The last thing we want to think about is losing our loved ones, but it’s always best to make sure you are prepared for life’s inevitable tragedies. No family needs financial stress when they’re in mourning, so it’s a good money choice to have a funeral plan to cover the costs of a decent funeral for you or other family members. In the event of a sudden bereavement, those left behind can grieve without worrying about costs.

Here are the steps you or your next-of-kin should take to claim under your funeral policy:

1. Let your insurer know

Notify the funeral plan provider of the claim as soon as possible. Nedbank generally accepts claims that are reported within 180 days of the date of death. If you wait any longer, your claim may be rejected.

To notify us, call 0860 333 111 during office hours and we will send you a claim form, or submit a claim online and include the policy details and information about the death. We will tell you if we need any other information to assess the claim. The authorised claimant will have to pay all postage or courier costs for getting the relevant information to us.

2. Prepare the relevant documents

To assess the claim, your insurer will need the following documents:

- A completed funeral claim form.

- A completed certified death form, which can be any of the following:

• BI-1663 or DHA-1663, completed by the doctor who certified the person as deceased, or
• B11680, completed by a traditional leader.

The relevant form will be completed when you report the death (whether at a police station, the Department of Home Affairs, or the funeral undertaker). If the death occurred abroad, the form will be completed by the South African mission or embassy.

- A certified copy of the funeral parlour invoice or the burial order.

- Certified copies of the following documents:

• Death certificate (either the computerised or final death certificate),
• Identity document or card of the person lodging the claim,
• Identity document or card of the deceased (if the deceased is younger than 18, you will need to provide a birth certificate),
• Bank details of the nominated beneficiary or policyholder.

If we need more information, the person lodging the claim must give us permission to contact anyone (including any beneficiaries, a medical practitioner, or a hospital) who we think can give us the relevant information we need.

Depending on the claim, we may also need:

• proof of the nature of the relationship between the deceased and the person lodging the claim, and/or
• a police report if the death is due to unnatural causes.

3. Submit the documents

To submit the documents to us, you can:

• hand the documents in at your nearest Nedbank branch,
• post or courier them to Nedbank Park Square, 9 Park Avenue, Umhlanga, 4321, or
• email them to funeralclaims@nedbankinsurance.co.za.

4. We assess the funeral claim

Once we have received all the documents, we will assess the funeral claim and let you know if we need anything else. If the claim is valid, we will process the payment.

Your funeral policy is there to give you and your family financial peace of mind, so it’s important that those left behind can access the money as quickly as possible. Make sure the beneficiaries named on your policy are up to date if your family circumstances change, so that the money will go to the right person.