A funeral in Spain

1. Would you like to be buried in Spain? Some retirees prefer to be buried in the country where they live as so-called 'expats'. This has taken off a bit more because the transfer of a dead person is quite expensive and because the taboo on a funeral 'abroad' has decreased.

To be buried in Spain

1. Going to live in a foreign country does not always mean that people will be buried there. Yet there is more interest in wanting to be buried or buried in the country of emigration in the event of death. This is because there are considerable costs involved if the deceased has to be transferred to the Netherlands. In general, such a transfer is only insured for costs in the event of death within the framework of a travel insurance policy. In addition, a funeral or interment in Spain can be considerably cheaper than a funeral in the Netherlands, especially if you do not opt ​​for expensive options. While there are definitely cemeteries in Spain where the deceased is indeed buried, in the busier and rockier areas of Spain the coffin is more likely to be buried in a wall.

Funeral insurance or fund

1. Wondering whether a funeral insurance policy that has already been taken out may cover a funeral in a country other than the Netherlands! Inform yourself about this in advance as soon as or before you take the plunge into emigration. The experience has thus far been that such funeral costs cover is indeed possible, especially since a "normal" funeral in Spain, for example, is much less expensive than a comparable funeral in the Netherlands.

Find out about the burial possibilities on the spot

1. Of course, these are not the most attractive visits: a conversation with the local funeral home or a visit to the cemetery in or near the place where one lives in Spain, but the next of kin may care a lot about searching if although it is indicated where and how one wishes to be buried (cremation is of course also possible in Spain).

Terminal patients go to a care facility in Spain

1. It is not customary in Spain for someone who is terminally ill to stay "at home": the Spanish doctor will always ask whether the patient will be placed in a nursing home for the terminally ill or in a hospital . Of course one is free to deviate from this Spanish custom, but then one must count on a visit from the Guardia Civil (Spanish police), who will accompany a doctor and a nurse after death in determining death. The (police) doctor has the task of assessing whether the death of the person in question did not take place under criminal circumstances, because the person in question died at home.

In Spain people often burial within 24 hours

1. As in many countries with a warm climate, burials in Spain are often within 24 hours of death. The deceased is therefore also very quickly removed from the home where the death took place. Once the authorities have been notified of the death (generally by the promptly warned undertaker), the deceased may be removed from the house within half an hour.

The conversation with the Spanish undertaker

1. It is of course important to correctly identify the deceased for both the Spanish and Dutch authorities. Both the police if present and the undertaker will ask for:

The funeral or interment

1. A funeral car in Spain that transports the coffin doesn't look like a hearse at first glance: often a large silver or white estate car is used.

The interment has nothing poetic:

1. Upon arrival, the chest is placed on a kind of truck with a lifting platform and is then placed in the designated grave by two workmen. After that, the possibly selected and already milled stone is placed directly against the grave by the workmen with already prepared mortar.

The options for the grave are:

1. Nothing: the usual white cement covering is laid in front of the opening, an open rotating glass plate in front of the gravestone behind which small plants or flowers can be placed, a grid for the tombstone, on which wreaths can be hung. Flowers can be placed within this grid.