Can anyone tell me how long funerals take to arrange?

[Haylstones]

My step mum dies last night (very suddenly- dad came home and couldn't get in the house so he phoned the police who broke the door down and she was on the sofa). He has already been told it was natural causes (she was only 50 but had heart trouble) and is due to pick up the death certificate this afternoon. I am 400 miles away and need to book tickets to go but have no idea when to book them for. I also need to sort work and childcare out so a rough idea would be much appreciated...

[Tortington]

my mum died in much the same circumstance, i think an autopsy will need to be done to determine a definitive cause of death - so that might add a day or two - it really could be anything from up to 10 days. most likley a week i would imagine.

[Tortington]

sorry for your loss.

[orangehead]

Very sorry for your loss. Usually within the week. When your dad finds a funeral director they should be able to give him an idea. Hope you and your dad ok

[NorbertDentressangle]

Sorry to hear your news Haylstones.

Funerals can be arranged very quickly once the family have the death certificate, providing a "slot" is available at the crematorium / church etc.

However, within reason, family can arrange a funeral for whenever they want to hold it ie. you can specify next week if you wish.

My Dad died this year and his funeral was 2 weeks after he died as he died just before Easter so this delayed things.

The best thing would be to have a chat with your Dad and decide roughly when you both think it should be and then he can talk to the funeral director about it

[Haylstones]

Thanks. I was surprised he'd already been told a cause of death and arranged the death certificate because it was so sudden but he might vbe confused.
Ticket prices vary so much depending on when I go so I'm keen to book them asap

[zoggs]

My dad died on a Sunday. We collected the certificate the next day and had the funeral on the Friday, 5 days after he died. We could have had Thursday if we wanted. Funeral directors sorted everything (for a price) including a notice in the local paper. My mum's funeral was about 10 days after she died to enable close family to travel.

Hope it goes ok for you. It is a difficult time, I know.

[Evenstar]

First of all, I am so sorry for your loss, your poor dad must be very shocked. My husband died suddenly, and there had to be a post mortem, I would think that might be the case with your stepmum, but perhaps she was already receiving treatment for her condition and had been seen by a doctor. If there has to be a post mortem it is much harder to say when you would be able to hold the funeral, there were a lot of delays with DH and it wasn't until 3 weeks after he died that we were able to have the funeral. RubyRioja is correct that you have to book an appointment to register the death and get the certificate, and that isn't always straight away. I hope that things will go smoothly for you, but until he has the certificate and has found out about the availability of funeral directors and the church or crematorium it is very hard to say how long it could take. Hope that everything runs smoothly and you can get a date as soon as possible.