Before anything else — breathe
Nothing has to happen in the next five minutes. The body can stay where it is until medical staff arrive. Don't move them, don't wash them, don't try to dress them. If you're alone in the house, call someone close to come sit with you.
Whether the death happened thirty minutes ago, two hours, or six — the next steps are the same. There's no clock running you need to outrun.
Step 1 — Who to call, and when
If it happened in a hospital — you don't need to do anything yet. The on-duty doctor confirms the death and writes the medical certificate. Hospital staff will call you when the body is ready to be released, usually 6–12 hours later.
If it happened at home — call their family doctor first if they had one. If you don't have that number or it's the middle of the night, call 112 and ask for SMURD. A doctor will come to the house, confirm the death, and issue the medical certificate. In Bucharest or another major city this takes 30–60 minutes; in a village, allow 1–3 hours.
If it was sudden, violent, or unexplained — call 112 right away. Police are required by law to attend, and the body will go to the forensic institute (Medicina Legală) for autopsy. That process holds the body for 2–5 days. You can't speed it up, but a funeral home can handle every other piece of paperwork in parallel.
Romanian emergency numbers: 112 (general / SMURD), 119 (elder abuse hotline)Step 2 — Call a funeral home
Once you have the medical certificate in hand, call us. Within an hour or two of the death is ideal — the earlier we know, the sooner all the downstream paperwork starts moving. We'll send a licensed hearse and our team picks the deceased up at the address.
From that point on, you don't deal with the Civil Registry, the public-health authority (DSP), or anyone else. You decide a few things — the package, what clothes for the funeral, which church, which day — and we do the rest.
Step 3 — Find these papers (it's a short list)
Look for these somewhere in the house, ideally in a wallet or document drawer:
- The deceased's national ID card or passport
- Their pension stub or any document proving they were insured or retired — this is what unlocks the 9,192 RON state aid
- Your own ID (whoever is signing the funeral arrangements on behalf of the family)
- Marriage or birth certificate, if there's been a name change or you need to prove relationship
Step 4 — Decisions you'll need to make with us
When we meet (in person or over the phone), here's what you'll choose:
- Which package — Essential, Traditional, Cremation, or Premium (we'll explain the trade-offs)
- Type of service — Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, or secular
- Which church and priest, if you want a religious service
- Cemetery or crematorium — whether the family already has a burial plot or needs a new one
- What to dress the deceased in (a suit, a dress they loved, the formal clothes they kept for special occasions)
- Who to notify, and how — close family and friends, colleagues, neighbours
- Memorial meal (pomana) — at home, at a restaurant, or at the cemetery chapel
Step 5 — Spreading the word and pacing the days
In the next day or so, you'll start telling family and close friends. If anyone is travelling from abroad — Italy, Spain, the UK, the US — work backwards from their flight to set the funeral date.
Set aside what they'll be dressed in. Pick a photo or two for the wake.
If you've chosen a religious service, the priest will want a brief conversation about the deceased — their name, baptism, any wishes. We coordinate that meeting and the timing of the service.
Small mistakes that cause real problems later
- Don't try to move or clean the body before the doctor and the funeral team arrive — it can delay the paperwork and complicate the medical certificate
- Don't transport the deceased in your own car — it's illegal under Romanian Law 102/2014, and a public-health violation. Only a licensed hearse with certified staff is permitted
- Don't sign anything without reading it — a serious funeral home will walk you through every line of the contract, take the time
- Don't pay large sums in cash upfront without an invoice — Romanian consumer-protection rules (ANPC) require itemised invoicing
- Don't lose the pension stub — without it, the 9,192 RON state funeral aid can't be claimed
- Don't rush the ceremony — the paperwork itself takes at least 2 days, and trying to compress it leads to mistakes