Before the modern day funeral industry was formed, the family handled the death care of a loved one. You’ve probably seen old pictures that are known as death photography, which feature the deceased with living family members. Often these pictures were taken in the family’s home because the family managed the funeral services on their own.
Today it is rare for the family to take on sole responsibility of the funeral services, but there is a growing trend in family-led death care. This is when the family takes on arranging and managing disposition along with any funeral services instead of having a funeral director do everything for them. Doing so allows the family to save money, but just as important, they also know that they are getting the funeral services they want done in the way they want them performed.
When family-led death care is preferred, often direct cremation is used for the disposition. Keep reading to find out why direct cremation makes family-led death care easier.
Fewer Services to Arrange
Family-led death care is easier with direct cremation for one simple fact – there are fewer services to arrange. With direct cremation there’s no viewing or funeral prior to the disposition. There’s also no burial to arrange, which is a whole other service unto itself. The family may spend time with the deceased before the cremation but they aren’t having a viewing or formal funeral where guests are invited. This alone makes direct cremation the easiest disposition for families to arrange and manage.
All the family will need to do is find a direct cremation provider and arrange for the remains to be transported to the crematorium.
The Family Still Gets Help With Necessary Logistics
Nowadays there are a lot of legal aspects to death care that many people are unaware of if they’ve never planned a funeral before. Certain paperwork and documentation must be submitted in order for a cremation to be performed, but the crematorium can help you get all that in line. They may even have paperwork packets that contain necessary forms and directions for completing the documentation that’s needed for cremation.
For example, you’ll need to provide a death certificate with a cause of death notated. A Vital Statistics form will need to be filled out and signed by an attending physician for the death certificate to be issued. The next of kin will also need to complete a cremation authorization form. If your deceased family member is at the medical examiner’s office you may also need to have a Medical Examiner Release Form so that the remains can be transported.
Once all the required documentation is complete a cremation permit will be issued to the crematorium allowing the cremation to proceed.
Embalming Isn’t Needed
Another aspect that makes direct cremation easier on the family is there’s no need to preserve the body with embalming. Only a licensed embalmer can embalm a person’s remains. The only thing needed prior to direct cremation is keeping the body refrigerated at the crematorium.
At Direct Cremate we make disposition as easy as possible for the family no matter how involved they want to be. We’ll help guide you through the process if you want to take the lead in the death care for a loved one. Give us a call or text at your convenience to learn more.
