Information for families

Please accept our condolences for your loss. We want to ensure that families go through a smooth process during this time. We have provided a guide to help families through the examination, funeral, and burial processes.

What you need to know

• Not every decedent that comes into our office will require an autopsy.

Families should make funeral arrangements as soon as possible.

• It usually is not necessary for families to come to our office to identify the deceased. Identification in most cases takes place at the funeral home. If you are needed to come to our office to identify the deceased, a medicolegal investigator will contact you.

Additional testing

The medical examiner may need to perform additional testing as part of the examination. These tests will not delay the deceased's return to family members.

Fees

• By law, when the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) accepts jurisdiction over a death, it does not require permission or consent to investigate a death or examine a decedent who died in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
• There are no fees associated with any examination or report that will be charged to a decedent's family if the OCME accepted jurisdiction.
• However, if a family chooses to cremate any decedent in Massachusetts (whether or not the OCME has accepted jurisdiction), by statute, the OCME requires a cremation authorization fee. This fee is paid to the OCME by the funeral home which in turn will bill the decedent's family/claimant.