Arranging a Funeral

Our Customer Care Team will be available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year to take your call and answer any questions you have. In the majority of cases, a death will occur while your loved ones are in hospitals, nursing homes, aged care facilities etc. The staff in these facilities will assist you with the first steps and preliminary information. Generally, these facilities will ask upon admittance for you to nominate in advance a funeral home like Kingston Funerals to be contacted at the time of death. 

You will also need to confirm if the deceased left a will, and whether any other family members need to be contacted regarding the funeral.

In the case of unexpected or suspicious circumstances surrounding the death the police will need to be notified. Where a doctor isn’t prepared to sign the Death Certificate then the Coroners will become involved and they will need to transfer your loved one into their care.

When a person passes away interstate or overseas, Kingston Funerals will liaise with the appropriate local service providers to ensure all of the correct paperwork and regulations are met.

There are a number of things that happen between your loved one’s passing and their funeral service or memorial service. 

We at Kingston Funerals have our own mortuary facilities at 146 Argus Street, Cheltenham and generally this is where your loved one will go when in our care. However, if there are unexpected or suspicious circumstances surrounding the death then they will be transferred to the Coroner’s and then later released to the Funeral Home.

Our Repatriation Department – recognised as the industry leader among Victorian Funeral Directors – has decades of experience in dealing with the added complexity of a death overseas and the task of returning the deceased home to Australia. 

Equally, we have extensive experience in repatriating someone who has died in Australia back to their country of origin. This will involve coordination of all documents from coroners, embassies and airlines.

We will also attend to the preparation of the deceased to ensure a dignified presentation should the next-of-kin wish to view on return to the country of origin. Please note that some Travel Insurance Schemes will arrange the repatriation to the country of origin without cost to the family.