Losing a loved one is one of the most difficult times of a person’s life. The thing about losing someone close is that at first, your mind completely rejects the reality; it refuses to believe that your loved one is completely gone and that’s you’ll never see him/her again.

It takes a little while to accept reality, and once you do that, grief takes over . All the wonderful memories that you shared with the deceased and the love you had for them will come rushing to your mind; emotions will completely take over.

Things are already pretty tough when you lose someone you love, but sadly, after the death, you also have to get in touch with the authorities and a proper funeral service so that you can have a funeral arranged for your loved one.

Having to arrange a funeral in such a heightened emotional state is an extremely difficult task but what makes things worse is when you don’t really know what steps to take to arrange a funeral.

We hope you never have to see such a day but, in case you ever do, here are the steps to take;

Report the death

First and foremost, report the death to the authorities. If your loved one passed away at a hospital/old home/hospice management will handle the bulk of the work and tell you what steps to take.

If you or the deceased was already in contact with a funeral home, now is the time to get in touch with them so that they can begin the process.
If you have no option, just call 911. But, remember that you will need a funeral director to claim the body of your loved one.

Work with the funeral director/funeral home

You will need a funeral director to complete the death certificate and to transport/store the remains of your loved one. If the deceased was already in touch with a particular funeral home, go straight to them for all these things, including the transport and storage of the body.

Make sure you know if the deceased had made any pre-payments so that you don’t end up footing the bill.

Decide which kind of funeral to go for

In case the deceased had made pre-payments, they must have decided whether to get buried or cremated and what kind of funeral to get. But, in case they didn’t, all these decisions will have to be made by the deceased’s family.

Get in touch with a cemetery

If burial is what the family has chosen, get in touch with a cemetery and purchase a plot for grave. Funeral services can help with this as they are usually affiliated with 2-3 cemeteries.

Funeral arrangements

The last step is to plan all the little details; what kind of service you’ll have, what post and pre service events are needed, how to prepare the body (and what kind of products to use for this purpose), choosing formal means of transport, etc.

Pet funerals

Considering how popular and adored pets are these days, several funeral services are providing pet funeral services too. And, the packages are quite extensive; they can cover everything from coffins to
pet grave markers in Maryland.