Funeral and Cremation Questions

If your loved one was in hospice care at home, call the hospice nurse first.

Call us at 859-431-0072 once the nurse has confirmed the death.

If the death was unexpected, or there was no hospice care, call 911. The coroner may need to be involved before we can bring your loved one into our care.

In a hospital or nursing home, let the staff know you have chosen Ronald B. Jones Funeral Home and they will call us, or call us yourself.

There is no need to rush. If you would like time to say goodbye, take it. We come when you are ready, day or night.

Yes. We answer 859-431-0072 day or night, every day of the year, and we come as soon as you are ready.

Bring what you have. These details go on the death certificate and into the obituary:

• Full legal name, address, and date and place of birth
• Social Security number
• Parents' names, including the mother's maiden name
• Marital status, spouse's name, education, and occupation
• Military discharge papers (DD-214), if they served
• The cemetery deed or plot details
• Any prepaid funeral contract or life insurance policy
• Clothing and a few favorite photos

If you don't have everything, come anyway. We can fill in the rest later.

We file the death certificate and order certified copies for you. Most families need several, since banks, insurance companies, and pension plans may each ask for one.

If you need more later, you can order them from the Kentucky Office of Vital Statistics, or from the state where the death happened.

We do. We file the death certificate electronically, and that notifies Social Security for you.

Call 1-800-772-1213 to ask Social Security about survivors benefits. A surviving spouse or child who qualifies can also receive a one-time payment of $255.

It depends on the choices you make. Call us at 859-431-0072 and we will go over prices by phone, or ask for our price list.

Apart from our basic services fee, you choose only the goods and services you want, and we explain each charge before you decide.

With direct cremation, your loved one goes straight to the crematory and is cremated once the permits are signed, and any visitation or service comes afterward.

With full service cremation, your loved one is laid out in a casket for the visitation and funeral first, and the cremation follows.

Usually 2 to 3 days. When a death happens in Kentucky, we can usually move very quickly. When it happens in Ohio, the doctor has to sign the death certificate before the cremation can go ahead, and that sometimes takes longer.

Yes. With full service cremation, your loved one is laid out in a casket for the visitation and funeral, and the cremation follows.

Or the cremation can come first, and family and friends gather afterward for a visitation, a service, or both, with the urn present if you like. It can be held at the Bentley House, your church, a favorite place, or the graveside.

Except in certain special cases, embalming is not required by law. We require it for a traditional funeral and for a full service cremation, when your loved one is laid out for a viewing. We will tell you plainly if anything else you choose calls for it.

No. You are welcome to provide a casket you bought elsewhere, and we will use it at no extra charge.

For a full service cremation, you can rent a casket instead of buying one.

Kentucky law does not require one, but most cemeteries require an outer burial container to keep the ground level. We will tell you what your cemetery requires.

Call us first, at 859-431-0072. We can bring your loved one home from Ohio or from farther away, and we take care of the paperwork in both states.

In Ohio, the doctor has to sign the death certificate before some arrangements, such as cremation, can go ahead. We keep you posted while we wait.

Usually, yes. Most cemeteries allow an urn to be buried in the same grave as a spouse, sometimes for an added opening charge. Each cemetery has its own rules, and we check them for you.

Yes, in many places. On private land, you need the owner's permission. Parks, lakes, and rivers have their own rules. We can help you find out what is allowed where you have in mind.

For Catholic families, the Church asks that the remains be buried or placed in a niche rather than scattered.

Yes. We write it with you and post it on our website. If you would like it in a newspaper too, we can send it for you. Newspapers set their own charges for obituaries.

We request military funeral honors and a burial flag, apply for a government headstone or marker, and arrange burial at Kentucky Veterans Cemetery North in Williamstown for those eligible.

Bring the veteran's discharge papers (DD-214) if you have them. If you don't, we can help request a copy.

Yes. Our preplanning specialist can meet with you to write down your wishes, whether or not you want to pay ahead. If you do, we will explain the ways to pay.

Yes. We serve families across Northern Kentucky, including Covington, Erlanger, Edgewood, Fort Mitchell, Florence, Independence, Union, Burlington, and Hebron. Most are within about 20 minutes of the Bentley House.