Protect your wealth By Michael Fogg
you have a pre-arranged appointment with them. Their contact details are 029 2087 1680 or 029 2087 1684, or they can be emailed at Registrars@ cardiff.gov.uk. Their website is www.cardiffregisteroffice.co.uk/deaths/ When you register a loved one’s death you should be offered the ‘Tell Us Once’ service. I recommend you use this, as it will notify all government departments of the person’s passing, saving a lot of time later on in the process. At this point you will also be asked how many death certificates you want. They do cost £11 each, but I recommend that you get a large number of these as you may well need them later on in the process.
I’ve been asked this month to provide general advice on what to do when a loved one dies. Please get in touch if you have any other questions you want answered in future months. The most important thing to remember is that, although you may have a number of people and organisations asking for information and wanting you to do things, some things are urgent and other things are important. It is a matter of prioritising the important above the urgent – remember that whenever you are doing one thing, you are doing that thing instead of anything else. Please also remember that what is urgent for one person is not urgent for another. The best way to deal with this situation is to prioritise and, where possible, delegate and work in a team. However, I will share some key tips which should help a little: Register the Death This needs to be done promptly after someone dies, and by a relative of the deceased or else someone who was present at the death. If you are responsible for arranging the funeral (see next section) it may well be that you are also the right person to register the death. This registration is done at the local Register Office- for Cardiff that is the Cardiff Register Office. In the current pandemic, emergency rules have been passed to allow a death to be registered by telephone. Cardiff Register Office’s physical office is closed to the public unless 44 CARDIFF TIMES
You will also be asked which funeral director you are using for the arrangements, and the Register Office will send them a form authorising either burial or cremation (whichever is appropriate). Arrange the Funeral You may know what your loved one’s funeral wishes are – burial or cremation, and any form of religious or secular ceremony. If the deceased has left a Will, quite often their funeral wishes will be included in this. However, it is worth remembering that funeral wishes are one of the few things in a Will which are not legally binding. If you are not sure which funeral director to use, a substantial proportion of them are regulated by the Funeral Planning Authority (where pre-paid funeral plans may have been purchased) or are registered with the National Association of Funeral Directors (www.funeral-directory.co.uk). Although it is possible to arrange a funeral yourself, most people tend to instruct a Funeral Director. I recommend speaking to two or three funeral arrangers before settling on the one that you want to use, also taking into account any specific wishes that the deceased may have left. If you choose a funeral director, they will be the people advising you on what needs to happen and in what order. Make sure it’s someone you trust and get on with. Finalising your loved one’s Finances This is a more long-term piece of work which needs
