What happens if you lose a loved one abroad? Here's the process to manage documentation

sunilrs · 24th February 2024, 14:20

I had the misfortune of loosing my mother while we were on a holiday in the US in 2022, it was a traumatic experience and made all the more difficult in a foreign land.

I do not want to get into the personal details but I just wanted to put down this note, if god forbid, anybody else faces such a situation, they do not struggle as much as I did. My sister is a US resident but this was still an unknown situation for her as well.

This is specific to US (for an Indian Citizen).

1) Contact a Funeral Director in the city. (The funeral director will take the remains from the mortuary)

2) He/She will wait for the death intimation from the doctor (Keep in mind that if the death occurs on a Friday or Saturday, you will have to wait till Monday for the same)

3) On receipt of the death intimation, you can choose for the remains to be cremated, buried or organised for transport. Since my sister is based in US, we decided to go ahead with cremation there (since our immediate family was all together)

4) The Funeral Director uploads the details to the County Court Office. Please check to ensure that all details are correctly filled since he may make an error (due to unfamiliar names and naming customs). The County Office will then after 3-4 days issue the death certificate.

Please note that you need to be careful and check the document thoroughly and if possible be there when the funeral director is uploading the information. If there is a minor error, the county office corrects it directly but if it its a major change (like in our case, there was a typo in the name of the surviving spouse), you need to go back to the Funeral Director again and ask for the information to be corrected by him to the County Office/Court and then again get a revised death certificate. We were charged both times

5) Please remember to take atleast 10 originals of the certificate from the county office

6) Arrange the funeral, we opted for a simple cremation with just 4 of us. It cost us about USD 2500 in 2022. Please remember to take the cremation certificate which will be needed.

7) Arrange for a place to scatter the ashes , there are crematorium gardens which allow you to do that. It costs about 400-500 USD to be allowed to scatter the ashes in the defined space. Please note it is illegal to put the ashes in rivers etc. The other option is to take them out to sea or out on one of the large lakes, a defined distance from the shore. That is an expensive prospect.

You can also inform the funeral home to pack the ashes in a transparent container if you want to bring them to India.

8) Take the Original Death Certificates to the offices of the Secretary of State ( for the specific state) to be Apostilled for India (or your country of residence or investments where you would need to submit them). Apostilling is a procedure under the Hague Convention which means the documents in one of the signatory countries are held valid in another. India is a signatory.

Please note you must mention the countries for which you want the documents to be apostilled (without fail since it is mentioned on the apostille that the document is valid only on those countries for which you have applied)

This process costs about 20$ for each certificate and country and takes about an hour at most.

9) Take the Apostilled Death Certificates to the nearest Indian Consulate to get them stamped by the Consul General (again about 20$ per certificate). Note that some consulates need an appointment before entry. This took about 1 hour in Chicago

10) Submit a cancellation of passport request to the Indian Consulate wiht copies of the Death Certificate, Cremation Certificate etc. The passport is stamped cancelled. It is fairly straightforward.

I hope no one ever needs to know this information but in case the need arises, I hope this helps.

jaysheth · 24th February 2024, 16:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunilrs

I had the misfortune of loosing my mother while we were on a holiday in the US in 2022, it was a traumatic experience and made all the more difficult in a foreign land.

I do not want to get into the personal details but I just wanted to put down this note, if god forbid, anybody else faces such a situation, they do not struggle as much as I did. My sister is a US resident but this was still an unknown situation for her as well.

This is specific to US (for an Indian Citizen).

Sorry to hear about your mother's loss. Thank you so much for posting this for the benefit of all readers. It must have been so difficult to pen this down for you; salute your gesture to be so kind and helpful even during this painful time. Take care.

DriverLess · 25th February 2024, 18:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunilrs

Step 6) Arrange the funeral, we opted for a simple cremation with just 4 of us. It cost us about USD 2500 in 2022. Please remember to take the cremation certificate which will be needed.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing the process.

If you don't mind me asking, did the travel insurance provide any assistance?

sunilrs · 25th February 2024, 23:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by DriverLess

I'm so sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing the process.

If you don't mind me asking, did the travel insurance provide any assistance?

Thank you. The travel insurance covered part of the medical bills, we had taken US$ 100k worth but the bills outstripped this by a huge margin. Now, I take atleast US$ 250,000 worth when traveling to US.

Jeroen · 26th February 2024, 00:29

Thanks for sharing. I can not begin to imagine on what it would be like to lose a loved one abroad. If anything these sort of practicalities take your mind from mourning. Which is perfectly understandable. At the same time, when a loved one passes away, mourning should come first. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.

Jeroen

StarrySky · 27th February 2024, 17:55

Thank you for sharing.

