10 Myths About Death & Funerals Part 1

1. It is illegal to transport a dead body unless you are a medical or funeral professional.

This is FALSE. Anyone can transport a dead body although it is advisable to have the death certificate on you just in case you are stopped by the police. There are many families that chose to do this and as long as you are not causing a public offence and do it with discretion there is nothing illegal about it at all. I know of families that have transported their loved one in land rovers, Volvos, on the back of lorries or tractors.

The only caveat to this is if you’re crossing the Scottish border, in which case you’ll need to let the coroner or Procurator Fiscal know, first.

2. Bodies must be embalmed if viewing is requested

This is FALSE. There is no legal requirement to embalm a body unless it is being transported abroad – eg repatriated: moved from one country to another for cremation or burial. Embalming is very invasive and rarely needed. Some might even argue that it is counter-intuitive to make the dead person look more ‘alive’.I  recommend you advise everyone to check what is actually involved with the embalming process before they decide if it’s something they would want to agree to. There is a lot more information on the embalming process in this link.

3. You do not have to employ a funeral director to organise a funeral

This is TRUE. There is no legal requirement to use a funeral director to organise a funeral. Everything they do you can do yourself – from transporting a body, caring for a body, storing a body, booking the cremation/burial etc you are allowed to do all of this yourself. The reason funeral directors exist is because people don’t necessarily want to do all, or any, of this themselves. There is a growing number of families who are taking more ownership and responsibility for their loved one and sometimes only use the funeral directors for storing the body whilst they are making arrangements for the funeral. Working with a celebrant can really help families understand what their options are and what they are and are not comfortable with.

4. The crematoria re-use coffins

This is FALSE – A common belief held by many people is that the coffin is just a shell, that’s lifted off before cremation and used again. That it can be ‘sold’ several times over. This is completely false. You are not even allowed to open the lid of a coffin once it’s at the crematorium.

5. You can’t be sure that you’re only getting your loved-one’s ashes/cremated remains back

This is FALSE. You can be absolutely sure. There is a really careful process where a card with the name and date of death of the person who’s died follows the person through each stage of the cremation process so that there is no doubt at the end of the process that you are getting that person and only that person’s cremated remains. Again, this is a common assumption. All the stages of the cremation process are outlined half way down this page.

Read more – 10 Myths About Death & Funerals Part 2