What does a funeral director do?

The job of a funeral director is to organize the funeral and do the legal paperwork to facilitate the placement of the deceased in their final resting place. Their daily tasks can include, but are not limited to, meeting with families, filing death certificates, and ordering funeral products such as caskets and keepsakes. 

When meeting with families, the funeral director will collect vital information that is required for filling out the death certificate, such as date of birth, the names of the decedent's parents and highest level of education. Once that information is collected, the process of planning a service can start, or the family can choose to proceed with either a direct cremation or immediate burial. 

For the funeral or memorial service, a funeral director will help to plan the different parts and coordinate with the service location such as a cemetery or church. Some of their work can include submitting an obituary to the newspaper, coordinating a burial with a cemetery, and ordering a headstone or memorial marker. 

There are also some unique tasks a funeral director can do. If a person is going to hold a funeral out-of-state or in a different country, a funeral director will coordinate with another funeral home to transfer the deceased to their final resting place. They also can help families preplan final wishes, make tribute videos, and schedule a scattering or burial at sea. 

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