Death In The Family

Introduction

The death of a family member or friend is a difficult time, a time for grieving and dealing with your loss. The shock of losing a loved one often leaves us confused and unable to cope with ordinary routines of living, let alone the handling of the complex affairs of funerals and estates. Botswana Life Insurance has put together this set of guidelines which set out the various legal requirements you may face, and also offers advice on how to ensure your family are not left with complications to deal with in the event of your own death. We suggest you keep it with your family documents, particularly your insurance policies.

Causes Of Death

Natural Causes

If your family doctor has been attending the patient, he will issue a medical certificate giving the cause of death. You should then call a Funeral Undertaker who will remove the body to its own mortuary pending arrangements for the funeral and burial or cremation.

The Funeral Undertaker will come at any time. If the death is unexpected, for example due to a sudden heart attack, your family doctor should still be called and he will probably be able to determine the cause of death and issue a medical certificate.

The doctor will advise if a post-mortem examination is necessary.

If you have no family or attending doctor, call the police who will arrange for an examination by the District Surgeon, who will issue the medical certificate giving the cause of death.

Unnatural Causes

If the death is due to an accident, crime, or suspected suicide, the police must be called first. The police will arrange to have the body moved to the State Mortuary, and for the District Surgeon to carry out an examination, or post-mortem.

After the medical certificate has been issued, you will be asked to remove the body from the State Mortuary to the premises of your own Funeral Undertaker.

Death In Hospital

In the event of death in hospital authorities will retain the body in the hospital mortuary until all the formalities have been completed and they will issue a Notification of Death medical certificate and attend to all other documentation.

The hospital will then request you arrange for the removal of the body to the mortuary of your Funeral Undertaker.

Arranging The Funeral

There are a number of formalities, which must be completed before a funeral and burial or cremation can take place, such as burial and cremation orders.

Your Funeral Undertaker is an experienced and sympathetic advisor and he should be called as soon as possible after the death. A member of the family, a friend, or a hospital official may do this.

It is important that all arrangements are made in consultation with a Funeral Undertaker who will help arrange suitable times and dates with your minister, the cemetery and other authorities. The Funeral Parlour will usually send a counsellor to your home to help you decide on the arrangements.

Your Funeral Undertaker will need the following documentation and information:

• The deceased’s Omang or some other form of identification.
• The deceased’s place of birth and place of death.
• Notification of Death, which is issued by a hospital or a letter from the chief.
• If the deceased was not a resident of Botswana, a passport will be required and there are various different procedures to follow which your Funeral Underaker can advise on.

Matters For You To Decide

Your Funeral Undertaker will help and guide you through the many small, but important and necessary, decisions you will have to make about the funeral arrangements. The final decisions, however, will remain yours. Some of the matters you will have to look at include:

• Burial or Cremation?

The deceased’s Will might give an instruction or, failing that, you may have knowledge of the deceased’s expressed wish in this regard. The religion of the deceased may disapprove of cremation and his/her minister should be consulted.

• Location

Where is the funeral to be held? You must decide whether to use your own church or perhaps a funeral chapel, or your own home

• Officiator

Who is to officiate? If you do not have a regular minister in mind, the funeral director can put you in touch with one. Or you may prefer to have a non-religious funeral, but would still like a family member or friend to speak at the ceremony. He/she should be alerted in good time.

• Press notices

The Funeral Undertaker or family member/friend can arrange this if necessary.

• Other decisions

You will be consulted on matters such as music at the ceremony, programmes in the church and other details. You may wish to discuss these points with your family or minister before making a decision.

• General information on burial

In urban areas, burial sites must be booked through the local council for which there is a fee. In rural villages, consultation on the burial site is made through the village authorities.

After The Funeral

• Who should be informed of the death?

After a death in the family, all your family and close friends will be aware of the loss, but there are other people and institutions that will need to know and must be officially notified.

The first step is the registration of the death with the Registrar of Births and Deaths. The funeral director will normally do this. If none is involved, the surviving spouse or nearest living relative must advise the Master of the High Court within 30 days of the death.

Ask the funeral director for six certified copies of the death certificate, as various authorities will require a copy each.

If the deceased has left a Will naming an Executor/Executrix, it will be this person’s responsibility to notify everyone concerned.

It would help the Executor if you were to list all the financial connections of the deceased such as banks, hire purchase institutions, traders with whom the deceased had accounts, pension funds, insurance companies, etc., and you will be expected to assist the Executor in compiling a list of the deceased’s assets and liabilities.

Notifying other more social associations, such as sporting, hobby and business clubs and family connections would normally be left to you or a close family member or friend.

Access To Cash And Benefits

Normally the deceased’s bank and building society accounts are frozen until the estate has been wound up.

Unless you or another family member has signing rights on the deceased’s account, no money may be drawn from it in the immediate period after the death. It is usually possible, however, to arrange a temporary loan from the bank until the estate is finally settled.

The deceased may have had insurance policies such as life insurance, or other policies, with a death benefit. There is usually a beneficiary named in the policy to whom the proceeds of the policy will be paid directly.

A most valuable benefit in a life policy is a “funeral” benefit whereby an IMMEDIATE cash sum is paid out of the sum assured to help meet funeral costs.

You should check all the deceased’s life or accident policies to see if these benefits apply. Your broker, Life Assurance advisor or branch office of the insurance company will help you here.

Practical Arrangements

Planning And Reorganising Your Own Estate

The most important advice you can be given is to MAKE A WILL.

Don’t imagine that you are not rich enough to need a Will. Most of us are worth more dead than alive. We may leave a house, furniture, motor car, perhaps some family heirlooms, and, of course, we may have proceeds from Life Assurance policies, Group Life Schemes, Provident Funds and other insurance policies.

By making a Will all your assets can be properly distributed and your estate cleared without squabble or misunderstandings.

All that is legally required is:

• The Will to be signed by the Testator in the presence of two (2) witnesses who must also sign each page and at the end of the Will.
• Witnesses must be at least 14 years old.
• Witnesses must not be beneficiaries under the Will.
• Witnesses must also not be related to the Executor or work for the corporation of the Executor.
• Any changes or additions to the Will must be similarly signed and witnessed.
• Make sure that the Executor or another responsible person knows the whereabouts of your Will and keeps it in a safe place.

In making a Will, you have not committed yourself permanently to the disposal of your assets. You can make a new Will at any time, stating that it revokes all previous Wills, or the intentional destruction of a Will is all that is needed to revoke it.

However, if you have considerable assets, or your marital situation is at all complex (a previous divorce, stepchildren, for example), then you are well advised to consult an attorney. Any fees involved will prove a good investment in the long term.