Planning Ahead

What to Expect at the arrangement conference

What to expect at the arrangement conference

Meeting with one of our caring Funeral Directors

You should meet with a funeral director within 24 hours of a death to begin to make final arrangements for your loved one. Deciding on these final arrangements may seem like a very daunting task, especially when you are in heightened emotional state, but our funeral home staff have years of experience dealing with these issues, and strive to ensure everything goes as smoothly as possible.

Making Arrangements

We will then set an appointment time for you to come to the funeral home to complete the details of the funeral arrangement. We will ask you to bring in some items and information that will be necessary to complete the arrangement. These items will include:
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First the Funeral Director will gather information required for the death certificate. This includes:
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Full Name and Address of your loved one.


Also:

  • Marital Status
  • Race/Ethnicity
  • Date and City of Birth
  • Highest Level of Education
  • Father’s Name, Mother’s Name (including maiden name)
  • Name of Spouse (if married or widowed)
  • Occupation and Employer
  • Marriage Certificates
  • DD-214 Military Forms
  • Clothing for the deceased
  • Social security number of the deceased
  • The deceased's birth date and city and state of birth
  • The deceased's parents names, including mother's maiden name
  • Information about the deceased's education
  • Marital status of the deceased
  • Veteran's discharge papers or Claim Number
  • A recent photograph of the deceased
  • Pre-arrangement paperwork (if applicable)
  • Cemetery lot information (if applicable)

If no pre-planning has been done, necessary arrangements need to be made for the funeral service.

These include:

  • Scheduling the location, date and time of the visitation and funeral service
  • Selecting burial or cremation
  • Choosing Funeral Products
  • Arranging a cemetery plot
  • Preparing an obituary notice
  • Scheduling transportation arrangements

A funeral director will guide you through all these steps, using your wants, needs and desires as a foundation to create a memorable funeral for your loved one. From here the funeral services can be personalized. Did your loved one have a favorite sports team? What was their favorite type of music? What activity was your loved one known best for? Recalling fond memories assists with the grieving process and will help honor the life of your loved one.

Then we will need you to obtain the following:

  1. Contact your clergy. Decide on a time and place for the funeral or memorial service (the services may be held at the funeral home)
  2. The funeral home will assist you in determining the number of copies of the death certificates that you will need and will order them for you
  3. Make a list of family, friends and business colleagues, and notify each by phone. You may wish to use a "branching" system: make a few phone calls to other relatives or friends and ask each of them to make a phone call or two to specific people
  4. Decide on an appropriate charity to which gifts may be made (church, hospice, library, organization, school)
  5. Gather obituary information, including a photo, age, place of birth, cause of death, occupation, college degrees, memberships held, military service, outstanding work and a list of survivors in the immediate family. Include the time and place of the funeral services. The funeral home will usually write the obituary and submit it to the newspaper(s)
  6. Arrange for family members and/or close friends to take turns answering the door or phone. Keeping a careful record of visitors and flower deliveries will make it easier to thank people later on
  7. If Social Security checks are deposited automatically, notify the bank of the death
  8. Coordinate the food supply in your home for the next several days
  9. Delegate special needs of the household, such as cleaning, food preparation, etc., to friends and family who offer their help
  10. Arrange for child care, if necessary
  11. Arrange hospitality for visiting relatives and friends
  12. Select pallbearers and notify the funeral home. (People with heart or back difficulties may be named honorary pallbearers)
  13. Plan for the disposition of flowers after the funeral (to a church, hospital or rest home)
  14. Prepare a list of distant friends and relatives to be notified by letter and/or printed notice
  15. Prepare a list of people to receive acknowledgments of flowers, calls, etc. Send appropriate acknowledgments, which may be a written note, printed acknowledgments, or both. Include "thank yous" to those who have given their time, as well
  16. Notify insurance companies of the death
  17. Locate the will and notify the lawyer and executor
  18. Carefully check all life and casualty insurance and death benefits, including Social Security, credit union, trade union, fraternal, and military. Check on possible income for survivors from these sources
  19. Check promptly on all debts and installment payments, including credit cards. Some may carry insurance clauses that will cancel them. If there is to be a delay in meeting payments, consult with creditors and ask for more time before the payments are due
  20. If the deceased was living alone, notify the utility companies and landlord and tell the post office where to send the mail

*Your funeral director will prepare the necessary Social Security forms

Lastly, Determine The Method Of Payment: 
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A family usually has a few options when considering payment. We accept the following forms of payment: 

Assignable Insurance Policies, Certified or Cashier’s Check, Visa, MasterCard, Discover Card, American Express, Money Order, Personal Check (ask your Funeral Director), or Cash.

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