Laval Funeral Homes | FAQ
Laval Funeral Homes | A Practical Frequently Asked Questions Section (FAQ)
Consult it as necessary in order to better understand our Laval funeral homes, find useful information.
Send flowers to the family
After a loved one has deceased, it is required to order a certificate or a copy of the act of death from the Quebec’s Register of Civil Status (Directeur de l’état civil). These are the only official documents which will serve as proofs of death.
The application may be made by mail, in person or by completing the online application form available on the website of Quebec’s Register of Civil Status (Directeur de l’état civil).
- Note:
This procedure may be initiated when the funeral arrangements are made, i.e., when filling out the declaration of death online with your counselor. The advantage of doing so is that you will accelerate the process of updating the register of civil status and thereby more quickly receive the copy of the act of death or death certificate.
The death of a loved one is a difficult experience to go through. Grieving relatives are faced with multiple legal and administrative formalities following the death and the process can sometimes be complex. Our counselors are available to help you plan the final tribute to your loved one as serenely as possible.
We invite you to read the information provided below to help you through the process.
Had the deceased made funeral prearrangements?
First and foremost, verify if the deceased had concluded a funeral prearrangement contract and inform us thereof, if applicable.
How can I know if the deceased had made funeral prearrangements?
When an individual concludes a funeral prearrangement contract with Complexes funéraires Yves Légaré, pocket-sized cards are provided in order to inform third parties of the existence of the contract.
It is possible that the deceased kept one of these cards in their wallet along with other identity cards.
In addition to the funeral home’s contact information, the card indicates the name of the contract holder, the contract number as well as information on the people to contact in the event of death. The contract holder can distribute these cards to the people with a need to know.
Please note that there is no centralized register of funeral prearrangement contracts. To find out if the deceased concluded such a contract, you will need to contact the deceased’s loved ones and obtain this information from any funeral home you contact.
If death is imminent
Contact us as soon as possible. A counselor will guide you through the process.
If death occurs at the hospital or in a CHSLD
With your consent, the establishment will contact us to make arrangements to have the body of the deceased delivered to our funeral home.
An appointment will then be set with one of our counselors during which you’ll be able to make any required funeral arrangements. (This takes approximately 3 hours.).
If death occurs at home
First of all, dial 9-1-1 as soon as possible. An Urgences-Santé doctor will confirm the death and issue an attestation of death.
Once you have the required documents in hand, contact us to arrange for the transport of the deceased’s body to our funeral home as soon as possible.
An appointment will then be set with one of our counselors during which you’ll be able to make any required funeral arrangements. (This takes approximately 3 hours.).
If death occurs abroad
Dial our toll-free number: 1-800-454-8767. Our international repatriation experts will take the necessary administrative steps with the applicable country’s authorities to repatriate the deceased’s body or ashes as soon as possible.
What must I bring with me to my initial appointment with my counselor?
Initially, you will need to provide the counselor with the following information and the deceased’s personal belongings:
- Health insurance card
- Social insurance number
- Driver licence number (if applicable)
- Funeral prearrangement contract (if applicable)
- Burial contract (if applicable)
- Life insurance policy (if applicable)
- Home address
- Date and place of birth
- Parents’ first and last names (including mother’s maiden name)
- Recent photograph for thanatopraxy (embalmment), the publication of obituaries in newspapers as well as the printing of bookmarks and thank-you cards
This information will enable your counselor to fill out the declaration of death (DEC-100 Form) which will be sent to Quebec’sRegister of Civil Status (Directeur de l’état civil du Québec).
- If the deceased was married
The same information mentioned above regarding the spouse will be required, as well as the date and place of marriage.
- If the deceased was divorced
The date of divorce will be require.
- In the case a viewing is held
You will need to provide the following personal effects of the deceased
- Clothing (long sleeves and high neckline)
- Footwear (optional)
- Undergarments
- Eyeglasses and case
- Jewelry and other significantt items such as a rosary, etc.
- Hair dye
- Makeup
- Dental prosthesis and case
The following links may prove useful to plan a funeral or liquidate an estate.
Funeral planning
What to do in the event of Death?
Follow this link to obtain a copy of the What to Do in the Event of Death? guide published by the Québec government. This guide provides an overview of the steps to be taken following a death. It also gives you access to “My personalized itinerary” for a customized list of steps to take depending on the deceased’s specific situation.
