Death Abroad
And Repatriation

If your loved one passes away while you’re travelling together, the first thing to do is to contact the nearest British Embassy, High Commission, or Consulate.

They will guide you through local procedures and liaise with UK authorities as the death must be registered in the country where it occurred.

If you’re on a tour or at a resort, speak to a representative who can assist you. Most travel companies and local authorities have experience handling such situations and will offer guidance.

Receiving news of a loved one’s passing overseas can be distressing. In most cases, the British consulate or local police will notify the Next of Kin.

If a tour operator or airline contacts you first, you should reach out to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) for guidance on what to do next.

This is a difficult time, and it’s okay to ask close friends or family to support you as you begin making arrangements.

The repatriation process differs depending on whether your loved one had travel insurance.

Having travel insurance in place can ease the financial and logistical burden on families at an already difficult time.

If your loved one had valid travel insurance, their insurance provider will arrange and cover the cost of repatriation.

They will work with a specialist company to manage all the necessary arrangements, including transporting the deceased back to the UK, handling the required documentation, transferring the person who has died into our care at our funeral home.

If there is no valid travel insurance policy, the cost of repatriation falls to the deceased’s family or estate.

We can put you in touch with a specialist company who have agents in the country where the person has died and can assist with arranging the repatriation.

We can then arrange to collect the deceased from a UK airport on arrival.

If your loved one passed away on a ship or plane, the death may need to be registered in the country of arrival.

The British Embassy may be able to provide assistance with this process. It is possible to obtain a British death certificate from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office but this process is expensive and can take some time. 

If the Death Certificate is issued in another language, we can arrange for it to be translated into English. In some cases, additional documents may also need to be translated before the UK authorities can finalise arrangements.

Once the person who has died is in our care, we will liaise with the local Coroner and other necessary authorities to obtain the permissions required for the funeral to proceed.

The process of arranging the funeral takes places in the usual way whether that be a cremation, burial or direct cremation, and we’ll guide and support you every step of the way to arrange a fitting send-off.

We can also help to repatriate someone who has passed away in our area to another country. We will liaise with the necessary authorities and the Funeral Director in the other country to ensure the deceased is transported out of the UK with respect and dignity.

If the deceased would like to be returned to somewhere else in the UK for the funeral, we can liaise with the local Funeral Director to arrange transportation to any area of the UK.