Funeral QuestionsDad Died on Holiday in Bali and We Had No Travel Insurance — What Do We Do Now?
Asked by saltcreek_43 ·
Dad had a heart attack three days into a family holiday in Bali. He didn't have travel insurance. He let it lapse years ago and never thought about it again, and none of us checked. We're now stuck working out whether to bring him home or have him cremated there, and the local funeral home has quoted us numbers for the first option that made my stomach drop.
Has anyone actually done this? I don't even know what order to do things in. Do we deal with the Australian consulate first, or the funeral home here, or what? We're all still in shock and trying to make a decision that feels irreversible within a few days.
2 Replies
I did this for my brother a few years ago, different country but the same shape of process, so I can at least give you the map even if I can't make the decision easier. Contact the Australian consulate first (there's one in Denpasar), not because they'll manage anything, but because they'll give you a list of local funeral directors experienced with foreign nationals, and they can start the document-authentication side moving early, which is the slowest part. Everything after that runs through two funeral directors talking to each other, the one in Bali and one back home, more than it runs through you directly, which was a relief once I understood that was how it worked.
On the decision itself: the reason repatriation costs so much more is embalming, a sealed transport-approved casket, and freight, none of which apply if he's cremated in Bali and you bring the ashes home instead. It's not a lesser option, and it isn't disrespectful either. It's what a lot of families in your exact situation end up choosing once they see both quotes side by side. Ask the funeral home in Bali directly for both quotes today, not just the repatriation one, before deciding anything. This piece on repatriating a body after a death overseas goes through the full document list and the ashes alternative in more detail. It would have saved me a lot of confused phone calls if it had existed when I was doing this.
Whatever you decide, get several certified copies of every document at each step. I only ordered one of everything and spent weeks afterwards getting extra copies couriered from overseas for the bank and super fund.
In my years doing this, families without travel insurance in exactly your situation choose cremation-and-ashes more often than repatriation, and none of them have ever described it to me afterwards as the wrong call. The body doesn't need to come home for your father to have a proper funeral or memorial here. The service, the eulogy, everyone gathering, all of that still happens whichever option you choose, just with an urn instead of a casket present. Let the cost be a practical factor without it also becoming a measure of how much you loved him. It isn't.
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