When someone dies, you suddenly hear words you may never have needed before. Here's what they mean.
Ashes
What remains after a cremation, sometimes called cremated remains. See what to do with the ashes.
Attended funeral
A funeral with a service that family and friends attend. The opposite of a direct cremation.
Bearers
The people who carry the coffin. Also called pall bearers.
Bereavement Support Payment
Government money for people whose husband, wife, civil partner or partner has died. See Bereavement Support Payment.
Casket
A coffin, usually rectangular rather than tapered. In the UK the words are often used for the same thing.
Celebrant
A person who leads a funeral ceremony, usually a non-religious or partly religious one, focused on the person's life.
Certificate for burial or cremation
See green form.
Chapel of rest
A quiet room at a funeral director's where you can spend time with the person who has died before the funeral.
Committal
The formal moment of goodbye, when the coffin is lowered into the grave or, at a crematorium, the curtains close.
Coroner
An independent judicial officer who looks into deaths that are sudden, unexplained, violent or unnatural. In Scotland, the procurator fiscal does this.
Cortège
The procession of the hearse and following cars to the funeral. See the funeral procession.
Death certificate
The official copy of the entry in the register of deaths. You'll need several copies.
Direct cremation
A cremation with no funeral service beforehand, and no mourners present. Usually the least expensive option.
Disbursements
Fees your funeral director pays to others on your behalf, such as crematorium fees and the minister's fee, and adds to your bill. Also called third-party costs.
Embalming
Treating the body to slow down natural changes after death. It isn't a legal requirement.
Eulogy
A speech about the person's life, given at the funeral. Also called a tribute.
Executor
The person named in a will to deal with the estate.
Estate
Everything the person owned - money, property and possessions - minus any debts.
Funeral director
The professional who looks after the person who has died and arranges the funeral with the family. Sometimes called an undertaker.
Funeral Expenses Payment
Government help with funeral costs for people on certain benefits. See paying for a funeral.
Funeral plan
A way of paying for a funeral in advance. Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority since July 2022. See planning your funeral in advance.
Garden of remembrance
An area at a crematorium where ashes can be scattered or buried.
Grant of probate
The legal document that lets an executor deal with the estate. See probate.
Green form
The certificate for burial or cremation, which the registrar gives you when you register the death. The funeral can't go ahead without it.
Hearse
The vehicle that carries the coffin.
Inquest
A court hearing held by a coroner to establish how someone died.
Interment
Burial, of a body or of ashes.
Intestate
Dying without a valid will. See making a will.
Lasting power of attorney
A legal document letting someone make decisions for you while you're alive. It ends when you die. See lasting power of attorney.
Letters of administration
The legal document that lets a relative deal with the estate when there's no will.
Medical certificate of cause of death
The form a doctor completes giving the cause of death.
Medical examiner
A senior doctor, not involved in the person's care, who checks the cause of death before it can be registered in England and Wales.
Memorial service
A service to remember someone, held without the coffin present - sometimes weeks or months after the funeral.
Monumental mason
A craftsperson who makes and fits headstones and memorials.
Natural burial
Burial in a woodland or meadow site, usually with a biodegradable coffin and a tree or plant instead of a headstone. Also called woodland burial.
Next of kin
The closest relative. It has no special legal status in England and Wales - the executor makes the legal decisions about the funeral and the estate.
Obituary
A published notice of a death, often with a short account of the person's life.
Order of service
The printed booklet given out at a funeral, with the running order, words to hymns, and often photographs.
Post-mortem
A medical examination of the body after death, to find the cause. Also called an autopsy.
Probate
The legal process of dealing with someone's estate. In Scotland it's called confirmation.
Registrar
The official who records the death at the register office.
Repatriation
Bringing someone who has died back to their home country, or taking them to another country for the funeral.
Shiva
In Jewish tradition, a period of mourning after the funeral, when friends visit the family at home.
Tell Us Once
A free government service that reports a death to most government departments in one go.
Wake
A gathering after the funeral, often with food and drink. Also called a reception or celebration of life.
Will
A legal document setting out what should happen to someone's estate after they die.
Reviewed by the Arranging a Funeral team - September 2026.
See also The medical examiner.