What a UK funeral director does in a repatriation, and what we do

Most families’ first contact after a death is a funeral director, usually a local firm, and most local firms will say they can arrange a repatriation. Some can, and do it themselves. Many pass it to a specialist and add their own margin. Neither is wrong, but you should know which you are getting, because the work in a repatriation sits in a particular place and it is not usually at the local firm’s desk.

The three roles

The funeral director where the death happened. Collects your loved one, cares for them, does the embalming and the sealed coffin, obtains the local death certificate and the permit to leave, and hands over to the transport. If the death was in the UK, that is a UK funeral director, and it can be us.

The funeral director where the funeral is. Receives your loved one and the documents at the airport or the border, cares for them, completes any local registration, and arranges the funeral with the family. This is always a firm in the destination country. Their invoice is separate.

The specialist in the middle. Sends the coroner’s notice, deals with the consulate, obtains the apostille and the translation, checks the document set, books the vehicle or the airline’s cargo space, and tells the family where their loved one is at every stage. This is the part most local funeral directors pass on, and it is where the timetable is won or lost.

We are the specialist, and at the UK end we are also the first funeral director; that is why our estimate covers the collection, the care, the coffin and the documents in one figure. What a repatriation fee covers shows exactly where our invoice ends and the receiving firm’s begins.

What a UK funeral director does, task by task

Whether the funeral director is us or a local firm, the UK-end tasks are the same, and sending someone home from the UK puts them in order.

The collection, from the hospital, home or care home, and the care of your loved one at a chapel of rest. Every funeral director does this.

The embalming and the sealed coffin, to the standard the destination and the carrier require, and the certificates that confirm both. Most funeral directors can embalm; not all know the different coffin standards for road and air, or that a metal casket is required for some countries and not others.

The notice to the coroner that your loved one is leaving England and Wales, and the coroner’s acknowledgement after up to four clear days. A local firm that does repatriations knows to send this on day one. A firm that does not sends it when it remembers, and the four days start then.

The consulate, the apostille and the translation. This is where local firms most often hand over, because each country’s consulate wants something different, on different days, and knowing which is a specialist’s knowledge rather than a funeral director’s.

The transport, and the handover to the receiving firm. A local funeral director booking a repatriation for the first time books a flight; a specialist for most of Europe sends a vehicle, which is cheaper and gentler and which the local firm does not have.

How to tell who is doing the work

Ask your funeral director who is sending the coroner’s notice and who is dealing with the consulate. If they name their own staff, they are doing it, and the questions in how to choose a repatriation company apply to them. If they name another company, that company is doing it, and you are paying the local firm to be the go-between. That can be worth it, if you value the relationship and the local firm keeps you informed; it is worth knowing. A local firm that places the repatriation leg with us directly works the way repatriation for funeral directors describes, under its own name.

Some families ask whether they can do the middle themselves and skip both. Can a family arrange a repatriation themselves is the honest answer, which is partly.

Where the money goes

Two funeral directors and a specialist can look like three invoices. In practice there are two: ours, or your local firm’s, which covers everything up to the handover, and the receiving firm’s, which covers everything after. If you are seeing three, one of them is a margin. How much does repatriation cost from the UK has the estimated bands, and every figure on it is an estimate until we know the case; the written quote is the figure on the invoice.

To see which task belongs to which role across the whole process, repatriation, step by step marks each one.