Helpful Guides
Six to ten certified originals covers most estates. Here is who accepts a photocopy, who will not, and why it matters which you hand over.
Order between six and ten certified original copies. That number covers the great majority of estates without leaving you short at an awkward moment, and additional copies can always be requested later.
Most agencies will accept a photocopy. Where they do, give them the photocopy and keep your certified originals in reserve. That is the whole trick, and it is why ten is usually plenty rather than twenty.
Banks and credit unions closing or retitling an account. Life insurance companies paying out a policy. Pension and annuity administrators. Anything involving a title: real estate, a vehicle, a boat. Brokerage and retirement accounts. Some of these will keep the copy rather than return it, which is the real reason the number adds up.
Utility companies, mobile phone and internet providers, subscription services, most credit card issuers closing an account, landlords, clubs and memberships, and many employers. The Social Security Administration is notified directly by the funeral establishment, so that one is generally handled for you.
If an organisation is not sure, ask them specifically: "will you accept a photocopy, or do you need a certified original you will keep?" That one question is worth several trips.
In Florida the certified copies are issued by the Bureau of Vital Statistics through the county health department, and the fee is set by the county rather than by us. We order them at the time of filing, as part of the arrangement, so that you are not going back to a county office weeks later while dealing with everything else.
The cost of the copies themselves is passed through to you at the county rate with nothing added. Additional copies can be ordered at any time afterwards, by us or directly by you.
A Florida death certificate can be issued with or without the cause of death shown. The version with the cause is what insurers and some pension administrators need. The version without is sufficient for most other purposes and is the one to hand over when there is no reason to share medical information. If you are not sure which you will need, order some of each and we will explain what each is for.
Between six and ten covers most estates. Most agencies accept a photocopy, so give them one of those and keep the certified originals for the banks, insurers, pension administrators and title transfers that will not accept anything else and will not give the copy back.
Yes. Additional certified copies can be requested at any time from the county health department, or we can order them for you. There is no deadline, and the fee is the same whenever you order.
The fee is set by the county, not by us. We order them at the time of filing and pass the county charge through to you without adding anything to it. They are not included in our published cremation price precisely because the amount varies by county and by how many you want.
You can carry cremated remains onto an aircraft. The thing that stops people is the urn: if the screener cannot see inside it, it does not go through.
Cremated remains are inurned in a national cemetery with the same honors as a casketed burial, at no cost to the family. Many families never find out.
The famous $255 payment is real, and it is small. The entitlement worth your attention is the ongoing survivor benefit almost nobody mentions.
This is the single most common misunderstanding we encounter, and it stops families at exactly the wrong moment.
Cremation is permitted. The guidance that follows concerns what happens to the cremated remains afterwards, and it is more specific than most families expect.
A licensed funeral director answers at any hour. There is no cost to call and no obligation.
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