How do I plan or arrange my disposal when I dont want a funeral/service or anything?

Lady_K

I have been thinking and realise I do not want any kind of funeral. I dont want a service or anything and I don't know how to start to go about preparing for this to save any hassle when I'm gone. I just want to go and thats it.

I know my body will have to be disposed of but I dont know what options there would be without having a funeral or when that has to be carried out and if an undertaker is still needed in any of the process.

I have in the past thought of pre-paying for my funeral but have now changed my mind.

I have read before that some people donate thier body to science but in my case it would not be possible because apparently you have to be in good health prior to death to be of any use for that and I wouldnt be classed as good health.

Can anyone advise me on how to start to organise this please?

chesky

I'm interested in this too Lady K. I've told my lot that I only want my son and daughter present - going to go up in flames anyway. Nothing else - no service, nothing. The family can all go out for a jolly good lunch at a super restaurant afterwards, but no friends, colleagues, etc.

They all agree that I'm a miserable old bat but they'll all go along with it (especially the great lunch).

Torry_Quine

You don't have to have been in good health to donate your body but you need to be within a certain distance. Also there is no guarantee that at the time of your death they would take your body.

carefullycautious

I'm another who will be interested in this as I don't want one either. Not sure if there is a way to avoid a funeral

p00hsticks

Lady_K wrote: »

I have read before that some people donate thier body to science but in my case it would not be possible because apparently you have to be in good health prior to death to be of any use for that and I wouldnt be classed as good health.

Can anyone advise me on how to start to organise this please?

It's not true that you need to be in good health - although there are some medical conditions that would prevent you from donating.

Further information on how to go about it together with contact details of the various medical schools etc can be found here
http://www.hta.gov.uk/bodyorganandtissuedonation/howtodonateyourbody.cfm

Lady_K

I'm not sure I even want that though, I dont think I want anyone there I suppose I am just looking for a body disposal thing no service of any kind

Lady_K

p00hsticks wrote: »

It's not true that you need to be in good health - although there are some medical conditions that would prevent you from donating.

Further information on how to go about it together with contact details of the various medical schools etc can be found here
http://www.hta.gov.uk/bodyorganandtissuedonation/howtodonateyourbody.cfm

Thanks I will check out that link, I read somewhere on the net that you had to be intact and in good health so I gave up on the idea

pelirocco

Funerals aren't for the dead they are for the living, they help with the grieving process. I k

Errata

A funeral is basically the disposal of a body, any other bits and bobs are 'extras'. Instruct a funeral director about how you want your body to be disposed of, pay in advance, job done

Biggles

carefullycautious wrote: »

I'm another who will be interested in this as I don't want one either. Not sure if there is a way to avoid a funeral

There's no way to avoid a burial (or cremation, or whatever method you select); the body must be disposed of.

But there are certainly many ways to avoid a funeral service, if that's what you mean.

We have opted (my wife has already, er, taken up the option) for a greenwood burial with a brief ceremony, just so that family and friends can say goodbye, carried out by a humanist celebrant (http://www.humanism.org.uk/). It went fine.

A friend of mine died last year and gave his body to science and instructed that there should be no service or ceremony of any kind. That's fine by me, but I found that many of his old friends were quite upset at this and debated holding a memorial service of some kind. I doubt he'd have wanted that, but nothing came of it in the end.

margaretclare

DH and I want a 'green burial' in a wildflower cemetery. It's very close to a historic site, overlooked by Ashingdon Minster (battle of Ashingdon AD 1016). However, we don't want any kind of 'funeral service' either. We've been to too many - the coffin gets carried into church, a lot of words may be said which people either don't believe or which are hypocritical. And people feel they have to wear black - why? It may have been a colour that the deceased hated and never wore. If the deceased was a believer often the descendants are not, and don't know how to behave in church. I've been to funerals which come into all those categories.

We've left printed instructions of what we want done, and it should be a simple burial but no funeral service.