This article covers some of the basic aspects of funeral planning. Making funeral or cremation arrangements ahead of time can relieve both yourself and your family of the decisions and the financial burden of funeral costs.
Preplanning allows you to make thought-out, rational choices and inform your family of your pre-arrangements. Below, we cover the options you can consider to preplan a funeral or cremation service.
Free Funeral/Cremation Planning Advice – Call Now (646) 374-4212
You can plan by purchasing a death care Travel Protection Plan. This plan covers all death-care expenses in the event a death occurs 75 miles (or more) away from your permanent legal residence. It is a simple-to-enroll, one-time payment of $450 that covers all services and expenses to transport the deceased home or arrange a cremation at the place of death and transport the cremated remains home.
To read more about the Travel Protection Plan and enroll for membership, visit Travel Protection Plan: Affordable Funeral Shipping Coverage.
This plan provides complete, affordable provisions for funeral expenses for people who travel away from home.
How to Set up a Simple Cremation Plan
If you are looking to put in place a low-cost direct cremation plan to ensure your wishes are met and your surviving family saves the burden of death expenses, you can quickly establish a simple and affordable cremation plan with DFS Memorials.
All DFS Memorials Cremation Service Providers offer a simple direct cremation plan at a very affordable price.
In most areas, a cremation plan can be set up for less than $1,000 and can be set up online or over the telephone.
Planning the funeral service ahead of time can make things slightly easier. Getting family members to talk and discuss matters ahead of time openly helps to relieve the immediate feeling of “what do we do first” when death happens.
Planning ahead can:
- Prevent your family members from having to make difficult decisions at very difficult times.
- Help to prevent overspending by family members who can only guess what you might have wanted.
- Let you decide for yourself whether to be buried or cremated.
- Enable you to choose the type of casket you wish to be buried in and what other ancillary services you require.
There are various ways that you can plan ahead.
Create your own funeral plan.
You can simply decide upon your wishes, document your funeral ‘plan,’ and share this with your family, ready for when the need arises. In addition, you could ‘layaway’ the funds to cover your plan in an account the surviving family can access when needed.
Free Funeral/Cremation Planning Advice – Call Now (646) 374-4212
A Totten Trust, or Payable-on-Death Account (POD), is a simple but logical approach to arranging funeral expenses. An account of this kind is easy and free to set up with your local bank. It works by obtaining a form from your bank to name a POD beneficiary.
You then write in the name and return the form to the bank, which completes this straightforward transaction. It is not recommended that you name the funeral director as your beneficiary.
The beauty part of this arrangement is that the funds do NOT have to go through probate after your death. The funds will not be frozen unless your state and bank require proof that any state death taxes have been paid. A bank employee can provide any further information you might need on this subject.
To read more about preparing a funeral plan with a P.O.D. account – visit our article What is the Best & Safest Way to Pre-plan for a Funeral?
These days, there are even online funeral planning sites that enable you to document an outline of your wishes. We have also provided a checklist at the bottom of this page of things you need to consider if you plan and document your funeral wishes.
By checking around with funeral providers, you can estimate your overall funeral expenses.
Check DFS Memorials to find out the cost of a cremation service near you.
The important thing to remember is that the cost of a burial or cremation is not a fixed cost, as some time may elapse between making your plan and implementing it. You may need to re-visit and revise your plan to ensure your needs remain the same and the funds you have put aside still cover them.
Purchase Pre-need funeral insurance.
Purchasing funeral insurance, sometimes referred to as Burial insurance, is another way to plan ahead. A funeral insurance plan from a reputable insurance agency can facilitate paying for your death care expenses.
Even if your estate consists of life insurance, real estate property, stocks, bonds, and other investments, they are not usually immediately turned into cash for our heirs. And if we have little or no estate to speak of, this is all the more reason to provide some kind of insurance so that our loved ones are not faced with the significant financial burden associated with funeral expenses.
Burial insurance can be purchased through an insurance broker, or a funeral director who will write a “pre-need” policy covering specific products and services you feel are necessary. These include the casket, burial vault or grave liner, grave marker, hearse, flowers, digging and filling the grave, and the actual cemetery plot. Embalming is only required if there is a public viewing of the deceased.
When planning funeral insurance, conferring with your spouse and children is a good idea. This will not only inform them of your desire to make prior arrangements, but they will also provide helpful input.
Before making definite pre-need arrangements, it would also be beneficial to contact your attorney to be sure your arrangements are compatible with the instructions in your Will.
Take out a Pre-need plan with a funeral home.
As mentioned, you can purchase a Pre-Need policy directly from a licensed funeral home, and these funds are usually held in trust. It is imperative to ensure that you deal with a reputable funeral professional licensed specifically to sell Pre-Need Contracts.
Check the terms of the state statutes affecting the sale of pre-need funeral contracts in your state, and ensure your contract is transferable or can be canceled. It is imperative to ensure you are protected should your chosen funeral home go out of business.
Check that the policy is transferable and protected should you move locale or state. Similarly, check that there is no penalty for canceling your policy.
It is also essential to ensure your family has a copy of and understands the full terms of your Pre-Need agreement. One common oversight in planning ahead is that surviving families are not aware of the existing contract with the funeral home and can have already arranged the funeral services before this comes to light.
Since each state has its own laws on funeral insurance and Pre-needs policies, it is important to know the laws in your specific state. Take a friend or relative to help you with your decisions, and verify that the individual or company from whom you purchase the insurance is licensed.
In case you move to another state, it is also important to find out that the arrangements you pay for can be transferred to another funeral home at any time. In addition, be sure there are no blank spaces left in your contract that might be filled in later without your knowledge or consent.
To learn more about the state statutes governing pre-need agreements in your state, visit our ‘State Guide to Funeral Laws’.
Planning ahead for a veteran’s funeral
All United States veterans and some civilians who have worked for either the military or the US Public Health Service and their spouses can be buried free at a national cemetery. Expenses covered include a grave liner, grave marker, and grave digger’s fees to open and close the cemetery plot. However, no fees to the funeral home or mortuary are included.
Planning ahead – death benefits
Some unions and social groups provide death benefits. The Railroad Retirement Board offers its members funds for funeral expenses.
The Social Security Administration does allow a lump-sum payment of $255 for funeral expenses. This money is available to the deceased’s children or to his or her spouse. However, accessing this fund can be extremely bureaucratic.
If you need to learn more about planning for death duty and inheritance tax, check out our post, Navigating the Complex World of Death Duty and Inheritance Tax.
Planning ahead checklist
Questions to consider when planning
- Do you want a cremation or burial?
- What kind of casket or urn do you want?
- Do you have a cemetery plot or columbarium for your interment?
- If you already own cemetery property, where is the deed kept?
- If opting for cremation, do you want your ashes scattered or interred?
- Do you require a funeral service?
- And if so, what kind of service?
- Do you require a Clergy or celebrant to preside over the service?
- What funeral transport do you require? How many cars and cortège?
- Would you like to specify the Music for the service?
- Would you like a visitation before cremation or burial?
- Do you desire an open or closed casket?
- Do you wish to specify what kind of Clothing or attire funeral guests should wear?
- Do you wish an Obituary to be published, and if so, what kind of Obituary?
- Do you want it featured in the local press and online?
- Do you wish to specify pallbearers?
- Do you want funeral flowers or Memorial contributions?
- For a veteran – veteran options, flag?
You can use our Funeral Resources Section for more articles on Planning Ahead, especially our Funeral Planning Category.
