Death Certificates - [5 Common Questions] 

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Five common questions about death certificates that a funeral director gets asked. Death certificates are important to get quickly and they need to be accurate. Family have a lot of questions about death certificates - these are the five most common questions about death certificates that I get asked.
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0:00 ASK THE DIRECTOR 5 MOST COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT DEATH CERTIFICATES
0:27 - How soon can I get the death certificates
1:14 - How much do death certificates costs?
1:36 - How many death certificates do need?
2:30 - What's on a death certificate and what do they look like?
3:09 - What if there is an error on the death certificate?
How soon can I get the death certificates?
It is the mortuaries job to get the information and complete the death certificate. We must get the causes of death from the Dr. and have them sign off on the certificate and then we must get the certificate approved by the county. We need to get the death certificate approved before we can proceed with either cremation or burial.
Some doctors are fast at this process and some are slower. On average, it takes 5 days to get the death certificate approved. If the deceased has been in hospice care the process can be a bit faster.
I know they are important and the family needs them for legal matters, so we do our best to speed the process.
How much do Death Certificate cost?
They are $21 (just went to $24) each and that is just what the county charges us for them, so we are just passing through the cost and get them for our families as just part of the service that we offer.
How many Death certificates will I need?
That generally depends of the amount of financial assets the deceased had. Life insurance policies, real estate, pensions, Stock/bonds, banks will all require a death certificate. Some may make a copy and give the original back to you and some will not.
In general, we generally see families order between 6 - 10. You can always get more directly from the county at the same cost, so there is no need to get too many to start with. All you would have to do is go to the county office on Rosecrans street - fill out a form - and they will print them for you immediately while you wait.
 
What do they look like and what is on them?
The certificates printed on special blueish paper which make it very difficult for them to be faked. Similar to trying to print counterfeit money.
The contain information on the deceased such as where they lived, their job, education, parents and what were the conditions that led to their death.
They are officially signed by both the doctor and the county.
What if there is an error on the death certificate?
Sometimes there are mistakes on a death certificate and these can be corrected. Perhaps an address is incorrect or a name is spelled incorrectly.
Making a correct is called making an amendment. There are different types of amendments and some take longer than others. When a death certificate is amended the original information still stays on the certificate it is just that another page is added to reflect the changes. This some death certificates many be several pages long.
Hopefully that will answer some of your questions regarding death certificates.
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