Guidance

Antigua and Barbuda: bereavement pack

Updated 23 September 2024

Disclaimer

This information is provided by the British Government for the convenience of enquirers, but neither His Majesty’s Government nor any official of the Consulate take any responsibility for the accuracy of the information, nor accept liability for any loss, costs, damage or expense which you might suffer as a result of relying on the information supplied. It is not a substitute for obtaining your own legal advice.

Information source: consular guidance and local information

The death of a relative or a friend is always a distressing experience. When the death occurs overseas, family and friends can feel additional distress as they are unfamiliar with procedures abroad. You may be uncertain about what to do next or who to contact for advice. The British High Commission Bridgetown is ready to assist and provide advice where they can. We offer help which is appropriate to the individual circumstances of each case. We will make an assessment of the needs you have, based on who you are, where you are, and the support available to you. Our assessment will help us define the type of support that we can offer.

Whilst care has been taken in compiling these notes, no legal liability for their contents is accepted by the British High Commission or HM Government. The use of the terms body, body parts, remains, deceased etc. are not meant to offend you in any way. We realise that we are referring to your loved one and we mean no disrespect to the person you have lost.

Standard procedures – what happens when someone dies

When someone dies in Antigua or Barbuda and the next of kin is in the UK or abroad, local authorities normally notify the British High Commission Bridgetown the person has died. British Consulates will do whatever they can to trace the next of kin as soon as possible and would ask the UK police to pass on the sad news. However you might also be notified about the death directly by someone else, for example a doctor, a social worker or a police officer.

In Antigua and Barbuda the seniority of next of kin is usually as follows:

• spouse/partner/civil partner
• adult child (over 18 years old)
• parent
• adult sibling (over 18 years old)
• an adult with sufficient relationship to the deceased
• an ex-partner is not regarded as next of kin

A relative or a formally appointed representative must instruct a local funeral director in Antigua and Barbuda or an international funeral director in the UK for a body to be repatriated to the UK or buried or cremated in Antigua and Barbuda. However, if the deceased was insured you should immediately contact the insurance company to establish if they are able to cover for the repatriation expenses and make the necessary arrangements. You may need the insurance policy number and the associated 24hr medical emergency contact number to do this. If the travel insurance company confirm that there is a current policy, you should not appoint your own funeral director or be pressurised by local funeral agencies to do so. It will be the insurance company that will appoint the funeral director both locally and in the UK. If there is no insurance cover, unfortunately funds for repatriation or burial will need to be met by the family. The British High Commission Bridgetown does not have budgets to meet these costs. A list of UK funeral directors and the major Antiguan funeral directors associations are included at the end of this guide.

In Antigua and Barbuda it is not normally necessary for the deceased to be identified by the next of kin. Identification can be carried out by means of documentation such as a passport or driving licence or by fingerprints, identification card, dental records or DNA.

Local death certificate

Registration of the death

The Antiguan authorities will issue a death certificate in English. This can take a few days. In some instances, this may be obtained more quickly. Local death certificates will show details of cause of death. The local death certificate will be accepted in the UK.

Deaths in Antigua may be registered with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in the UK. This form of death registration is not compulsory. However, the advantages are that a) you will have a British form of a death certificate b) a permanent and accessible record of the death will be kept at the General Register Office in the United Kingdom.

To receive a British form death certificate, an application should be made online at www.gov.uk/register-a-death. There is a statutory fee for this which is payable online when making the application.

British passport cancellation

In order to avoid identity fraud a deceased person’s passport should be sent to the British High Commission together with the death certificate and D01 form or direct to HM Passport Office in the UK. The form can be obtained on the link below. Next of kin can request the passport to be returned after cancellation. Likewise, if the passport has been lost or mislaid, relatives should get in contact with either the nearest Consulate or passport office for instructions on reporting the loss of the passport.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/what-to-do-with-a-passport-when-the-passport-holder-has-died

Repatriation

If the deceased was covered by travel insurance, the insurance company will normally have a standing agreement with an international funeral director in the UK to arrange repatriation. If the deceased was not covered by insurance, you will need to appoint a local undertaker in Barbados or an international funeral director in the UK. If applicable, after the post mortem is carried out, the Police will usually authorise the release of the body, but this will depend on the circumstances surrounding death. An on-going investigation may delay the release of the body. Repatriation can be arranged in conjunction with the local funeral home either through next of kin or insurers. Local burial is possible and can be arranged through the local funeral home. Although there are no local cremation facilities, requests for cremations may be facilitated through the crematoriums in Puerto Rico, Barbados or Grenada. If a local burial or cremation takes place, it will not be possible for an inquest into the death to take place in the UK.

If the decision has been made to cremate locally (transported to abroad and sent back to Antigua and Barbuda) and the next of kin wish to transport the ashes to the UK in person this is possible. We advise to check in advance with the airline about specific airline restrictions.

