When someone we love dies, the days that follow are often the most stressful and emotionally taxing of our lives. However, if you have a firm understanding of what to do after a loved one passes away, you can make the necessary arrangements without missing a thing.
Get a Death Certificate
If your loved one passes away in a hospital, a doctor will immediately make an official declaration of death. This step is necessary to get a death certificate, so if they pass at home or anywhere else other than under the supervision of a healthcare professional, you’ll need to call 911. From there, the EMTs can transport them to a hospital where a doctor can make the declaration. If your loved one passes in hospice, a hospice nurse is authorized to make a similar declaration with the presence of an MD.
Once declared dead, a death certificate can be processed. A death certificate is a vital legal document that will be needed when speaking with life insurance agencies, governmental officials, lawyers, or any other official avenues that you’ll have to pass through in the coming weeks after they’ve departed.
Notify Friends and Family
The day someone passes, emotions can be so high that simple things will often slip your mind. However, you can’t forget to notify friends and family. Since making so many difficult calls in a row can be taxing, don’t feel pressured to directly contact more than the immediate family. You can ask for help, having others reach out to friends and extended family themselves, so the burden of being the messenger doesn’t fall solely onto you.
Also, in a modern digital era, it makes sense to post on their social media pages, notifying people that they’ve passed. This is a quick and effective way that allows you to address friends and extended family alike without spending hours informing people individually.
Check for Any Preexisting Funeral and Burial Plans
Typically, before someone has passed, they’ve hinted at the preferences or even begun planning their funeral themselves. As much as a funeral is a final goodbye for loved ones, it is in some ways the deceased last chance to make a mark on the world, so they might have very specific ideas of how their day should go. Also, most people typically have strong opinions on if they’d like to be buried and in what cemetery. If they didn’t leave any written instructions, speak with other family members to see if they’ve made any mention of their desires.
Then, once you’ve determined their will, you can begin making funeral and burial preparations. Although it is an emotional time, these are massive financial decisions, so make sure to do your research before making any final decisions. This is also the time when you should decide if you want to add any personal touches to the gravesite, like a ceramic photo that will keep their image alive for generations to come.
After learning what to do after a loved one passes away, you can feel confident that you’re making the right decisions in the immediate hours and days after they’ve passed. Also, if you’re looking for ways to personalize their burial site with a gravestone picture, explore the expertly crafted frames at Memorial Pics.