When Death Occurs, We Are Here for You
When a death occurs in your family, you will be faced with important tasks and decision-making during a very difficult time. You may not know what to do or when to begin making arrangements, and bearing the responsibility can be overwhelming.
Remember: you are not alone. Simply dial 911 and they will instruct you. We are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to assist you with further details and offer our guidance.
We have compiled the following list to help guide you through the steps you will need to take when a death has occurred. Your funeral director will help coordinate all of the details when you meet for an arrangement conference.
- After a death has occurred, notify us by calling our location most convenient to you. The following are some questions we may ask when you call:
- What is the full name of the deceased?
- What is the location of the deceased (hospital, nursing facility, or residence)?
- What is your name, address, and phone number?
- What is the name, address, and phone number of the next of kin?
- Is there a pre-arranged funeral plan? (If yes, what is the plan name or number?)
- Clothing for the deceased
- Social Security number of the deceased
- The deceased’s birth date and city and state of birth
- The deceased’s parents names, including mother’s maiden name
- Information about the deceased’s education
- Marital status of the deceased
- Veteran’s discharge papers or claim number
- A recent photograph of the deceased
- Pre-arrangement paperwork (if applicable)
- Cemetery lot information (if applicable)
- Contact your clergy. Decide on a time and place for the funeral or memorial service. Services may be held at any of our funeral homes.
- We will assist you in determining the number of copies of the death certificate you will need and will order them for you.
- Make a list of family, friends, and business colleagues, and notify each by phone. You may wish to use a “branching” system: make a few phone calls to other relatives or friends and ask each of them to make a phone call or two to specific people.
- Decide on an appropriate charity to which gifts may be made (church, hospice, library, organization, school, etc.).
- Gather obituary information, including a photo, age, place of birth, cause of death, occupation, college degrees, memberships held, military service, outstanding work, and a list of survivors in the immediate family. Include the time and place of the funeral services. We will usually write the obituary and submit it to the newspaper(s).
- Arrange for family members or close friends to take turns answering the door or phone. Keeping a careful record of visitors and flower deliveries will make it easier to thank people later on.
- If Social Security checks are deposited automatically, notify the bank of the death.
- Coordinate the food supply in your home for the next several days.
- Delegate special needs of the household, such as cleaning, food preparation, etc., to friends and family who offer their help.
- Arrange for child care, if necessary.
- Arrange hospitality for visiting relatives and friends.
- Select pallbearers and notify us (people with heart or back difficulties may be named honorary pallbearers).
- Plan for the disposition of flowers after the funeral (to a church, hospital, or rest home).
- Prepare a list of distant friends and relatives to be notified by letter or printed notice.
- Prepare a list of people to receive acknowledgments of flowers, calls, etc. Send appropriate acknowledgments, which may be a written note, printed card, or both. Remember to include those who have given their time as well.
- Notify insurance companies of the death.
- Locate the will and notify the lawyer and executor.
- Carefully check all life and casualty insurance and death benefits, including Social Security, credit union, trade union, fraternal, and military. Check on possible income for survivors from these sources.
- Check promptly on all debts and installment payments, including credit cards. Some may carry insurance clauses that will cancel them. If there is to be a delay in meeting payments, consult with creditors and ask for more time before the payments are due.
- If the deceased was living alone, notify the utility companies and landlord, and tell the post office where to send the mail.
- We will prepare the necessary Social Security forms.
Death Away From Home
When funeral arrangements must unexpectedly be made away from home, the best practice is to contact the funeral home in the area where the funeral service and burial is to take place.
What to Do First
Call us at any of our locations day or night.
We take charge from then on and make all the arrangements: for conveying of the deceased to the local funeral home, for embalming and preparation, and for return to the deceased’s home state. You only need contact us with some basic information and call us when you return to set a time for an arrangement conference.
For us to assume the costs as outlined, the death must have occurred in one of the 48 contiguous states, and you must call us directly so we can engage our representatives at the place of death. (Do not contact a funeral firm where the death occurs. We must do this.)
The standard receiving policy in most other funeral homes is to give you a credit for the embalming against their standard prices. You must pay all other charges, such as transfer casket, transfer container, out-of-town funeral home facilities, professional and staff services, transfer documents, and transportation charges. These costs can easily add up to $1,200 or more, depending on the cost of transportation and charges of the out-of-town funeral home. Transportation costs differ and fees are not uniform from funeral firm to funeral firm, so we cannot say exactly how much this might be.
What Do You Save?
We pay normal out-of-town costs except third-party charges (e.g., death certificates, obituary in the newspaper, etc.). These normal charges include out-of-town removal service, standard embalming, transfer of remains to airport, outer transfer container, all documents for transfer and burial, out-of-town funeral facilities, and professional staff and services. This means your only additional costs are transportation and transfer of remains to the funeral home from the airport. We use a lightweight transfer casket and outer container to help keep the airfare to a minimum.
International Travel
If a family member dies while traveling outside the United States, the U.S. Embassy will come to your assistance. You should call us immediately when a death occurs abroad. We are well versed in the procedures for returning the deceased to the United States.
If the death occurs outside of the 48 contiguous states or your family has already engaged another funeral firm, the Family of Kays-Ponger & Uselton Funeral Homes and Cremation Services will still assist you. Our memberships in national organizations provide us with funeral service contacts worldwide.
