What to do when someone dies in Spain?

What to do when someone dies in Spain?

Twice within the last year, someone we know in Spain has died. In both cases they were people we interviewed in our “Ask an Expat” series. And in both cases they died much younger than they should have. In one of the cases, the spouse ended up moving back to Canada and had to deal with a lot of complications with Spanish authorities.

It made us think. What if either one of us died tomorrow? What do we do? How do we prepare?

I don’t have first-hand experience with someone dying in Spain (knock on wood). But I did a lot of research for this post so I’ll tell you everything I learned. Besides telling you how the process works, I cover what the average cost of a funeral should be and cover a few things you can do to prepare for the death of a loved one.

Note: if anyone reading this has first-hand experience with someone dying in Spain, I would be incredibly grateful if they left a comment at the bottom of this post. I know people like to comment on Facebook, but if you comment below then everyone can see it and can benefit from your experience. Thank you!

Note 2: Many thanks to Neal at Funeral Care Spain who contacted me and corrected a few of my errors. Very much appreciated. The post was corrected 12/12/2024 to reflect these changes.

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Place of Death (and how it determines what you do)

Death in a hospital

If you die in a hospital, the medical staff will take care of most of the arrangements. You should have a funeral home in mind (further below I have a section “Planning ahead”. One of the items on the list is having a funeral home). Know that the hospital needs your written consent to move your body to a funeral home, they cannot appoint one for you.

The hospital will issue a Medical death certificate (Certificado Médico de Defunción). This document is essential for registering the death and obtaining the necessary permits for burial or cremation (to be covered below).

Death at home

If someone dies at home, you should call the emergency number 112 or 092 (municipal police).

Request a doctor when calling the emergency number. The doctor will certify the cause of death and issue the Medical death certificate (the Certificado Médico de Defunción).

Again, if you have a funeral home in mind you should call them. They will come and remove the body. And again, know that authorities cannot move the body without written consent.

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Funeral home

Whether deceased in a hospital or at home, the body will end up at a funeral home. The staff there will lead you through the process.

Registering the death. In most cases, it is the funeral home that will register the death. To do that, they take the Medical Death certificate (Certificado Médico de Defunción) to the local Civil registry which is usually at the town hall. This is usually done within 24 hours of the death.

(In some cases, you can also register the death. This is rare though. You’ll need the Medical Death certificate, the deceased’s passport, and your own identification).

Once the death is registered, The Civil Registry will issue a Death Certificate (Certificado de Defunción), which might take 7 – 10 days (but that doesn’t stop burial/cremation proceedings which can be carried out once the death is registered).

Note that you should get various death certificates; a standard Spanish death certificate (written in Spanish) and an International Death Certificate (written in a number of languages including Spanish and English). Again, the funeral home will most likely arrange these for you but you can also get them yourself at the Civil Registry, they are free of charge. They can also be obtained online.

Once the death has been registered, the funeral home can proceed with burial or cremation (see my note below). This is usually (but not necessarily) done within 24 – 48 hours of the death.

But there are some things you should know:

Cremation: If the deceased is to be cremated, you will need to obtain a Cremation Permit (Permiso de Cremación) from the same Civil Registry office that issued the Death Certificate.

If cremated, you will receive the deceased’s ashes in an urn. Scattering ashes in Spain is usually illegal. You should check local regulations where you are or consult with the funeral home.

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Repatriation

What if you want the deceased’s body buried or cremated in their home country?

Again, you have to work with the funeral director and it can be complicated depending on the requirements of your home country. You have to contact your local consulate (which you should do anyway, even if not considering repatriation).

Note that if the deceased does not have any family members living in their home country, they may not be able to return home at all.

Contact your Consulate

I mentioned above that you have to contact your home consulate in the case of repatriation.

Otherwise you don’t have to contact your consulate…but you should. They can help you with local contacts ( they may, for example, offer a list of relevant funeral homes in Spain) and can also help you with certain documentation in your home country that may be required.

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The Cost of a Funeral in Spain

The average cost of a funeral in Spain is around 3,700 Euros. That includes about 1,200 for a coffin, 650 for cemetery fees, 550 for the funeral home and about 1,300 for all the miscellaneous odds and ends that come with a funeral (obituaries, floral arrangements, funeral vehicle, etc..). Bodies are usually placed in an above ground niche (“nicho”) which is rented from a cemetery and which usually costs 300 – 700 Euros per year.

The average cost of cremation in Spain is just slightly less, around 3,600 Euros. Direct cremations without a chapel service will usually cost about 2,000 Euros.

Planning ahead

As an Expat/Immigrant in Spain, you should plan ahead to ensure a smooth process.

Plan ahead for a funeral home. You don’t want to be searching for one when death happens. Also, if your Spanish isn’t great, it allows you to choose a funeral home where they have service in English.

Make a Will. If an expat dies in Spain and there is no will or trust, then their estate in Spain* will be distributed according to Spanish inheritance law. This means that everything they own goes to their closest relatives; if there are no surviving family members left behind then everything goes to the government.

*I specify in Spain because a Will made in Spain will only cover assets in Spain. Assets in your home country should be covered by a Will in your home country.

I mentioned at the top a Canadian couple who didn’t have a Will in Spain. They had assets in Spain including a purchased home and not having a Will created a lot of headaches. If you have assets in Spain, make sure to get a Will drawn up.

Pre-paid Funeral Plans. You may want to organize your funeral before you die so that your family doesn’t bear the costs involved with your funeral. Many large “Plan companies” such as Avalon and Golden Leaves offer plans. When signing up for a funeral plan, specify the funeral home that you want to be used.

Funeral Insurance Policies are something else people contract. Again, their goal is to cover the costs of a funeral so that family doesn’t have to pay for it.

Make your wishes known and put in writing. Always make sure that next of kin know your wishes, burial/cremation, religion if required, music etc. Never store it amongst documents as they are rarely discovered until houses are cleared or probate done, weeks after the funeral. A simple email ‘in the event of my death’ is the best option so that it can be found quickly if needed.

 The above are the broad strokes that anyone living in Spain should be familiar with to be ready for the untimely death of themselves or loved ones. It’s a depressing subject but knowing what to expect and planning ahead is necessary to make the process easier when it happens.

Again, if you have experienced someone dying in Spain, I’d love helpful feedback below. Thank you!

Related: Spain’s Squatting problem (“Okupas”)

Related: The “Tipping Protocol” in Spain