Matthew Perry buried already?

[CherieBabySpliffUp]

I don't mean this to be an insensitive question but why has Matthew Perry been buried so quickly? Is it customary in America? Admittedly it was nearly 20 years ago but when a family member died unexpectedly at home in the UK we had to wait over a month before the body was released.

A month seems an unusually long time to me, even in England (and my condolences).

in the US this timeframe is normal.

in Spain it has to be done within 48 hours by law! The law clearly, err, predates modern refrigeration , and has to do with managing the spread of disease in a hot climate (or just a body not keeping well in hot climates ).

Recently buried a family member in Dublin. She died on Thursday, funeral was Monday.

I think that quick funerals are awful, people can't just drop everything, organise time off work, childcare etc with virtually no notice. Having 2-4 weeks makes it a lot easier to actually attend a funeral of someone that isn't immediate family

I am from Ireland and 2, 3 days would be the norm unless waiting on family from abroad etc.

I do feel sorry for UK family having to wait to say goodbye to their loved ones, as I know we got comfort from the ritual of a funeral.

I'd say a week was pretty normal from death to burial. Around here it's anywhere between 7-21 days.

This does seem to be the norm, OH is a member of several Facebook groups for where he grew up and funerals do seem to be fairly quick.

Generally 2 days in Northern Ireland.

30 years ago my mum died suddenly so had to have an investigation/post mortem etc and we had her funeral within 12 days. Thankfully have no experience of how it is these days.

Apparently in England (not sure about the other nations) you used to be able to arrange the funeral yourself. Since Covid you now have to use a funeral directors. This has slowed things down and so it's taking longer to get people buried or cremated.

@ShirleyPhallus - my dad was a farmer so reading "the deaths" in the paper was something he did every night. I shudder to think how many funerals he went to a year! I thought it was weird but as you say totally normal in Ireland to go to every funeral going!

In the US a week seems to be about right now and it seems all funerals I attend are Friday or Saturday.

In Ireland it’s usually after two overnights. So die on Wednesday before midnight, buried on Friday.

My father and sister were both 2 weeks between death and funeral in England and no post mortem etc.

I have read that delays are artificially created so you have to pay for more services. Funeral directors will tell you about a back log at the crem, so phone the crem and ask them directly if that should happen to you.

Death is big bucks these days.

Birmingham has just 3 crematoriums- 3 and millions of people.
GDad took 2 months as he died during the winter.
took 14 days just to register the death via appointment Trent at the registry office and you can book a funeral without the paperwork.

Oh I am in England. Glad the funeral wasn’t too quick because of the shock but also not too long because that time between death and a funeral is horrendous. In hindsight 12 days felt ok (as ok as it can be obviously!)

Have had plenty of funerals in Scotland, unfortunately, and nearly all burials and cremations took place within one week. Only one or two were just over a week. One sole one took 3 weeks but that's because there was an investigation that held it up

Why do people diss the UK so for everything? Friends ex wife died in Iceland on 18th Oct. Her funeral is 11th November.

Some places take longer for whatever reason.

It is quite a recent change in England, and all about availability of the crematorium or burial plot. My mum found it very distressing when my dad died, as she was used to 3 days between death and burial. We had a ten day wait, and that was only because we really pressed the funeral director for as fast as possible. The only exception would have been if we were actively religious (Jewish or Muslim) when there are special arrangements that can be made.

It seems to be more like 3 weeks to a month. I’m not sure that’s what families want.

In fairness, the Islamic requirement for rapid burial (and some other faiths, such as Judaism and Hinduism) is observed here quite effectively.

Winter is always likely to see longer periods because of the peaks in mortality - when Swine Flu was being dismissed as a fuss about nothing in the Press, Funeral provision was at breaking point due to the sheer numbers of deceased over Christmas & New Year, for example.

The delay in our case was choice though, we wanted a Friday in half term for mundane practical reasons, could have been 2 weeks earlier (so 2 weeks) if we had taken any time offered.

I think in the U.K. there's more emphasis in waiting do everyone can make it since the covid 30 people only days, and if that means waiting so be it.

We have family and friends in the US and this is normal.

It used to be that in the UK a funeral would take place within a week of the death but now it’s often three weeks, sometimes more.

Something which has caused delays in our area at least is lack of burial space which means that unless a burial spot has been pre-purchased years ago, or an existing family one is being used, then it’s cremation only and crematoriums are booked solid.
There’s been a crematorium built in our town in the last two years as the nearest one was 9 miles away and served a large area, it’s cut times down a bit. We only had to wait 15 days between my Mom’s death and her funeral last year.

Not sure it's just post covid. A friend's mum's funeral was 3 weeks and my dad's was over 2 weeks both were in the few years pre covid.

My grandad in 1977 was 2 days.

From experience it was about finding availability at the crematorium and some funeral directors insisting on payment upfront.

My dad died unexpectedly at home alone. There were complications because it was on a weekend and the only dr that had seen him (at home because he couldnt get to Dr surgery) in the previous 2 years was on holiday so couldnt sign the death certificate.

The police/mortuary/GP managed to sort out it out between them and funeral was 8 days after he died (Scotland).

Mum died in hospital in 2020 during/of covid and her funeral was 7 days later (we could have had it 2 days earlier but it would have been a smaller venue with only 8 mourners allowed instead of 14).

Recently an Uncle died, again home alone, and funeral was 12 days later, but there were delays to allow close family to come over from abroad and getting a specific venue.

Waiting a month for a funeral must be horrific

In Ireland how do people get time off work if they attend every funeral going in their local community?

Also if you have a funeral within a couple of days of death, how do family/friends who live away manage to arrange travel etc

My husband died in April, was buried at the beginning of June. It took that long for a plot to come up in our local cemetery.

Absolutely, I'm in my 50s and people used to have the funeral within a week.
It does bug me somewhat that it isn't the case now, because how exactly can it be any harder?

I still managed that for my mum, but it was a direct burial, which helped streamline things. Was still quite pleased I'd managed to get her "tucked in" to her final resting place without her hanging about in the undertakers for forever and a day!