Setting Funeral Responsibility

Setting funeral responsibility is the required first step before any funeral data can be submitted or shared through DGM. This process establishes who is legally responsible for the funeral arrangements.

Alternative: Altinn Form for Bereaved

Bereaved individuals can alternatively become funeral responsible on their own by filling out an Altinn form, without requiring intervention from a specialist system. In this case, your specialist system would simply receive an event notification when the responsibility is established, and you can begin working with the funeral data right away.

Overview

The responsibility statement workflow involves:

  1. Creating an unsigned responsibility statement
  2. The next-of-kin signing the statement through Altinn
  3. The signed statement becoming the official record in DGM
flowchart TD A[Find funeral/party] --> B{Found?} B -->|No| C[Create party] B -->|Yes| D[Create responsibility statement] C --> D D --> E[Next-of-kin signs in Altinn] E --> F[Statement becomes official]

Implementation Steps

1. Find the Funeral or Create a Party

First, determine if the funeral already exists in DGM:

POST /dgm/api/funeral-home/lookup
{
  "ssn": "12345678901",  // SSN of next-of-kin
}

If no funeral is found, attach the next-of-kin as a party:

POST /dgm/api/funeral-home/party
{
  "ssn": "12345678901",  // SSN of next-of-kin
  "deceasedSsn": "0987654321",  // SSN of deceased
  "relationToDeceased": "cohabitant",  // Relationship to deceased
  "hasDeclaration": false
}

2. Create a Responsibility Statement

Create an unsigned responsibility statement:

POST /dgm/api/funeral-home/responsibility-statements
{
  "partyId": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000",  // Party ID from step 1
  "funeralHomeId": "12345",  // Your funeral home ID
  "placeOfDeathLocationId": "0301",  // Municipality code
  "allowFuneralHomeToContactNextOfKin": true,
  "hasNotifiedNextOfKin": true,
  ...
}

3. Wait for the Next-of-kin to Sign

After creating the responsibility statement:

  1. DGM will send the statement to Altinn
  2. The next-of-kin will receive a notification to sign
  3. The next-of-kin reviews and signs the statement in Altinn
  4. Altinn notifies DGM that the statement is signed
  5. DGM marks the responsibility statement as official and issues a no.dgm.v1.funeral.updated event

Important

You cannot proceed with submitting other funeral data until the responsibility statement has been signed. Your system should handle this waiting period gracefully.

4. Receive Notification of Signing

Subscribe to the no.dgm.v1.funeral.updated event to be notified when the responsibility statement is signed:

{
  "funeralId": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000",
  "responsibilityStatementId": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000",
  "partyId": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000",
  "locationIds": ["0301"],
  "crematoriumId": null,
  "funeralHomeId": "12345"
}

Once you receive this notification, you can proceed to submit the funeral petition with structured data.

Common Scenarios

Creating a New Responsibility Statement

A new responsibility statement can be created when:

  • No previous statement exists for the funeral
  • The next-of-kin wishes to update the funeral details

Warning

Creating a new responsibility statement will require a new signature from the next-of-kin.

Error Handling

Common errors to handle:

Status Code Description Action
404 Funeral not found Create a party first
400 Invalid data Fix the data issues in your request
403 Not authorized Verify your authorization credentials

Next Steps

After the responsibility statement is signed, you can:

  1. Submit structured funeral data
  2. Monitor for event updates about the funeral