Articles for families on bringing a body home
Here we explain in plain words what families ask about most in the first days: money, documents, the consulate, insurance, an urn with ashes and the funeral at home. If you need an answer now, do not spend time reading. Call us. We will tell you what to do and give you the price within 5 minutes.
Where to start
If a loved one has only just died, start with What to do: it gives the first steps in order. Short answers to common questions are on the Questions and answers page, prices “from” are on the Prices page, and the documents for each country are on the Countries page.
If your question is not answered here, call us. We answer the phone 24/7 and speak Ukrainian, English, Polish and German.
What to do first
A step-by-step guide for the first hours and days.
What body repatriation is and how it works
What the word means, who does the work and what the stages are.
If the family cannot travel abroad
What can be done from home and when a relative has to sign.
Money: the price, payment, insurance
How much it costs to bring a body home to Ukraine from abroad
Prices “from” by country, what the total is made of, what is included and what is not, and how to get the exact price.
Who pays for bringing a body home from abroad
The family, insurance, an employer, social services and the funeral allowance in Ukraine: what to check before you pay yourselves.
Insurance and bringing a body home
How to find the policy, how the insurer's assistance service works, why the transport must be agreed with the insurer and what a policy usually does not cover.
We work out your price
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Documents and preparation
The Ukrainian consulate when someone dies abroad
What the consul does for the family and what the consul does not do. Registering the death, the certificate, the papers for the border.
Death certificate abroad
Who issues the document in the country of death, when an apostille and a translation are needed and how Ukraine recognises it.
Coffin and embalming for bringing a body to Ukraine
Which coffin is needed to cross the border and when embalming cannot be avoided.
All the papers in one place: Documents for bringing the deceased home.
A funeral home or on your own
How to choose a funeral home to bring a body home
Eight signs that a funeral home can be trusted, what to ask on the phone and when to call another funeral home as well.
Can a family bring a body home themselves?
What the law allows and why it is harder than it looks.
An urn with ashes
Customs clearance of an urn with ashes
The customs statement, the two documents, flying and posting.
Burying an urn with ashes in Ukraine
A family grave, a columbarium niche or a new grave.
Is the urn still abroad? How we bring it home is on the page Transport of an urn with ashes.
At home, in Ukraine
How to arrange a funeral
The order of steps and what to prepare while the body is on its way.
How to move the deceased to another city in Ukraine
From a hospital or morgue to the family home, a church or the cemetery.
Documents after a death abroad: what to arrange in Ukraine
The certificate, the funeral allowance and inheritance.
From Ukraine to another country
When a foreign national dies in Ukraine: documents, the consul and bringing them home
What the embassy does, who registers the death and how to bring the deceased home.
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