Updated: · Author: Oleg Zdendiak, owner of XREQUIEM, 10 years in the funeral business
Families often choose a funeral home in the hardest hours, by phone and after only a few calls. We are a funeral home ourselves, so we will be honest about what to look for, what to ask, and when it is worth calling another funeral home as well. This checklist will help you with any funeral home, ours included.
Find out whether the person had a policy: a travel policy, a policy taken out for a visa, or cover through work. If the policy covers repatriation, the insurer organises the transport through its assistance service. The important rule is this: the funeral home has to be agreed with the insurer, otherwise the insurer may refuse to pay compensation. So tell the funeral home about the policy on the very first call.
A policy often covers the journey only as far as the border or a transport hub in Ukraine, and the limits differ from one programme to another. So you may have to pay part of the cost yourselves. A good funeral home does not refuse to work with an insurer. It helps by preparing a calculation and a list of services for the insurer to approve. There is more in the article “Insurance and bringing a body home”.
After a few questions (the country, the city, where the deceased is now and where in Ukraine they should be taken), the funeral home should give you the full sum for bringing the deceased to your town. Not only a “from” price, but a specific sum, with an explanation of what it includes. We give you the exact price within 5 minutes. That is how we work every day.
The documents in the country of death and in Ukraine, preparing the body, the coffin, the transport and the border: all of these are parts of one repatriation. A funeral in Ukraine is a separate service. Ask for the list in writing, in a chat on Viber, WhatsApp or Telegram or in the contract. If something is not included, you should be told before the work starts, not in the final bill.
Every country has its own rules. Ask a simple test question: “Which documents are needed in this particular country?” A good funeral home will answer specifically. For example, in Germany the death certificate must carry an apostille. In Italy the consent of the Ukrainian consulate (the nulla osta) is needed. For the Ukrainian border you need a certificate of no prohibited items, legalised by the consulate.
What the law says:
In the country of death local requirements for documents and transport apply. In France, for example, transporting a coffin or an urn requires a funeral home licensed in France. That is normal. The real question is who is responsible for the whole route, from the morgue abroad to your home. Ask who your contact will be, and whether you can call them at any time.
Nobody can give the exact day of arrival in the first minute: it depends on the documents in the country of death. Here are the honest guidelines. The body's journey home to Ukraine takes from 24 hours after collection. If part of the journey is by air, the air leg takes from 2.5 hours. We do not promise direct flights to Ukraine: the plane flies to an airport in a neighbouring country, and from there we take the deceased on by road.
Ask for a contract, or at least a written calculation. Pay into the account of the company you made the arrangement with. If you are asked for the whole sum in advance, to a personal card, and are given no document at all, that is a reason to stop and think.
Check whether the funeral home has a real office address, named people, its own photos of vehicles and the team, and social media pages with real posts. Not stock pictures, but its own work.
“Decide now, because tomorrow the price will go up” is a bad sign. Grief takes enough strength as it is. A good funeral home will give you a few minutes to talk it over with your family, and will not take offence if you call another funeral home to compare.
A low price over the phone means nothing if it grows on the invoice. Ask: “What can change the sum after signing?” An honest answer is specific: either “nothing” or a list of reasons written in the contract. “We’ll see as we go” is a reason to ask for that list in writing.
Compare the sum in the contract with the one you were told on the phone. If they differ, ask what changed before you sign, not after. At XREQUIEM the price written in the contract does not change: in 2 years of repatriations we have never raised it.
We work out your price
Call or leave your number.
You can simply read these questions from the screen. A good funeral home will not mind.
If an agent arrives first, you do not have to talk to them or sign anything: take their contact details and call them later, once the doctor and the police have finished.
No single one of these signs proves that a funeral home is dishonest. But if you see several, compare with another offer. It takes half an hour, and it can save you both money and stress.
Call us, day or night
Languages: Ukrainian, English, Polish, German. The same number works on Viber, WhatsApp and Telegram.
We do not ask you to take our word for it. Here is what you can check about us:
The better choice is the funeral home that runs the whole case from start to finish. A Ukrainian funeral home, like us, does everything all the way to your home: the documents for the consulate and the border, the work in the country of death, the journey, handing the deceased over to the family and, if needed, the funeral. Compare the full price to your town rather than the price of one part of the journey.
Yes, and that is normal. Give every one of them the same details: the country, the city, where the deceased is now and where in Ukraine they should be taken. Then the prices can be compared fairly.
Some of the costs really do arise at once: the documents, the coffin, local services. But payment should be made under a contract, or to the company's bank account. See point 6 of the checklist above.
Because the price covers different things: one funeral home quotes only as far as the border, another leaves out the documents or the coffin. Ask exactly what is included, and compare the whole journey.
Ask for a written statement of what has already been done, which documents have been received and how much has been paid. If you decide to switch funeral homes, you will need these papers. We can take over the case at any stage.
Tell the funeral home about it on the first call: the transport has to be agreed with the insurer, otherwise the compensation may not be paid. We work with insurers and provide everything needed for their approval.
A few hours to compare will not usually spoil anything: the deceased stays in the morgue or the hospital meanwhile. But it is best to start the documents in the country of death as soon as possible, so do not put the decision off for days.
Yes, but it is a separate service with its own price. We can bring the deceased home, to a church or to the cemetery, and we can arrange the funeral itself anywhere in Ukraine if you need it. There is more on the page “Funerals across Ukraine”.
Leave your number and a few details: the country, the city and where in Ukraine the deceased should be taken. We will call you back, give you the full price and tell you what it includes.
Thank you. We will call you back. For urgent matters, please call: +380 77 882 77 77.
For urgent matters, you do not need to wait for our call:
Call us · 24/7 +380 77 882 77 77
