By Manny Cruise

The main function of a funeral director is to make all arrangements for the entire funeral up to the handling of the body at the burial or cremation.

The prime duties of a funeral director can be categorised into four broad heads, which are transporting the dead body, readying it for final service, making preparations for people to gather and pay their final respects to the departed and then the actual cremation or burial of the body as per the choice or beliefs of the family.

These tasks involve taking care of activities like deciding the place and timings of the memorial services, arranging for a hearse to shift the body, and writing obituaries and posting them in newspapers or the electronic media. Further, funeral directors have to arrange flowers and have the decoration done for each service, arrange for conveyance for the assembled people and clothe the body for the service after embalming it.

Besides these tasks, a funeral director has to take care of the task of doing the mandatory paperwork formalities required after a person's death. He facilitates obtaining of a death certificate for the deceased. He also makes arrangements to settle any claims of insurance, and helps the family in applying for seniors' burial benefits. He also aids in clearing pension and annuity money, if any, of the deceased to the beneficiaries of the deceased and helps the family in assessing the costs of the whole funeral proceedings.

He also has to coordinate with a number of professionals to perform his tasks in an efficient and systematic manner. He must be able to communicate with physicians, florists, coffin makers and pastors equally well.

Lastly, the funeral directors should be considerate too and must try to provide some solace to the grieving family and try to bring them out of their grief over the demise of a loved one. Some funeral directors overlook this responsibility, but it is an essential part of their service nevertheless.

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