What to Do When Someone Dies in California

If you are reading this in the first hours after a death, start here: you do not have to do everything today. Almost nothing on this page has to happen in the next hour, and the few things that do are simple.

What follows is the order things usually happen in California, written plainly, so you know what is coming and who handles which part. If you would rather just talk to someone, call us at (562) 912-7977. We answer the phone ourselves, at any hour, and there is no charge for asking a question.

Make one phone call first

Who you call depends on where the person died.

• At home, under hospice care — call the hospice, not 911. The hospice nurse comes out, confirms the death, and notifies the physician. They will ask which funeral home you are using, and they will call us for you.
• At home, unexpectedly — call 911. Paramedics and law enforcement will come. This is normal and it is not a sign anything is wrong.
• In a hospital or nursing facility — the staff there handle the medical paperwork and will ask you which funeral home to release your loved one to. You can name us and stop there.

Once we have been told, we will bring your loved one into our care. That part happens the same day, usually within a couple of hours, and it happens whether or not you have made a single decision about the service.

If the coroner becomes involved

In California, the county coroner or medical examiner takes jurisdiction when a death was sudden, unattended by a physician, or unexplained. In Los Angeles County that decision belongs to the Medical Examiner's office, not to the family and not to us.

If that happens, it usually adds a day or two before we can proceed. It is not a complication you caused, and it does not change what kind of service you can hold. We stay in contact with their office and tell you the moment your loved one is released to us.

Who has the right to make the decisions

California law sets an order of priority for who may direct the funeral arrangements. In general it runs: a person the deceased named in writing, then the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner, then the adult children, then the parents, then the surviving siblings.

Most families never think about this, because everyone agrees. It matters when they do not, or when the person closest to the deceased is not the closest relative on paper. If your family's situation is complicated, tell us early. We have sat with this before and we will tell you honestly what we can and cannot do.

The death certificate, and how many copies to ask for

We file the death certificate for you. In California it is registered with the local registrar in the county where the death occurred, and it has to be filed within eight days. The attending physician or the medical examiner signs the medical portion; we handle the rest and the filing.

What you should think about is how many certified copies you will need. Every institution that holds something in the deceased's name will want one, and most will not give it back. Families commonly need somewhere between five and ten. Count the banks, the life insurance policies, the pension or Social Security, the vehicle titles, the property deeds, and any brokerage accounts, then add two.

Ordering more later is possible but slower. It is cheaper and far less frustrating to over-order at the start.

Burial or cremation

This is usually the first real decision, and it is the one that shapes everything after it. Both are available here — we operate our own crematory on site, which means a loved one who is cremated in our care never leaves our building.

Cremation in California requires a signed authorization from the person with the legal right to direct the disposition, and a disposition permit from the county. We prepare both. If a coroner's case is open, their release comes first.

If you are weighing the two, we have written about the decision in more detail, and our burial packages and cremation packages pages show what each one includes.

What it costs

Ask. You should never have to ask twice.

Federal law requires every funeral home to give you an itemised price list, and ours is published on this website so you can read it before you call anyone. You are entitled to choose only the items you want. If a package includes something your family will not use, say so.

We would rather tell you a number on the phone than have you sit through a meeting worrying about it.

What can wait until tomorrow

Quite a lot, as it turns out:

• The obituary
• The date and time of the service
• Whether there is a viewing
• Flowers, music, readings, who speaks
• Notifying the wider circle of friends
• Anything to do with the estate

None of that is urgent. Families sometimes exhaust themselves in the first twenty-four hours making decisions that would have been easier after a night's sleep, and there is no advantage in it.

When you are ready to talk

When you call, we will ask for a few basic details — the person's full legal name, date of birth, where they are now — and we will arrange a time to meet. That meeting usually takes about an hour.

Bring anything you already have: a pre-arrangement file, discharge papers from the hospital, military discharge papers if the person was a veteran. If you have none of it, come anyway. We have done this without paperwork many times.

If your loved one served, we handle the honors request and the burial benefit paperwork on your behalf.

And if you are here reading this before anything has happened, because you would rather your own family never has to work it out under pressure — that is what pre-planning is for, and it is the kindest paperwork there is.

Destiny Funeral Home & Crematory is at 5443 Long Beach Boulevard in Long Beach, and we serve families across Los Angeles County. Call us any time at (562) 912-7977.