List of government agencies and departments to contact
Get information on the procedures for cancelling the deceased’s various benefits, including Old Age Security, employment insurance benefits, income tax credits, etc.
Directeur de l’État civil du Québec
Declaring a death
Revenu Québec
Service Canada
Canada Revenue Agency
Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec
Death benefits and pensions
Retraite Québec/Régie des rentes du Québec (RRQ)
Société de l’assurance automobile Québec (SAAQ)
Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST)
Indemnisation des victimes d’actes criminels (IVAC)
Ministère du Travail, de l’Emploi et Solidarité sociale du Québec (MESS)
Services Québec (Special Benefit for Funeral Expenses)
Veterans Affairs Canada (Last Post Fund)
Prearrangements (Prearranged Funeral Services Contracts)
Other useful links
Directeur de l’État civil du Québec (To order certificates and copies of acts)
Chambre des notaires du Québec (To seach a will and a mandate in case of incapacity)
Barreau du Québec (To search a will and a mandate in case of incapacity)
Registre des droits personnels et réels mobiliers (RDPRM)
Office de la protection du consommateur du Québec
Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association Inc.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (What to do with inherated firearms)
Ordre des évaluateurs agréés du Québec
Ordre des comptables professionnels agréés du Québec
Vocabulary in the Funeral Industry
A little vocabulary…
Aquamation: Process consisting of dissolving body tissue in water as opposed to cremation. The solid remains are then reduced to ashes or placed in an urn that may be buried in a cemetery or kept in a columbarium.
Cemetery: A place of burial for human remains.
Cinerary urn vault: A vault for one or several cinerary urns installed in the ground.
Columbarium: An indoor or outdoor vault lined with niches for one or several cinerary urns.
Concession: The right to be interred in a cemetery’s burial site, a mausoleum or a columbarium (plot, niche, cinerary urn vault or crypt).
Concessionaire: An individual who holds the rights conferred by a concession.
Cremation: Act of reducing human remains to ashes by burning them. The ashes are then kept in an urn that can be buried in a cemetery, placed in a columbarium or retained by relatives.
Crematorium: A place where cremations are performed.
Crypt: A recess in a wall designed for one casket containing the remains of a deceased person.
Embalmment (Thanatopraxy): Art and science of preserving human remains by treating them to forestall decomposition, in order to keep them suitable for public display at a funeral.
Grave: An excavation for burial of a body or ashes located in a cemetery.
Mausoleum: A funerary building containing crypts and a columbarium containing niches and, if applicable, cinerary urn vaults.
Niche: A space in a columbarium designed for one or several cinerary urns.
Plot: Site devoted to the burial of bodies or ashes in a cemetery.
Reliquary: Receptacle designed to contain part of the ashes of a deceased.
Sepulture: A place where human remains are placed (plot, niche, cinerary urn vault or crypt).
A bit of vocabulary: Proofs of death
Attestation of cremation: The attestation of cremation confirms that the crematorium has cremated the remains of the deceased. This document may be required before proceeding with a burial or for repatriation.
Attestation of death: Document issued by a funeral home confirming the death of a person. The attestation issued by a funeral home has no legal value, but can however be accepted by third parties in the settlement of the estate. Not to be confused with the attestation delivered by the Directeur de l’état civil du Québec which confirms the presence or absence in the Québec register of civil status of an act of death or a notation made in such act.
Copy of an act of death/Death certificate: Documents issued by the Directeur de l’état civil du Québec serving as a proof of death. They are the only two documents that can serve has a legal proof of death in Québec.
Declaration of death (DEC-100): The declaration of death is a form that is completed by a close relative of the deceased and the funeral director. It provides information about the deceased, the spouse of the deceased and the disposal of the body.
The Declaration of death and the Attestation of death (DEC-101), are used to declare the death of a person to the Directeur de l’état civil du Québec in order for him to issue proofs of death (Copy of an act of death and Death certificate).
FORM SP-3: Return of death (SP-3) and Attestation of death (DEC-101): The Return of death (SP-3) and the Attestation of death (DEC-101) are the two documents included in the Form SP-3. This form is completed by the physician who attests the death in order to establish the identity of the deceased as well as the causes and circumstances of his death.
Because of their confidential nature, causes and circumstances of death can only be disclosed to specific actors (medical file, funeral director and Institut de la statistique du Québec) and will only appear on the Return of death form (SP-3).