Clothing and personal belongings

Personal effects are usually returned to the family. Arrangements for their return would normally need to be arranged with the authorities or directly with the funeral home. If there is an investigation into the death, the deceased’s clothing can be retained as evidence and is not returned until the court case is finished.

Local burial

If you choose a local burial, you will need to instruct a local funeral director and they can make the necessary arrangements with either a private of government owned cemetery. A ceremony can be organised by the funeral director or a registered celebrant. You can make specific arrangements depending on your cultural and/or religious beliefs.

Local cremation

If you are thinking of arranging a local cremation, please take that Antigua and Barbuda do NOT perform local cremations. All request cremations will be sent abroad and shipped back to Antigua and Barbuda.

Autopsy/post-mortems

An autopsy, which is also known as a Post-mortem, is normally performed in all cases and certainly when the death is not by natural causes. Examples of these include traffic accidents or death under suspicious circumstances. A doctor in a state hospital may also request a post-mortem for a death by natural causes when the cause of death is unclear.
Post-mortems are carried out by forensic doctors appointed by the hospital or by the court sometimes called pathologists. During a post-mortem, small tissue samples and organs may be removed and retained for testing, including toxicological studies. This is done in order to better understand the cause of death and to evaluate any decease or injury that might be present. It can be crucial to establish cause of death in cases where criminal or civil legal procedures may eventuate. Organs are not usually retained; however, if further testing is required a portion of an organ may be taken for this purpose. Post-mortem reports are automatically given to the Police. Family members may make a written request to the Commissioner of Police for a copy of the report if they desire. A nominal fee is usually charged for this.

Inquests

In Antigua and Barbuda, a Coroner, usually a magistrate, will investigate deaths that are ‘unnatural’ such as accidents, suicides or homicides; deaths that have occurred in prison or in care, or have unknown causes. A coroner will investigate the circumstances surrounding the death to find out the identity of the deceased person, when and where they died, how they died and the medical cause of death. The coroner may decide to hold an inquest to gather more information about the cause and circumstances of a death. An inquest must be held in certain circumstances, for example, if the death is in custody. In other cases, the coroner might decide to hold an inquest if it is in the public interest. For example, where there is significant doubt about the facts or if holding an inquest might help prevent future deaths.

Compensation

There is no government compensation scheme in circumstances of murder/ manslaughter/ terrorism to either foreign or local nationals

Release of Information

Access to information concerning a death is restricted until a Coroner has reviewed the evidence such as post-mortem and police reports. The Antiguan authorities will usually not provide this information directly to next of kin, or to third parties, including our Consulates, until after the conclusion of the preliminary investigation. The release of any information will usually take several months and in some more complicated instances, years.

Organ donation

Antigua and Barbuda do not possess the adequate facilities for organ donations, therefore, if a person is a registered donor than they would not be able to donate their organs locally.

Donation of bodies to medical science

Antigua and Barbuda do not currently accept bodies for medical science.

UK coroners

The Coroner in England and Wales is obliged by law to hold an inquest into the cause of any unnatural or violent death of a person whose remains lie in his or her area, even if the death occurred overseas and a post-mortem has already been carried out before repatriation of the remains to the UK. Coroners may order a second post mortem (i.e. subsequent to the first post mortem carried out abroad), as part of the inquest and it is at this stage that families are often made aware that organs have been removed and not replaced. Coroners can request copies of post-mortem and police reports from the Antiguan authorities via the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. However, these will only be provided once any judicial proceedings are completed. In some instances this can take many months. UK coroners can compel witnesses to give evidence from England and Wales but not from abroad.

In Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) deals with the investigation of all sudden, suspicious, accidental, unexpected and unexplained deaths which occur in Scotland. However, the COPFS does not have the jurisdiction to investigate deaths that occur outside Scotland apart from in a few limited circumstances. Generally, those circumstances include terrorism, cases where the death may have been caused in Scotland but the person died outside Scotland and cases where the death was as a result of murder or culpable homicide caused by another British citizen or subject.

Coroners in Northern Ireland are not obliged to hold an inquest into cause of death. However, next of kin can apply for a judicial review if no inquest is held. There will be no Coroner’s inquest when the remains are buried or cremated locally. Further information about the role of UK Coroners is available on the FCDO publication: Guide for Bereaved Families.

Local funeral homes

There are only 2 undertakers in Antigua, both handling repatriations to the United Kingdom. They work in conjunction with funeral homes in the UK and have a great deal of experience in ensuring things go smoothly.

Jessica Barnes
Barnes Funeral Home
Lower Newgate Street

Tel: +1(268)461 1994 (home)
Tel: +1(268) 462 1037

Email: jessywess@hotmail.com

Elizabeth Saunders
Straffies Funeral Home
St John’s Street
St John’s

Tel: +1(268) 462 0575/2954

Email: vincencia_anu@yahoo.com

A list of International Funeral Directors is available on request from the British High Commission.

British High Commission
Lower Collymore Rock
Bridgetown
Barbados
1 246 4307800