It has been months since my brother died. The inquest has taken ages. All we want to do is have the funeral so that we can say good-bye. He died in such awful and sudden circumstances that none of us have had any closure. We cannot organise a funeral until we know when the body will be released. How can we find out about this?
Lawyer Answers (1): Answers from lawyers are general preliminary responses. They are not formal legal advice and cannot taken account of all your circumstances. They do not create a lawyer–client relationship.
Answer by Kate Dodgson, Brisbane 4000 QLD
- You can contact a funeral director as soon as your loved one has died and they will help you with the arrangements.
- The funeral director can contact the coroner and arrange to collect the body as soon as the coroner has finished the identification and the post-mortem processes.
- If you have objected to a post-mortem it is best not to set a date for the funeral as it may take a while for the coroner to consider your objection.