What Does A Funeral Director Do?

Helping others to cope with the emotional upheaval a major loss brings is the funeral profession's most important duties.

Comfort, compassion and kindness are strengths people rely on, being an organizational specialist is a practical must

for every funeral director.

In addition to the bereavement and consolation, here is a short list of some of the more visible duties performed by

funeral directors:

• Removal and transferring the deceased from place of death to the Funeral Home.

• Professional care of the deceased, which may include sanitary washing, embalming preparation, restorative art, dressing, hairdressing, casketing and cosmetology.

• Detailed consultation with family members to gather necessary information and to discuss specific arrangements for the
funeral service.

• File all certificates, permits, affidavits, and authorizations, as may be required.

• Acquire a requested amount of certified copies of the death certificate. These are needed to settle the estate of the deceased.

• Compile information and create an obituary for placement for the family.

• Make arrangements with a family's choice of clergy person, church, music, etc.

• Make arrangements with cemetery, crematory, or other place of disposition.

• Providing of the register book, prayer cards, funeral folders, and acknowledgements, as requested by the family.

• Assisting with the notifying relatives and friends.

• Arranging for clergy honorariums, music, flowers, death certificates, additional transportation, etc.

• Care of floral pieces and the post funeral distribution as directed by the family.

• Arranging for pallbearers, automobiles, and special services (fraternal or military) as requested by the family.

• Care and preservation of all floral cards, mass cards, or other memorial contributions presented to the funeral home.

• Directing the funeral services in a most professional manner, and in complete charge of the funeral procession to the
cemetery or other place of disposition.

• Assist the family with social security, veterans insurance, grief counseling, and other death-related claims.

• Meeting with the family, after the funeral to deliver such things as the register book, floral and mass cards, and to ascertain whether or not he/she can be of further assistance.