Who you should contact immediately following a death

When a death occurs at home or outside of a medical facility, you'll need to contact emergency personnel. If no one else was present when the death occurred, the police must be notified before the deceased is moved to a new location.

If your loved one was receiving hospice care while at home, contact the appropriate hospice representative. They’re typically responsible for notifying the funeral home you’ve selected.

When a death occurs while your loved one is in a hospital or care facility, their staff will notify you and contact the appropriate authorities. If you've already given them the name of a funeral home, the facility will contact them as well.

The funeral home handling the care of your loved one will help you with obtaining a death certificate and appropriate registration procedures. If you're unsure of whom you should notify or what your next steps should be, please call us at (651) 464-4422 for assistance.

Who you should contact within days of a death occurring

You’ll want to notify friends and relatives of the death. If it’s too painful for you to do this yourself, it's absolutely okay for a trusted friend or another family member to make the call in your place.

Now is the time to review any of your loved one’s prearranged wishes and meet with the professionals at your chosen funeral home to begin funeral planning. You may write an obituary entirely on your own to notify the community of your loved one's passing, or Roberts Family Funeral Home can assist you with that task.

If you’ve chosen Roberts Family Funeral Home, don't hesitate to contact us at (651) 464-4422 with any questions, even if your concerns aren't directly related to the funeral. We're experienced and well-versed in all topics relating to the loss of a loved one, and we’re ready to provide you with answers, advice, and guidance.

Your initial call with our funeral director should happen within the first 24-48 hours of your loved one’s passing. It allows us to inquire about any pre-arrangements and gather the information we need to transport your loved one to the funeral home. At later meetings, you'll be able to discuss your arrangements in greater detail. But we're always available to answer questions, provide emotional support, a sympathetic ear, and careful guidance.

What If pre-arrangements weren’t made?

If your loved one has not specified any arrangements beforehand, there are some initial questions you and other family will likely need to answer when you consult with your funeral home:

• What eco-friendly cremation and burial options are available in Minnesota?
• Should I choose embalming?
• Do I need to purchase a casket? An urn?
• What sort of funeral or memorial service should I plan?
• Are there any religious traditions or customs I need to plan for? Should I engage the services of a clergy member or spiritual leader?

These questions are just a starting point, and you don't need to know the answers right away. Don’t hesitate to contact us to gain a better understanding of your options and discuss what might be the most appropriate path forward. Our goal at Roberts Family Funeral Home is to make this process easier for you.

Lean on your support network

We encourage you and other family members to get in touch with relatives, neighbors, friends, clergy members or other spiritual advisors, and other trusted members of your community. While this can be especially difficult, it’s an important step to take.

When a death occurs, people in your network are typically more than happy to prepare food, look after children or pets, help with arrangements, or simply offer a kind word and open arms.

Planning a personalized funeral service

A service can take place in any setting — at your home, your church, outdoors, or at the Roberts Family Funeral Home facilities — and can incorporate music, poetry, art or personal memorabilia in the celebration of your loved one’s life. There are so many ways to personalize a service, and we're prepared to go above and beyond to meet your specific requests.

Our staff is experienced in understanding and graciously accommodating the needs of all beliefs, faiths, lifestyles, and relationships. We're here to answer your questions and guide you through the decisions you'll need to make.

Adding personalized details to your loved one’s celebration of life is an important part of planning a service. Every life is unique, and we believe every service should be, too.

If you’re interested in hosting a celebration of life or memorial gathering at a non-traditional location, you may want to utilize the services of SendOff, a funeral provider owned and operated by staff of Roberts Family Funeral Home.

Caring for a loved one's physical remains

Deciding how you’d like to care for your loved one’s physical remains is an important discussion to have with your family. If the deceased did not already indicate their wishes for final disposition, we’ll provide you with the necessary information so you can make the right decision for your loved one and your family.

Once you've chosen between burial and cremation, there are a few additional decisions to consider:

• For burial, you'll need to select a casket and a cemetery, and choose between a ground burial or entombment in a mausoleum.
• For cremation, you may want to select an urn and/or choose to bury, entomb, or scatter the cremated remains. There are a number of other options, such as turning your loved one’s ashes into jewelry, stones, artwork, and more.
• If the body is being donated to science you can decide if you wish to have the body present for the funeral or celebration of life prior to donation. Body donation can only occur if pre-registered with the organization. Learn more about body donation through the University of Minnesota’s Anatomy Bequest Program or the Mayo Clinic’s Body Donation Program.

When you meet with us

When you meet with a member of our staff to discuss your arrangements, we'll first provide you with a general price list to give you a basic idea for cost of services.

To help express your loved one's personality and life story, feel free to bring along any personal items — like photos, videos, music, crafts, or treasured items — that might give us a better understanding of how you envision paying tribute to your loved one.

We make this process as stress-free for you as we can. In order for us to register a death certificate, we ask that you bring the following information about your loved one to the arrangement meeting:

• Full legal name and home address
• Social security number
• Date of birth
• Place of birth
• Father's name
• Mother's maiden name
• Veteran's discharge papers (DD-214), if applicable
• Highest education
• Occupation
• Chosen place of burial, if applicable
• Clergy name and phone number, if applicable
• Names and relationships of survivors
• Insurance policy information, if applicable

Please bring the photograph you wish to post with their obituary and any clothing you'd like us to use if dressing them for the service.