A guide for Athens-Clarke County
After a death at home
This is the order things usually happen in. Take it one step at a time.
Phone answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Step by step
Call 911
Police and medical responders come first. They will tell you what happens next.
The coroner may be called
In Georgia, the coroner looks into deaths from violence, suicide or accident, sudden deaths of people who seemed well, deaths no doctor attended, and anything suspicious. In Athens-Clarke County the office is on 706-613-3999.
Choose a funeral home
The coroner releases the person only to a licensed funeral director. A call from a funeral home alone is not enough: the family has to choose one and tell the coroner.
Who decides
Georgia uses an order for next of kin: spouse, then adult children, then parents, then brothers and sisters.
Reports and certificates
The coroner’s report is usually ready within seven business days by open records request. A death certificate usually takes one to two weeks once a funeral home is chosen, and longer if an autopsy was needed. Copies come from Clarke County Vital Records, 706-389-6871.
Then the home
Once released, call a cleanup company if anything needs more than ordinary cleaning. You can call first just to ask.
Useful numbers
Athens-Clarke County Coroner
150 Buddy Christian Way, Athens. Office 706-613-3999, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The office itself runs around the clock.
Remains are released only to a licensed funeral director, so choosing a funeral home is the family's first real decision. Coroner’s office page.
Athens-Clarke County Police
Non-emergency 706-613-3345. Use it to ask whether the scene has been released, or for a report number.
For anything urgent, dial 911.
Outside Athens-Clarke
Deaths in Oconee County go to that county’s coroner, and deaths in Barrow County to Barrow’s. The town pages list them.
When you are ready
One call, no pressure
You can call before you have decided anything. Ask what the work involves, how long it may take and what the company needs from you.
Talk it through first
Say what happened and where, and whether the police or the coroner have finished. The company will explain what it would do and what affects the cost. Nothing is agreed until you say yes.
Call (706) 555-0104Phone answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Calls may be recorded. Read the referral disclosure and the privacy policy.