My First Trip To The Funeral Home

Your first trip to the funeral home can be a daunting one because up to this point, usually there is no one there to guide the family as to what really to do next. That's what the funeral professional will hopefully do after you've visited them and decided which one to use - but until that point you may need assistance. That's what this blog is for.

I recently went with some family members to make arrangements out of state. Fortunately for them I was able to assist them to be at least a little more comfortable going to the funeral professional for the first time, but oftentimes that is not the case for most families. One of the first suggestions I told them was to basically gather your core group together (see Blog "I Just Lost A Loved One" April 2010) and call the funeral home to make an appointment. Making an appointment is necessary because you want to go at a time that is appropriate for everyone. There are other families that they must assist too, and other services to run, by having an appointment you will have a certain time that is alotted for you and your family.
Now when you go to the funeral home for the first time, this is generally an information gathering meeting. It is a time that the funeral home gets all of the preliminary information they need from you, as well as the time you will get information from the funeral home as to what is required of you. So please don't feel like you must go there with all of the required information, because up to this point you probably do not really know what they need from you. And, you want to listen carefully and let them inform you of what decisions you will need to make and what information you really need to bring. Many times a family may waste time attempting to make premature decisions, only because the funeral professional my add some information which would affect the decision that is made. For example, I know of an instance of a family deciding where and when a service would be held before consulting the funeral professional. They started notifying some other close relatives, but once they went to the funeral professional they found out that the location actually had another service at that same time. They had to either adjust their day to the following day, or change the location, and then re-notify all they had previously told of the changes.

The experience that the funeral professional has is one of the many benefits I see from them. As a family you want to take advantage of their expertise in the area and let their experiences help to make your experience as smooth as possible. You have enough to deal with considering the emotional aspect of a death.

So, this first visit should really be the passing of information from the family to the funeral home and vice versa. This information should be then used to make the forthcoming decisions by the family. Insurance policies and all of the legal paperwork is not really necessary to be brought to the initial meeting. Those papers and such can be brought in afterwards.
Additional suggestions for a family to consider before visiting the funeral home are encouraged to be posted as comments to this blog. If you have any questions, you may call me at (973) 744-7101