What happens in the first hours?
If the person died in a hospital or care home, the institution issues the medical death certificate.
If the death happens at home, call the family doctor. If the doctor cannot be reached, call the on-call doctor or 112. The doctor confirms the death and issues the medical death certificate, which you need to report it.
You can then tell the closest relatives and decide whether to contact a funeral home.
Who reports the death, and how soon?
The death must be reported within 2 days to the district civil registry office of the place where it happened. The Canton of Ticino states this on the website of its Population Division.
If the person died at home, the widow, widower, partner, closest relative or cohabiting person must report it. So may whoever was present at the death or found the body. The report is made in person or in writing.
You need the medical death certificate. The office may also ask for other documents of the deceased, such as an identity document and the family booklet, so it helps to have them at hand.
If you appoint a funeral home, it takes care of all the formalities.
Do you need a funeral home?
You can handle the paperwork yourself or hand it to a funeral home. The cantonal regulation defines a funeral home as a business that organises, directly or indirectly, the preparation and transport of the body, the burial or cremation, the lying in state, the procession and the ceremony, and that deals with the administrative formalities.
In Ticino a funeral home needs the authorisation of the Health Office and is entered in the cantonal register. The choice is free: the regulation bans agreements between funeral homes and health facilities or municipalities that limit the family’s freedom of choice.
Family members may also dress the deceased themselves, if they wish.
When do the burial or cremation take place?
The cantonal regulation says that burial or cremation must take place no earlier than 24 hours and no later than 96 hours after death. The 96-hour limit can extend to 120 hours if the body is kept in a refrigerated cell.
In justified cases, and if there is no risk to hygiene or public health, the Health Office may exceptionally extend the deadline, after notifying the Cantonal Medical Officer. Decisions of the criminal authority remain reserved.
The day and place of the ceremony are agreed with the funeral home, the person officiating and the cemetery of the chosen municipality.
What does it cost, and who gives the prices?
The funeral home must tell the family in advance, precisely and clearly, the cost of each service and the total cost. This is an obligation of the cantonal regulation.
Cemetery costs come on top of the funeral home’s, and they depend on the municipality. In Lugano, for example, the fee schedule attached to the regulation provides, for residents and citizens of the municipality, a free 20-year burial in the common ground, a fee of 400 to 1,200 francs per square metre for a single or double grave of 30 years, and 100 to 150 francs a day for the lying-in-state room.
These are the fees of one municipality only. Others have their own: always ask for a written quote.
And after the first days?
Once the ceremony is over, other choices can be made more slowly: the funeral notice, the gravestone or plaque, the way to keep the memory alive. The guides below help you take them one at a time.
Frequently asked questions
- How long do I have to report a death in Ticino?
- Within 2 days, to the district civil registry office of the place where the death happened.
- What do I need to report a death?
- The medical death certificate. The office may ask for other documents of the deceased, such as an identity document and the family booklet.
- Who reports the death if the person dies at home?
- The widow, widower, partner, closest relative or cohabiting person, or whoever was present at the death or found the body. The report is made in person or in writing.
- How many hours after death can the funeral take place?
- By regulation, burial or cremation takes place no earlier than 24 hours and no later than 96 hours after death, up to 120 hours if the body is in a refrigerated cell.
- Can family members dress the deceased?
- Yes. The cantonal regulation provides that the dressing may be done by family members.
- Does the funeral home have to tell me the costs beforehand?
- Yes. It must inform the family precisely and clearly of the cost of each service and of the total cost.
Official sources
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