should contact you within a couple of days of the medical certificate of cause of death being issued. If you do not hear from them, you may call 03451551002. To make an appointment.
You can start making funeral arrangements before you’ve registered the death.
We will contact you to make an appointment to start the funeral arrangements. This can be on the telephone, in person at our funeral home or from a home address, whichever is easiest and most convenient for you.
Before the arrangement meeting, you might want to think about:
• if it will be a burial or cremation
• where the service will be held, whether that’s a place of worship or a crematorium
• music, hymns and reading choices
• what type of service you would like – if it will be celebratory, religious, relaxed, or traditional.
• who will conduct the service, for example a celebrant or religious officiant
• if you wish to collect donations for a chosen charity
