The Main Duties Of A Funeral Director

By Shirley Cruise

A funeral director's primary task is to make preparations for the cremation or burial of the dead and for the particular rituals that precede the burial.

The important responsibilities of a funeral director include shifting the deceased to a mortuary, preparing the body for the memorial service, making preparations for the ceremonies where friends and family will honour and pay their last respects to the deceased, and performing the final procedures on the body.

These responsibilities involve focusing on activities like deciding the venue and timings of the memorial services, arranging for a hearse to transport the body, and writing obituaries and placing them in print or the electronic media. Further, funeral directors have to make arrangements for flowers and have the decoration done for each ceremony, make provisions for conveyance for the assembled people and clothe the deceased for the ceremony after embalming it.

Besides these tasks, a funeral director is also entrusted with the job of doing the essential paperwork formalities needed following a person's death. He assists the relatives in obtaining a death certificate. He also makes arrangements to settle any insurance claims, and helps the family in applying for seniors' burial benefits. He also takes care of problems related to annuities and transfer of pension of the deceased person to the rightful beneficiary and aids the family to come up with a budget for the services.

In addition, a funeral director has to liaise with a number of people so that he can do his tasks in a systematic way. He has to interact with physicians, priests, casket makers and florists, all with equal ease.

Finally, it is important for funeral directors to work beyond their normal schedule and provide comfort and relief to the suffering family of the deceased, so that they can tide over their grief. Though it is a critical aspect of the profession, a few funeral directors tend to ignore it as a peripheral responsibility.

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