FAQ

Contact your Funeral Directors and they will ask you some initial questions which they require to ascertain the next appropriate steps. These Questions might include:

• Has the death taken place at home or in the hospital or nursing home?
• Has the doctor been in attendance and is he/she willing to sign the medical certificate?
• Would the deceased be reposing in the hospital or at home.
• Who is the next of kin?
• Is / Was the family's / deceased's preference for burial or cremation?

Yes. It is the funeral directors aim to pose some questions which you have not thought about. It may help you to better carry out the final wishes of your friend/loved one. The funeral director will of course talk to you in the strictest confidence.

Yes and in fact it is probably the best way for you to make sure your wishes are carried out. It would be advisable to inform a relative or/and your executors of your wishes. With that in mind it is always advisable to make a will.

Yes. Most funeral directors have a facility to pre-pay for a funeral. If you don't like to pay for all your funeral, it makes financial sense to purchase a grave, where possible, if burial is your chosen final wish. See our section on cemeteries for burial information.

By law, all deaths that take place in Ireland must be registered in the appropriate registrars office. The legislation places an onus on certain persons - Qualified Informants - to give the relevant district registrar the required information to the best of their knowledge and within three months of the death. The persons qualified to give information depend on where the death occurred. Certain persons are qualified if the death occurred in a house, while others are qualified if the death did not not occur in a house or if a dead body is found exposed. In the case of a death occurring in a house, the following persons shall be qualified:

• The nearest relatives of the deceased present at the death, or in attendance during the last illness, or in default of these;
• Every other relative of the deceased living or being in the same district as the deceased, and in default of any relatives;
• Each person present to the death, and the occupier of the house in which, to his knowledge, the death occurred, and in default of all the above mentioned;
• Each inmate of the house in which the death occurred and the person causing the body to be buried.

The qualified informants are to be taken in the order in which they are placed in the above list.
In the case of (i) a death not occurring in a house or(ii) a dead body found exposed, the following persons shall be qualified:

• Every relative of the deceased having knowledge of any of the required information and in default of such relatives;
• Every person present at the death;
• Any person taking charge of the body;
• The person causing the body to be buried or cremated.

Once again, the Qualified Informants are to be taken in the order in which they are placed in the above list (from the top down).

A qualified Informant must bring to the appropriate District Registrar's Office a copy of the Death Notifcation Form. In addition, the Informant must provide certain information required for registration.

The following are required to register a death:

• Date and place of death;
• Name and surname of deceased;
• Gender (sex) of deceased;
• Age of deceased at last birthday;
• Rank, profession, or occupation of deceased;
• Certified cause of death and duration of illness;
• Signature, qualification, and residence of Informant.

In the case of a death of any person who has been attended during his/her last illness by a registered Medical Practitioner, it is the duty of that Medical Practitioner to complete and sign a Death Notification Form which will state the cause of Death. The Medical Practitioner is obliged to give this Form to the person acting as the Informant of the death. In turn, the Informant uses the Death Notification Form when registering the death with the Registrar.

A Doctor (Medical Practitioner) will normally issue a Death Notification Form when:

• He / she is a registered Medical Practitioner.
• He / she has been in attendance during the last illness, the relevant timeframe being within the last 28 days before death.
• He / she knows the cause of death.
• He / she does not consider it a case which requires referral to the Coroner.

If the doctor has not been in attendance within the 28 days preceding death, the Coroner must be notified. However, if the Doctor in this situation was in attendance after death, is satisfied as to the cause of death and has satisfied the coroner as to the cause of death, he/she can issue, with the agreement of the Coroner, a Death Notification Form which will state the cause Death.

Quite often, people confuse the Death Notification Form with the Death Certificate. The two certificates are different and serve different purposes.

The Death Notification Form is signed by an appropriately registered Medical Practitioner when that Doctor can testify that the cause of death was natural illness or disease for which the deceased had been seen and treated by him/herself in the 28 days preceding death. When the cause of death is something different from natural illness or disease that had been seen and was being treated, the case would be referred to the Coroner who would establish the cause of death.

A Death Certificate is evidence that the death has taken place and has been properly registered with the relevant authorities. A Death Certificate would be issued only subsequent to the cause of death having been established and recorded in either a Death Notification Form or a Cornoner's Certificate.

Under the provisions of Section 18(40) of the Coroner's Act, 1962, certian persons may have a statutory duty under specific condition to notify the Coroner. The following is the list of persons assuming this statutory duty:

• Medical Practioner (Doctor);
• Registrar of Deaths;
• Funeral Director;
• Every occupier of a house or mobile dwelling; or
• Every person in charge of any institution or premises in which a deceased person was residing at the time of death.

Anybody who has reason to believe that the deceased person died, either directly or indirectly, as a result of causes that are notifiable to the Coroner must immediately notify the Coroner of the facts and circumstances relating to the death. The relevant Coroner is that, within whose district the body of the deceased person is.

Causes of death that are notifable to the Coroner are deaths as a result of any of the followin

• Violence or misadventure by unfair means.
• Negligence or misconduct or malpractice on the part of others;
• Any cause other than natural illness or disease for which the deceased had been seen and treated by a registered medical practitioner in the 28 days preceding death.

In addition, a hospital must notify the Coroner if a person dies some time after being hospitalised as a result of an accident or fall, even where the death is not directly as a result of the earlier accident.

Where a death is reported to the Coroner and is the subject of a post-mortem examination or inquest, the death will be registered when the Coroner issues his Coroner's Cetificate directly to the relevant District Registrar's Office.

Modern embalming, as distinct from what was carried out by the ancient Eqyptians, is the injection of a combination of chemicals into the vascular system of the deceased. These chemicals have the effect of preserving the body until the time of commitment. Embalming is also insisted upon by Airline companies when human remains are being repatriated. Embalming is carried out with a view to preserving the deceased until the burial or cremation has taken place protecting all the relatives, friends and funeral staff from any unnecessary health risks and also enables us to present the deceased to the relatives in as close a life like appearance as possible and to make their last memory of the deceased as pleasant as possible.