There are local Indian community groups in various part of the world, and it will be a good idea to note down some contacts before one travels to a destination where there are no relatives or friends.

Almost 15 years back a friend of mine lost her husband while they were vacationing in Spain with their two small kids. They were not travelling as part of any group and were far away from an Indian Embassy. After much searching, another friend was able to get the contact information for a local Indian group and they were very helpful.

24th February 2024, 14:20	#1
sunilrs BHPian Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Thane Posts: 83 Thanked: 325 Times	What happens if you lose a loved one abroad? Here's the process to manage documentation I had the misfortune of loosing my mother while we were on a holiday in the US in 2022, it was a traumatic experience and made all the more difficult in a foreign land. I do not want to get into the personal details but I just wanted to put down this note, if god forbid, anybody else faces such a situation, they do not struggle as much as I did. My sister is a US resident but this was still an unknown situation for her as well. This is specific to US (for an Indian Citizen). 1) Contact a Funeral Director in the city. (The funeral director will take the remains from the mortuary) 2) He/She will wait for the death intimation from the doctor (Keep in mind that if the death occurs on a Friday or Saturday, you will have to wait till Monday for the same) 3) On receipt of the death intimation, you can choose for the remains to be cremated, buried or organised for transport. Since my sister is based in US, we decided to go ahead with cremation there (since our immediate family was all together) 4) The Funeral Director uploads the details to the County Court Office. Please check to ensure that all details are correctly filled since he may make an error (due to unfamiliar names and naming customs). The County Office will then after 3-4 days issue the death certificate. Please note that you need to be careful and check the document thoroughly and if possible be there when the funeral director is uploading the information. If there is a minor error, the county office corrects it directly but if it its a major change (like in our case, there was a typo in the name of the surviving spouse), you need to go back to the Funeral Director again and ask for the information to be corrected by him to the County Office/Court and then again get a revised death certificate. We were charged both times 5) Please remember to take atleast 10 originals of the certificate from the county office 6) Arrange the funeral, we opted for a simple cremation with just 4 of us. It cost us about USD 2500 in 2022. Please remember to take the cremation certificate which will be needed. 7) Arrange for a place to scatter the ashes , there are crematorium gardens which allow you to do that. It costs about 400-500 USD to be allowed to scatter the ashes in the defined space. Please note it is illegal to put the ashes in rivers etc. The other option is to take them out to sea or out on one of the large lakes, a defined distance from the shore. That is an expensive prospect. You can also inform the funeral home to pack the ashes in a transparent container if you want to bring them to India. 8) Take the Original Death Certificates to the offices of the Secretary of State ( for the specific state) to be Apostilled for India (or your country of residence or investments where you would need to submit them). Apostilling is a procedure under the Hague Convention which means the documents in one of the signatory countries are held valid in another. India is a signatory. Please note you must mention the countries for which you want the documents to be apostilled (without fail since it is mentioned on the apostille that the document is valid only on those countries for which you have applied) This process costs about 20$ for each certificate and country and takes about an hour at most. 9) Take the Apostilled Death Certificates to the nearest Indian Consulate to get them stamped by the Consul General (again about 20$ per certificate). Note that some consulates need an appointment before entry. This took about 1 hour in Chicago 10) Submit a cancellation of passport request to the Indian Consulate wiht copies of the Death Certificate, Cremation Certificate etc. The passport is stamped cancelled. It is fairly straightforward. I hope no one ever needs to know this information but in case the need arises, I hope this helps. Last edited by Rehaan : 28th February 2024 at 13:28. Reason: Adding a little bit of formatting :)
	(83) Thanks

26th February 2024, 00:29	#5
Jeroen Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Delhi Posts: 8,918 Thanked: 61,702 Times View My Garage	re: What happens if you lose a loved one abroad? Here's the process to manage documentation Thanks for sharing. I can not begin to imagine on what it would be like to lose a loved one abroad. If anything these sort of practicalities take your mind from mourning. Which is perfectly understandable. At the same time, when a loved one passes away, mourning should come first. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Jeroen
	(5) Thanks

27th February 2024, 17:55	#6
StarrySky Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: EU - Nordic Posts: 2,096 Thanked: 3,231 Times	re: What happens if you lose a loved one abroad? Here's the process to manage documentation Thank you for sharing. There are local Indian community groups in various part of the world, and it will be a good idea to note down some contacts before one travels to a destination where there are no relatives or friends. Almost 15 years back a friend of mine lost her husband while they were vacationing in Spain with their two small kids. They were not travelling as part of any group and were far away from an Indian Embassy. After much searching, another friend was able to get the contact information for a local Indian group and they were very helpful.
	(2) Thanks