Arranging A Funeral
When you suffer a bereavement, a funeral for a member of your family is the most difficult day of your life. Everything your family and friends thought about a loved one is expressed on that day.
When someone dies it comes as a great shock. Sometimes the death may be expected, but nothing prepares you for the emotional shock of losing someone close.
As your funeral directors, we are here to help and advise in whatever way we can. We are dedicated professionals who provide a personal service to you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
It is a rare privilege to be a funeral director, to stand in a sensitive position at a crucial time in the midst of your family, knowing that the quality of our service and reputation will help you through this most difficult time in your lives.
This information is an extension to the specialist information that the funeral director will discuss with you. It allows you to sit in the privacy of your own home and reflect on the information you have been given, and to raise any further questions you may have about complementary or additional services we can provide.
It is not our policy to impose urgency or apply undue pressure on you or your family. It is important for many people to reflect the personality and character of the deceased within the arrangements and this often requires time and thought to do so.
Where the arrangements begin.
Our services to you start when you contact us, whether by telephone or calling in to the funeral home and extend often way beyond the day of the funeral.
On initial contact we will ask for preliminary details, whereupon if the deceased has died at home or in a private nursing home we will advise the conveyance of the deceased to our private chapel.
We would then ask, at a time and place to suit the family, for the funeral director to call and arrange the funeral to a standard and procedure that meets the needs and requirements of those concerned
Costs and Charges.
In all aspects of the funeral arrangements our staff will point out the procedures and legal requirements.
Whilst arranging the funeral, we will advise on costs and charges to be incurred.
The funeral account itself is divided into two separate parts, the Funeral Director’s charges and the disbursements. These contain our professional fees and overhead costs, which include the provision of a 24 hour a day on call rota, our professional services in making the funeral arrangements and arranging documentation and necessary personal attendances, the conveyance of the deceased to our private chapel rest rooms and the use of the same until the day of the funeral.
Relatives and friends often wish to visit the deceased and pay their last respects before the day of the funeral. We will only allow this on the specific request of the family.
Hygienic treatment and attendances to the deceased are also considered to be very important by our company. The last time you saw a loved one may have been a distressing memory, perhaps in hospital or for the purposes of identification. In any event we believe that, in asking us to look after a member of your family, you would like to be certain that the best that could be done for your relative has been done whether you wish to visit the deceased before the funeral or not.
Disbursements.
Cyprus
The disbursement fees are what the cemetery charges for the plot whether it be new/old, single or double and the opening and closing by the gravedigger.
Also the minister should you require graveside only service.
UK
Disbursements are essentially fees that are paid out on behalf of the family, i.e.: Doctor’s Fees where appropriate, Crematorium/Cemetery Fees and Parochial Fees etc. Our/or UK funeral home written estimate will detail the approximate cost of any disbursement.
However, you will appreciate that we will have no direct control over these charges, and they could therefore be subject to slight variations. These costs can then be settled by one single payment, rather than by many different bills to be settled by the estate.
Doctors Fee or Cremation Forms UK
No one can be cremated until the cause of death is definitely known. There are two cremation certificates (forms B & C). Each form must be signed by a different doctor.
These certificates must be paid for and are listed under disbursements on our estimate and account. The cremation certificates are not required when the death is referred to the coroner.
Help with funeral costs
The following information should be treated as general guidance. We are not able to guarantee the availability of a bereavement payment, but we do understand how the Department of Social Services makes a decision if social insurance in Cyprus has been made.
Who is entitled to help?
You may receive the following from the UK:
Bereavement benefit: If the surviving spouse is under retirement age
Bereavement allowance: Please contact DWP in the UK
Check what amount of money is available from:
- The estate of the person who has died, such as money from bank or building society accounts.
- Any insurance policies or charities, lump sum payments made by a pension scheme or relatives, (either yours or those of the person who has died).
- Any savings you have in a bank or building society, National Savings (including certificates or premium bonds) or in cash at home.
- The savings may be in your name or the name of your partner.
- The widow payment does not count as savings.
- Charity organisations.