As to the Attestation of death (DEC-101), a copy will be given to the declarant of the death with the Declaration of death (DEC-100) and the other will be used by the Directeur de l’état civil to enter the death in the Québec register of civil status.
If the deceased contributed sufficiently to the Québec Pension Plan, three forms of death benefits may be available
Death benefit
The death benefit is a lump sum of a maximum amount of $2,500 which is paid in priority to the person who paid for funeral expenses or to the heirs and, in certain circumstances, to the deceased’s descendants and their surviving spouse.
Surviving spouse’s pension
If you qualify as the surviving spouse, you may also be eligible for a surviving spouse’s pension.
Orphan’s pension
An orphan’s pension may be paid if the deceased was the parent of an underage child or was providing financial support for an underage child for at least one year.
- Note:
Your Complexes funéraires Yves Légaré counselor will complete the survivor’s pension application with you.
The information presented on this page is of a general nature and does not cover the full array of possible situations. For more information on this, visit the website of Retraite Québec or consult your legal advisor.
There are multiple steps involved in settling an Estate.
The importance of consulting a professional
Each Estate has its own particularities. It is therefore recommended to consult a notary of your choice or a lawyer who is qualified in the matters of Estate settlement. This professional will be able to guide you through the process and draft the various legal documents required.
Will searches
To find out if the deceased left a will, start by searching through his or her personal papers. Also, verify if the deceased had a safety deposit box in a financial institution where he or she may have kept his or her will.
Applications for will search certificates
Regardless of whether you are convinced that the deceased did not make a will or are certain that you are in possession of the deceased’s most recent will, you will still need to have a will search conducted at the Chambre des notaires du Québec and the Barreau du Québec in order to obtain the required search certificates.
These two certificates will confirm the existence of a last will made before a notary or drafted by a lawyer.
You can undertake these searches yourself. However, if you wish to receive the results more quickly, the notary or lawyer of your choice may carry out the searches for you.
For more information on this, click on the following links:
The role of the liquidator
The liquidator is the person whose mandate is to liquidate the Estate.
If the deceased had made a will before a notary, a liquidator is usually appointed in the will. If no liquidator has been appointed in a will, the heirs will need to appoint one or liquidate the Estate together.
Steps involved in the liquidation of a succession
Each Estate is unique and will be liquidated differently, according to the deceased’s patrimony and family relationships.
The following steps are usually involved in the liquidation of a succession Estate:
- Obtain the will search certificates and a copy of the deceased’s last will, if applicable;
- Issue the various notices of death (to government authorities, service providers, etc.);
- Draft an Estate inventory;
- Retrieve the deceased’s assets;
- Pay off the deceased’s liabilities as well as those born from their Estate;
- Close the deceased’s utility accounts and terminate his memberships (telephone, electricity, etc.);
- Prepare the income tax returns and obtain the clearance certificates from tax authorities;
- Distribute the net assets of the succession;
- Present a final rendering of account and have it approved by the heirs.
….Ashes in the wind
At some point in their lives, many wonder about their [...]
When I die, I’m leaving you my Facebook account
Nowadays, everyone has a multitude of online accounts such [...]
The deceased had debts
Nowadays, access to credit is becoming easier, which means [...]
Organ and tissue donation by way of a mandate or will
Today, it is widely recognized that organ donations can [...]
Respect for the wishes of the deceased
"I do not want to disturb my children..." The [...]
A will won’t kill you!
When you die, who will inherit your property? Who [...]
About Yves Légaré Funeral Complexes
With you… Grieving is a profoundly intimate experience. That’s why our funeral homes in Montreal, Laval and the South Shore offer everything you need in time of grief. We can share our pain with others; however, depending on our beliefs, traditions and memories, the process always takes on a profoundly personal meaning. Yves Légaré Funeral Complexes mission is to make things easier for you to pay a final tribute to your loved one in a respectful and dignified setting. Our experienced funeral counselors and professionals such as executor of will provide a one-of-a-kind funeral counseling service. It is important for us to help you get through this difficult time.
Information Request
PERSONAL INFORMATION PROTECTION POLICY
Our website does not store any of the information communicated during a session. Your name and contact details are not stored on our servers.
However, if you make comments by e-mail, we reserve the right to collect this information for follow-up purposes. This information will not be shared with third parties, and you may request that it be removed from our archives at any time by contacting:
Tomasz Hlywa: thlywa@yveslegare.com
Phone: 514 595-1500