Bring These Documents With You to the Funeral Home

Making arrangements with funeral homes in Streamwood, IL for your loved one’s service is never easy. There are a lot of things to handle and address and add to that the feelings of grief and loss and the whole situation can seem overwhelming. Luckily, when you talk with a funeral director, they will help you in this process and take some of the responsibility off your shoulders. In addition, having proper documentation when you visit the funeral home can also help streamline this process and make it much easier. Let’s look at some of these important documents you should bring.

Personal Documentation

You will need to make sure you have your loved one’s personal information and certificates. These include:

• Social security card
• Birth certificate
• Marriage licenses
• Divorce papers
• Cemetery deed
• Any prearranged funeral plan papers
• Insurance policies
• Military discharge papers (DD-214 Form)

Death Certificate

You will also need a copy of the death certificate. The funeral director can help you obtain this but you will need certain information to complete the request. The information you will need includes:

• First, middle, and Last name
• Sex
• Age
• Race
• Social security number
• Date and place of birth
• Date and place of death
• Marital status at the time of death
• Last address
• Name of the surviving spouse
• Occupation and place of employment
• Family names including mother and father’s names as well as mother’s maiden name)
• Military service
• Name of Doctor
• Name and relations ship of informant

Future Documents

While these documents don’t need to be provided when you meet with the funeral director, they will be needed in the upcoming days and weeks. Some of these documents include things such as:

• Deeds for real estate
• Living will
• Account statements and balances
• Auto titles
• Boat titles
• Stock and bond certificates
• Copies of any leases for cars, homes, etc.
• Copies of last three years’ tax returns
• Copies of bills such as credit cards, subscriptions, utilities, loans, etc.

Finding Information

Sometimes it may be difficult providing certain information such as your loved one’s social security card or knowing if they had a will or trust. If you are lacking any of this information, talk with your funeral director as they can help point you to the correct offices to contact. You can also look at your loved one’s mail as bills for things such as credit cards, utilities, loans, car payments and more should be coming in monthly. Then you can contact each company directly to deal with the accounts.

To make sure your loved ones do not have a difficult time when you pass, make sure you take time to get all of your information together and organized. Then, make sure you inform your family where all of these documents will be kept so they may easily locate them when the time comes.

Final Thoughts

Although this sounds like a lot of information to provide to the funeral home, you don’t have to do it all alone. Enlist other family members to help gather some of the information that might be easier for them to access. And of course, if you have any further questions on documents for funeral homes in Streamwood, IL, please feel free to give us a call anytime as we are always available to help.