Advice about UK life insurance options

Hi, can anybody recommend a decent life insurance policy/company specifically in case of death and repatriation back to the UK? In the event of my sudden death I would like to stay out of the clutches of the Catholic Church but I really have no idea what would happen if I passed..what the processes are etc. Maybe somebody has some knowledge or could link to some relevant information. Thank you

What makes you think the Catholic Church will "snatch" you after you die in Poland? They are not body snatchers, believe me. Yes, they snatch, or rather fish for, but souls, not bodies. But they do it while you are alive - when you die, it is too late.

They wouldn't be involved; they don't operate the undertakers or the mortuaries..


Your family in the UK would need to contact a local undertaker in their town who would bring your body over (they are used to doing this). It is expensive, however it's possible to be cremated (without ceremony) in Poland and have your ashes sent over instead.

Any undertaker (nowadays the UK ones mostly belong to large chains) is used to managing this. For an insurance policy, any standard UK one would do. Specific ones for funerals don't cover international issues, however a normal one is fine providing it pays the money into your estate; the cost of the funeral is then taken from the estate during probate.

"it's possible to be cremated (without ceremony) in Poland and have your ashes sent over instead."

This is interesting info Jon but how would you go about organising this or preparing for it? Thanks

What guarantees do Poles in the UK have to ensure they stay out of the clutches of the Church of England or from falling prey to the cultish practices of the local sikh, hindu, muslim or jewish communities?

Also, how does post-Brexit UK accommodate deceased Poles who are descents of Alexander the Great with a funeral carriage which would be befitting of their illustrious ancestor?

The undertaker would normally take instructions from your next of kin. In the absence of instructions, they'll just keep you on ice.

UK nationals in Poland and Poles in the UK should make sure they either have insurance or enough funds to repatriate their body or pay for a funeral. It's not cheap to repatriate a body so if it matters to you you need to be prepared.

Personally, I'll be dead so it won't matter to me either way.

One other thing about the UK is it's an opt out organ donation system so your body parts will be harvested if you are a resident unless you have opted out before death. Frankly this is disgusting, basically you don't even own your own body.

How so if you can opt out?

And to be fair I find more disgusting that people are so attached to their body that they will rather let it rot than save someone's life

The disgusting point is the arrogant presumed ownership of the state of your body and you have to request to have control of it back. A lot of people are unware of the change to the rules too.

Just a matter of principle really. Instead of encouraging people to make the desired choice of being a donor the government decides that by default you body belongs to them and hope people don't notice.

Also open to potential abuse, people being killed off early in hospital harvest organs for example or records of withdrawn consent just "lost" when convenient.

I mean if you can't be bothered to invest 5 minutes in order to assure that your organs rot in the ground, you are clearly not very attached to them.


Which is there are nunerous safeguards against this in any modern country.

...and the way this covid theatre is being operated confirms your great point. It reminds us of the good old slavery and how the owners kept them healthy - like it or not - to be useful.

Tacitus - Can't be very attached to them or aren't aware of the rule change perhaps.

Don't get me wrong, organ donation is a good thing. But the presumed consent is not and I rhink it is immoral. That's just my point of view, other opinions are available.

Also, the vast majority of people in the UK are cremated rather than buried ;-)

I like the idea of being cremated here and "disposed of" here as I agree with the above-poster that it doesn't matter to me what happens to me when I'm dead..and doesn't seem worth going to the expense of repatriation. Is there anyway this could be pre-arranged here? Pay some policy for this eventuality?

I am guessing you are a Sikh, so you could be cremated in Poland, possibly a Ardas could be played in Poland, your ashes then could be sent home (DHL) for a proper service at a Gurdwara local to your family.

I'm not religious..just looking to find the cheapest option should I happen to die here

Well the cheapest option is a simple cremation, or just donate your body to science that's free.

Sounds good..any idea how I'd go about arranging it?

I get in touch with a medical university they will give you paperwork to fill out and sign. once you are dead someone will have to hand the papers over to the undertaker who will take you away.

I did this too. You can file the papers with your lawyer who will deal with everything.

So you got in touch with a medical university and said that you'd like to donate your body for research? Am I understanding correctly? So no costs whatsoever are incurred from your estate/family? Did either of you use a uni in Warsaw(?) and if yes could you tell me which and how exactly you approached them. Many thanks

Do you read Polish?

I'm nit being mean, just checking if I can send Polish links your way

Can you post the links here please,in States we have it printed on our driving license.

Organ donor or the medical uni thing?

anything that can lead to organ donation.

Według polskiego prawa, aby lekarze mogli pobrać organy do przeszczepu od zmarłego, nie potrzebują na to zgody. Osoby, które nie chcą, by pobrano od nich narządy po śmierci, powinny za życia wypełnić deklarację określającą swój sprzeciw.

Więcej: zdrowie.radiozet.pl/Medycyna/Prawa-pacjenta/Dawstwo-narzadow-zgoda-i-brak-zgody-na-transplantacje-po-smierci

So you don't need to sign anything. Giving your body to uni is different as you don't give anyone your organs but whole body goes to students to practice , cut etc. The body is used for about a year after which it's buried with others in a ceremony

This has turned in to a really good conversation with some very informative posts (thank you all contributors). In summary, initially I thought that a foreign body would need to be repatriated but now I've learnt that there's a few different options:

a) arrange with a medical uni to take possession of your body, which presumably is the cheapest option here i.e free

b) carry an organ donor card, however what exactly does this entail? Will the body be disposed of free? or cremated and offered back to family?

c) the option of being cremated here -with or without the ashes being returned to family overseas- seems a decent option. Does anyone know of a

funeral directors used to dealing with foreigners where I could perhaps pay for my own cremation in advance?

Keep the knowledgable posts flowing please

This may well exist, however it's certainly much rarer than in the UK due to state financial death benefits, funeral traditions and probate rules in each country.

Most funeral services in the capital will have dealt with foreigners though. For repatriation (cadaver or ashes) they all use the same specialist logistics services (since different countries of origin and destination have different rules)