How Long It Takes to Receive a Loved One’s Remains

Following a loved one’s cremation services in Tupelo, MS, you might think that you’re going to get their cremated remains back on the spot. But in reality, this isn’t usually the case. More often than not, a funeral home is going to take more than a week to get your loved one’s remains back to you. There are several steps that they’ll need to take before they can release the remains to you so that you can decide what to do with them next. Find out what a funeral home will need to do before handing your loved one’s remains over to you below. 

They’ll need to process your loved one’s cremated remains. 

When you get your loved one’s remains back in the aftermath of their Tupelo, MS cremation, they’re going to be small and uniform in size. But that isn’t what remains typically look like right after a cremation. At that point, the remains are essentially a small pile of bone fragments. A funeral home will take these bone fragments and process them to make them look like the remains that you’ll actually receive. This doesn’t take too long, but it is one of the reasons why you can’t get immediate access to a loved one’s remains. 

They’ll need to place your loved one’s remains into an urn or some other kind of container. 

Once a funeral home has processed your loved one’s remains, they’ll need to find something to put them in. Most families will choose to have a funeral home put them into an urn, but your family can also have remains placed into a more basic kind of cremation container if you would like. Whatever the case, you can cut down on the amount of time you’ll have to wait for your loved one’s remains by making sure that you get an urn or cremation container to a funeral home quickly. 

They’ll need to fill out the proper paperwork. 

As you can probably imagine, there is a whole lot of paperwork that a funeral home will need to fill out while cremating a person. It’s very important for them to fill out and file this paperwork properly. This paperwork is going to be a big part of the reason why it can take some time for a funeral home to provide you with your loved one’s cremated remains. But you’ll need to do your best to stay patient while this process plays itself out. 

They’ll need to arrange to have you come and pick up your loved one’s remains. 

After a funeral home has done everything else that we’ve talked about here, then and only then can they arrange to have you come to their facility to pick up your loved one’s remains. You should remain in contact with a funeral home so that you’re able to schedule a pickup at a time that works well for you. Most funeral homes will work with you to find a time that is convenient so that you can get your loved one’s remains back and think about what you would like to do with them after that. 

Do you have additional questions about Tupelo, MS cremations that you would like to get answered? We can provide you with the answers that you need when you trust us to cremate a loved one for you. Give us a call today to speak with a funeral director about our cremation services.