Funeral Procedures

Of course losing a loved wether you are in the UK or indeed abroad is a very traumatic experience for all concerned. But when a loved one dies in a foreign country things can be much more difficult there is a lot of information that you need to be aware of

Firstly your local doctor will confirm the death and supply you with a death certificate after which you should then hand to the funeral director you have chosen who will then make necessary arrangement for your loved one to be taken to the mortuary.

In Bulgaria it's common for the deceased to be interred at the local village cemetery within a couple of days.But many of them are unkept and indeed grossly overcrowded.

 This is not essential you can choose a cemetery in your nearst biggest town.

 The usual way is that the coffin is transported there by either a hearse if you happen to live in the bigger towns or in fact on the back of a trailer in which the coffin is placed please be aware that it is common practise for the coffin not to have a lid.

If however according to either your wishes or that of your loved ones and Family is that you want to be returned

to the UK this is the procedure.

Firstly The body of the deceased is embalmed and placed in a wooden coffin, which in turn is put in an airtight shipping box.

 The shipment must be accompanied by

a death certificate

a certificate of embalming

document certifying that the deceased had not been suffering from a contagious disease.

In case the body had been cremated, the urn with the cremated remains must be accompanied by

a death certificate

a certificate of cremation.

 All of the above documents should be legalised by

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The Legalisation Office

 Old Admiralty Building,

 Whitehall,

 London, SW1A 2LG.

 Tel: 020 7008 1111. Fax: 020 7008 1010.

www.fco.gov.uk/legalisation

Before the airtight box or urn is shipped back to Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Embassy’s Consular Service will affix its official stamp. This service is free of charge.

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Cremation

In case of death of foreign nationals in the country

the crematorium will provide

 Connection with the insurance company

Specialized transport pokoynika;

Balsamatsiya;

Prepare the necessary documents, but comply with relevant legislation;

 Repatriation of the deceased to a country in the world

 The necessary consultations between relatives and insurers.

The approx cost for a Cremation depends on which type of service you want

Express Creamtion in which your loved ones remains will be returned to you in an urn 24 hrs after will cost

approx 385 euros

Full service cremation can be anything between

400 and 3000 euros

but includes everything

There is a cremation facility in Bulgaria which is situated in the capital Sofia,

There they offer various services including either

Full funeral sevice

which will take care of all aspects of the funeral including

 transport,

Funeral service

preparing of the grave,

 wreaths, flowers and other case-specific goods and services offered by the company.

this can cost between approx

 Full cremation

The approx cost of a cremation at Sofia is