Close
Finding support after the loss of a loved one can make a difficult time feel less overwhelming. Explore grief counselors, support groups, hotlines, and local resources available to families throughout Tampa Bay.
Learn what a cremation package should include, what extra fees to watch for, and how to choose a provider with transparent, all-inclusive pricing.
Can you order death certificates online? This guide explains how the process works, what’s allowed in Florida, and what families should know during an already difficult time.
Most of what has to happen after someone dies is paperwork, and almost none of it is obvious. There are offices to call, forms with numbers instead of names, and a stack of documents you will be asked for repeatedly by people who will not tell you in advance how many copies they need.
This page is the map. It covers what has to be done, roughly when, and where in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties to actually do it. Each section links to a fuller guide.
Nothing here is urgent in the first hours. If someone has just died and you are looking for what to do right now, start with our checklist for the first 24 hours. Everything on this page can wait until tomorrow.
| When | What happens | Who does it |
|---|---|---|
| First few hours | The death is pronounced and your loved one is transferred into care | Hospice, hospital, or your cremation provider |
| Day 1–2 | You sign the cremation authorization; Florida’s 48-hour waiting period runs | You and your provider |
| Day 2–5 | The physician certifies the death certificate; the medical examiner reviews; the permit is filed | Provider, physician, county |
| Week 1–2 | Certified death certificates arrive; you notify Social Security, banks, insurers | You, with your provider’s help |
| Week 2–3 | Cremation is completed and the ashes are returned | Your provider |
| After | Estate matters, benefits claims, the memorial, and grief that arrives on its own schedule | You |
Two things surprise almost everyone. The first is how long it takes — Florida law requires a 48-hour wait before any cremation, and the full process usually runs one to three weeks. The second is that you cannot do most of the notifying until the certified death certificates are in your hands, and those take a week or two.
You will need certified copies — not photocopies — for nearly every account, policy, title and benefit claim. Banks, insurers, the DMV, pension administrators and the county property appraiser all require an original with a seal.
Order more than you think you need. Each institution keeps the copy it is given, and reordering later costs the same per copy plus another wait.
There are two versions, and you need both. A certificate withcause of death is required by insurers and most benefit claims. One without is what you give to banks and utilities — it protects the family’s privacy.
Under Florida law, cause-of-death information stays confidential for 50 years and is released only to the spouse, parent, adult child, grandchild or sibling, to someone holding the will or an insurance policy, to a person with a documented interest in the estate, or by court order.
These are two different things, and knowing which you want saves money and confusion. A death notice is a short paid announcement — name, age, city, date, service details. An obituary is the longer piece: where they were born, who they married, what they did, who survives them, what they loved.
You are not required to publish either one. We publish obituaries for every family we serve at no additional charge, and they stay online permanently.
Social Security must be notified, and you cannot do it online. The SSA accepts death reports only by phone at 1-800-772-1213 or in person. If you give us the Social Security number, we report the death on your behalf.
If your loved one served, the family may be entitled to a burial allowance, a government headstone or marker, a burial flag, and interment at a national cemetery at no cost — including for cremated remains. For Tampa Bay families that usually means Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell or Bay Pines National Cemetery. The claim is filed on VA Form 21P-530EZ.
The paperwork ends. That is when most people find they need something else. Tampa Bay has counselors who specialize in bereavement, free peer groups meeting weekly across both counties, hospice programs open to the community whether or not your loved one was a patient, and 24-hour crisis lines for the nights when it is worse.
Grief support after a loss is not a sign that something has gone wrong. It is ordinary, and most of it costs nothing.
If you are reading this before a death rather than after, hospice is worth understanding early. Families consistently say they wish they had called sooner.
Hospice care in Florida is covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurance, is available at home as well as in a facility, and includes support for the family — not only the patient. Making the call does not mean giving up, and it does not have to be a final decision.
Every family arrives here needing a slightly different subset of this, and none of it is worth guessing at. Speak with a caring professional anytime—day or night. Owner answers calls 24/7.
If the death was expected and the person was under hospice care, call the hospice — not 911. They will send a nurse, pronounce the death, and contact us. If the death was unexpected, call 911.
Most families need eight to twelve. Order a mix of copies with and without cause of death, and order more than feels necessary — reordering later costs the same and takes another week or two.
No. The SSA accepts death reports only by phone (1-800-772-1213) or in person. We can report it for you if you provide the Social Security number.
The cremation itself takes two to three hours, but Florida requires a 48-hour waiting period and medical examiner approval on every cremation. Most families receive the ashes within one to three weeks.
A government-issued photo ID for yourself, and if possible the deceased’s Social Security number, date and place of birth, parents’ names including the mother’s maiden name, and their DD-214 if they served.
Yes. Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties both administer indigent disposition programs, and eligibility is based on the estate’s assets rather than the family’s income. Ask us — we will tell you honestly whether you qualify and help you apply.
Florida law sets an order: the deceased’s own written directions come first, then the surviving spouse, then adult children, then parents, then adult siblings. Written authorization from the legally authorized person is required before any cremation can proceed.
