Arranging a Funeral can be a tricky process. When you consider your grief, sadness, loss and the overwhelming need that most of us feel to create a beautiful celebration of life, and then you mix that with family dynamic, sometimes strained relationships and conflicting ideas about what makes the best tribute, it can be difficult to navigate.
One of the things that we are mindful of when we assist a family to plan a Loved Ones Celebration of Life, is Privacy.
Privacy is the Funeral space is a minefield in its own right. Most people who lose someone they love, feel that they have a right to information and opinion, and whilst most of the time that can be helpful to lighten the load for the person responsible, it can create havoc for a Funeral Director.
For us, we take a very structured approach to how we manage a funeral arrangement and to what information we share. Generally, when a Funeral Director is engaged to plan a funeral, one person will be required to be the Applicant or Commissioner of the funeral. This means that this person is the ultimate responsibility for decision making and of course for paying all of the associated costs for a funeral.
During an arrangement we give the Applicant the option to add one additional person that we are able to communicate with and obtain information or photo’s for tributes, music and the like. Everyone else is usually directed back to the applicant if they have enquiries or want specific information about the funeral arrangements.
So what information will we share? Well, most of the time we will only share the date, time and location of the funeral with anyone who is not the Applicant or other approved person. Sometimes, if the family have requested a private service, we are unable to even share this information.
It can be frustrating for people at times when we are unable to share information, however, just like any other business who collects personal and sensitive information, we are bound by the Australian Privacy Principles and it is a responsibility that we take very seriously. It is never our intention to cause additional stress or frustration, however ensuring that we maintain our legal compliance, whilst providing the best experience for our families is always our priority.
You might be asking yourself at this point “What if I want a number of people to be allowed access to the funeral information?”. When this comes up, there are a few things that you can do as a family to keep the flow of information getting to everyone that needs to be across it. You could:
- Create a private Facebook Group to share all of the relevant information;
- Create a group text message to share the information;
- Appoint one person to be the point of contact and to share all of the information with the relevant people.
However you decide to communicate amongst your family and friends, we always suggest that being authentic and transparent are the best options. When someone dies, it is a time to leave the past in the past, and to focus on the present to make sure your Loved One is celebrated in a way that is meaningful and special, without any of the drama that sometimes comes with a family gathering. One thing to keep in mind is, if you have a strained family dynamic or a strained relationship that may cause issues, let your Funeral Director know so they can support you throughout your planning and the Celebration. We are always there for our families, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
If you have questions about the legalities of a funeral or are after information on planning a funeral in general, why not get in touch with us on 1300 043 522 or email [email protected]
*Our Funeral Blog is a place for information and learning, so if there is something that you would like to know, why not shout out to us on social media so we can answer your questions in one of our future blogs!*