How do you know if there will be an inquest?

[badlydrawnbear]

I don’t know where else to ask this question.
My DH died in September. He was 41, seemingly fit and healthy. He had gone away overnight to participate in a hobby and was found dead at the side of a road early in the morning. There was a post-mortem. They didn’t find a cause of death, but the coroner sent tissue samples for histology and toxicology and the results from that will be back in December or January. We have been able to have the funeral in the meantime.
Then what? I read online that will be an inquest unless it can be proved that he died of natural causes which is defined as “disease running its full cause without any intervening factors.” That definition seems unlikely to fit. Would I have been told if the coroner’s office expected there to be an inquest? It’s just occurred to me that this is a possibility and it will be a long time into next year before it would be resolved.

I think inquests are very common. Dh died of a heart attack while away with work. When they did the PM it was conclusive natural causes and no inquest as I assume it was very obvious why he'd had the heart attack, but the funeral director seemed surprised as if it was the norm to have an inquest after a PM. They'd previously told me there would be one. I'm no expert, just my experience. I'm so sorry you've gone through this. My dh was in his 40s too but late 40s

I'm so sorry for your loss. My granddad died in 2013 and my uncle in April. Both times there was an inquest and both times the coroners court contacted us by phone. They also then sent a letter or email with any information in.

Ring the coroner’s office and ask. They seem to be very approachable. My dad died within a week of leaving hospital and hadn’t seen his GP in that week, so should have gone to coroner’s court, but they rang me to say it wouldn’t happen as he’d died just after s bank holiday. The person who rang was so lovely to me and made it all more bearable.

Ring the coroner's office. I've had to both personally and professionally. They will do their best to answer any questions you may have. Depending on where in the country you are there may be delays so it might be worth asking when the next available sitting dates are after the toxicology results are in. At least that way you can start to put a possible timeframe together in your own mind. Sorry for your loss

There almost certainly will be an inquest if you’re in England. The fact that he’s had a PM and tissue samples and toxicology tests have been sent will all have been done under the coroners instruction.

When my younger brother died the police attended and made arrangements with the coroner during those first few hours, who then sent their own funeral directors to collect his body and transfer it to the mortuary at the the nearby big teaching hospital ready for the PM.

I’m sorry you are going through this, it’s a horrendous time and a horrific process to have to try and navigate, when all you want in the world is to understand what happened to them.