We are The Danish Association of Funeral Directors

 

Danske Bedemænd is an association of funeral directors who regard it as their principal purpose to offer a high professional standard combined with a profound respect for each individual assignment and each individual person.

 

Code of Ethics

Code of Ethics of the European Federation of Funeral Services (EFFS), National Funeral Directors Associations, Regional Funeral Directors Associations, Funeral directors of funeral establishments which are members of the EFFS agree to respect the following professional rules and confirm accordingly:

  • Ethical and professional relationship with client families.
  • Sincere respect for all the beliefs and customs of the families.
  • Right of the person(s) making the funeral arrangements to choose the funeral director and to decide between burial or cremation.
  • Right of the families to be informed of the estimated total cost of the funeral.
  • Complete confidentiality assured at all times, subject only to legal requirements.
  • Honesty, loyalty and integrity of funeral personnel in the performance of their duties.
  • Strict observance of all applicable laws, rules and regulations concerning the profession, both national and international.
  • Objective, honest and sensitive publicity.
  • Continuous effort to bring funeral professional knowledge to a higher level.
  • Integrity in the relationship with colleagues, national as well as international.

 

 

The services of a funeral director

Notification of the death

The death must be notified to the  priest/church office in the parish where the deceased had his address even though the deceased was not a member of the national church. You can contact the parish clerk yourself or you can ask the funeral director to do this when you contact him.

When applying you must, if possible, bring the deceased’s personal papers:

The funeral director assists you regarding all practical matters in connection with the funeral.

Considerations regarding the funeral/interment

In connection with the death it is important to clarify whether any wishes from the deceased have been written down as to how the funeral/interment is to take place, i.e. in the document My last will. A number of questions arise in connection with a death, such as:

  • Is the deceased to be buried in the earth or cremated?
  • Do you want a ceremony (singing) from the home, the rest home or the hospital?
  • Is to ceremony to be arranged from a church or a chapel?
  • Was the deceased a member of the national church or another religious community?
  • Is a rector to assist at the ceremony?
  • When is the ceremony to take place?
  • Making up one’s mind regarding burial place/gravestone.
  • Is an autopsy to be performed or was the deceased an organ donor?
  • Has the deceased made a will?

The funeral director assists willingly coping with all matters which may arise in connection with the death and gives considerate and professional advising.

Financial circumstances/price estimate

The funeral director fixes his prices himself and he/she is obliged to supply you with a price list. However, the price list does not enable you to form a general view of the price for a funeral/interment in a specific situation as this depends on which funeral/interment you want, moreover the expenses for the individual cemeteries and crematoriums varies a great deal in different areas.

In order to render the best possible guidance most funeral directors therefore have their own standard arrangement form which is filled in in connection with the personal conversation, thus at the end of the conversation you will have formed a rather exact view of the total expenses.

In addition to the prices for the funeral director’s own services from experience the funeral director also knows the expenses for the local cemeteries, decoration in the church, crematorium, monumental mason, death notices et cetera, and therefore the funeral director will always be able to quote an estimated amount for these services.

Examples of the funeral director’s services

  • Choice of coffin *
  • Decoration of coffin/wreaths/decoration of church/chapel (Did the deceased specially like any flowers?) *
  • Choice of urn (If an interment is being arranged) *
  • Clothes in which the deceased is to be dressed in the coffin and bedding (Perhaps the deceased’s own clothes?) *
  • Death notices (Are death notices to be inserted and if so in which papers?) *
  • Printed hymns *
  • Driving with flowers *
  • Driving with hearse
  • Fee for the funeral director for arrangement and assistance
  • Fee for placing the deceased into the coffin
  • Perhaps driving of the urn to the cemetery

Services marked with * are VAT-rated. Prices are always stated inclusive of VAT.

Examples of the funeral director’s disbursements

  • Cemetery – payment for burial place, maintenance, covering of the grave and placing of the urn (Choice of burial place is arranged with the rector/sexton at the cemetery)
  • Crematorium (If an interment is being arranged)
  • Is a memorial gathering to be arranged after the ceremony?
  • Solo music (Did a piece of music mean specially much to the deceased?)
  • Choice of gravestone or addition to existing gravestone (Is arranged in detail with the monumental mason)
  • Assistance of a hospital porter (If the death has taken place at a hospital)

Death grant

  • The municipality of the address (Fixed by size of capital)
  • Health Insurance Danmark (grant if membership in group 1 or 2)
  • Was the deceased a member of a trade union? (Certain trade unions grant a single amount as a help to the funeral)
  • Elysium saving up for funeral scheme (If the deceased has saved up for his/her own funeral)

 

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