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Other matters of interest : Options Available Regarding Ashes
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In view of your decision to choose a cremation funeral instead of a burial, a decision will have to be taken by you in regard to what to do with the cremated remains (ashes). In terms of the funeral contract, Oakleigh Funeral Home will collect the ashes from the crematorium for retention in a plastic liner within a temporary container for a maximum period of two months as part of the funeral services. Caskets of a permanent nature are not provided as part of the funeral director's services but can be purchased at the time of the funeral arrangements or thereafter. If instructions have not been given to us at the time of the cremation as to their final resting place, then it will be necessary to advise us within the stipulated period. Thereafter we would have the right to dispose of them without having to refer back to the person who gave us the funeral instructions.
In order to assist you in coming to a decision we set out the various options available:
- Family may collect ashes:
- Respectably wrapped in the plastic liner inside a temporary cardboard container - no charge;
- In a permanent casket of wood - additional charge, depending on type of ash casket selected. Please note that arrangements must be made at least 24 hours prior to collecting the ashes to enable the request to be attended to timeously.
- At your request, we will retain the ashes for a period in excess of two months, but a permanent casket would have to be purchased and a monthly fee charged until the final disposition instruction is given.
- We can package and deliver them by Courier service to a local address in either the temporary container or permanent casket. Whilst every precaution is taken against loss, we do not accept responsibility should they not reach their destination. Additional cost.
- Niche and Plaque facilities are available at most crematoriums, some cemeteries and certain church grounds and we can assist and advise you in this regard. A casket or any other solid container suitable to fit the niche aperture will be required (Additional cost).
- Plaque only facilities are also available at certain crematoriums and cemeteries, in those instances where ashes have been disposed of by other means. Additional cost.
- An area has been set aside at some crematoriums/Churches for burial below a memorial stone. Additional cost.
- Facilities are available at some crematoriums for:
- Burying in the Garden of Remembrance with/without the funeral director in attendance. Additional cost.
- Burying in a communal grave. Additional cost.
- Some Crematoriums and Churches have a Book of Remembrance where entries can be made in date of death sequence, recording the name of the deceased and a few personalised details. Additional cost.
- Oakleigh can arrange for the scattering of ashes at sea or in the sea, Drakensburg, Kruger National Park or any other venue of your preference. Additional cost and subject to feasibility.
- As there is no health hazard with the retaining or burying of ashes it is in order for them to be retained by families or buried in the grounds of a private residence. A suitably inscribed plaque could be affixed in the garden,
Please note that the grounds of crematoriums are privately or municipally owned and no person is allowed to: scatter or bury ashes therein, erect any type of memorial or place any form of inscribed plaque in the gardens themselves. Options 4 to 7 are available at most crematoriums, including those at Stellawood (Durban) and Mountain Rise (Pietermaritzburg). Please contact us to inform us of your decision or for clarification on any of the matters referred to above.
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