funeral expenses

homealone_2 · 24 March 2005 at 10:33AM

my mother has recently become a widow. the cost took us all by surprise of doing all that was needed. it has now worried her that i will have money problems when it comes to her time and wants to make sure that money is not a headache. she has seen various over 50s insurance plans on the tv no medical required etc but cannot remember who they were with. can anyone help?

esalan · 24 March 2005 at 11:19AM

Liverpool Victoria and American Life are two of several such companies. But since 'acceptance is guaranteed', it means the healthy are subsidising the not so healthy. Assuming your mother is in good health, I would get a quote from one of these 'guaranteed acceptance' companies but also get an Internet comparison quote for 'regular' life insurance. You will be amazed by the difference!

Bossyboots · 25 March 2005 at 11:54AM

The other option is to buy a funeral plan now. I would suggest though that she gets one through the funeral director she wants to do the business. Going through insurers and the like puts so many restrictions on what you can do it is not worth the money.

Two examples - my mum was offered a plan with Royal London. The terms of this were basically that they would pay for the funeral but you had to use a company on their list. The nearest one of these was 30 miles away!

My friend's in laws had a plan with a different company. He FIL died last year and they dug out the plan. This had the same problem, they could not choose who to use. A bit of a blow considering my friend's son works for a funeral director. The nearest one was 15 miles away and they could not go and view the body there or have flowers delivered there. After much wrangling the company agreed to return the money paid for both plans and my friend's son then organised his grandad's funeral through his work.

zzzLazyDaisy · 25 March 2005 at 12:14PM

Bossyboots wrote:

The other option is to buy a funeral plan now. I would suggest though that she gets one through the funeral director she wants to do the business. .

If you do this, you do have to be sure that either you are unlikely to move away.

Paul_Varjak · 25 March 2005 at 4:20PM

One problem with these 'no medical' insurance plans is that there is usually a period (up to 2 years) after you take policy out where they do not pay the insured amount; they only pay back your premiums paid (or perhaps premiums paid x2).

As there is no medical, you are also limited in the amount of cover you can obtain, but this may well be sufficient to cover funeral expenses. The one advantage of such policies is you are guaranteed acceptance without having to answer any medical questions whatsoever.

www.tescofinance.com/personal/finance/index.html?goto=products/lifeins/over60.html

You cannot take out more than one such policy with the same insurance company but you could take out policies with several companies to get more cover, without having to answer any medical questions.

Some companies will provide cover without a medical but acceptance is not guaranteed, but depends on filling out a medical questionnaire. This may provide cheaper than the plans above, if your mum is in good health.

The Department of Work and Pensions can also help out with funeral expenses if the deceased has no estate and the person on whom the funeral expenses falls has income-related benefits.

You can also consider funeral plans:

www.helptheaged.org.uk/ShoppingServices/FuneralPlan/_default.htm

Ted_Hutchinson · 26 March 2005 at 11:11AM

Paul_Varjak wrote:

The Department of Work and Pensions can also help out with funeral expenses if the deceased has no estate and the person on whom the funeral expenses falls has income-related benefits.

Funeral Payment DWP

You can also consider funeral plans:

help the aged

See also factsheet from
http://www.ageconcern.org.uk/AgeConcern/information_307.htm

and plan here
http://www.ageconcern.org.uk/AgeConcern/products_4155.htm
However Charities are becoming more like big businesses and cannot be relied on to provide a value for money product or provide compensation should the customer end up being missold an inappropriate product.

PS Just been looking at the Co-op Funeral Plan and it does seem a reasonable package. One advantage would be that it would inflation proof the cost of the funeral another would be for those on the threshold of means tested benefits (pension credit, HB, CTB) this could reduce their capital/savings by around £2000 each and this might, for some, be better value than having the money set aside in a bank account reducing eligibility for those means tested benefits.

moggins · 26 March 2005 at 12:16PM

My mother had the money set aside in a bank account to pay for her funeral so finding the money wasn't a problem, however I didn't want the hassle of having to access her bank account before we could bury her. I had a long talk with her and we decided to visit her chosen funeral director.

She's ordered exactly what she wants even down to the music and obit notice in the local paper and paid for the lot there and then. I have a copy of the receipt and the phone number to get in touch with them when it happens and they will handle everything.

And the best bit is that the cost will never rise.

blowmedown · 11 April 2005 at 8:29PM

Moggins I have news for you.
Unless you have it in writing and you can guarantee that the Funeral Director will not move or sell out to a bigger concern there may well be more money to pay. (I know I am a Funeral Director) So what do you do. Firstly have you brought a recognised plan Help the Aged / Golden Charter to name but two if you have then well done and I will shut up. If not you are still liable for any increase in disbursment prices (The price of the Grave Cremation etc) so beware your mum may well have another fifteen or twenty years in her you never know so will the funeral director still be willing to hold his price then. If you have any problems drop us a note and I will try and help.

blowmedown · 11 April 2005 at 8:36PM

A note to all if you are planning yours or somone elses funeral you should always use a recognised plan there are plenty out there. I recommend Golden charter my self and it is the one I sell most of. With this plan you can pay now or over a period of time you can nominate your funeral director who you are familliar with and if you move to a different place Town or County all you do is call into another funeral director who sells this type of plan and there are hundreds, or call Golden Charter and ask then to recommend a local Undertaker and your plan is then transfered simple. By the way I am in Coventry if thats any use to anyone. :A

margaretclare · 12 April 2005 at 12:24PM

Hi

You mentioned the over-50s saver plans as advertised on TV and fronted by the like of June Whitfield, Christopher Timothy, Frank Windsor, who talk in those terrible unctuous tones...Sounds like a good idea in theory. No medical...

I started one of those a few years ago because I didn't want a medical. £24 a month would have paid just over £5K on my demise (I was in my early 60s when I started it). No matter how long I lived it would still pay the same amount. In 5 years, therefore, this plan cost me £1440. The only way you could 'profit' on this would be to die early on in the plan (well, not you, but you can see what I mean).

I've since junked this plan and am paying into a stakeholder pension scheme instead. I get the taxman's contribution of 22% on top of whatever I put in. I also save in a cash ISA, and I reckon that these savings are a lot better for me and anyone I leave behind than paying commission to June, Christopher and Frank.

Incidentally my stakeholder now stands at £5,200 and it is assigned to my husband. We both have detailed plans drawn up for our last resting-places (https://www.woodlandburials.co.uk) but not paid for. We've just opened a joint bank account for household bills, something that he resisted for a long time because of bad experiences in a previous marriage.

I recently heard of a terrible case. A woman was widowed, husband's estate going through probate, bank were executors, they'd paid for funeral in January. But she had NO MONEY to live on apart from her share of the couple's state retirement pension, some £40 a week. The bank couldn't/wouldn't release any funds to her. This was finally the reason why I managed to convince my husband that we needed a joint account just for household bills. Bereavement is terrible enough without the worry of e.g. if the electricity will be chopped because no money to pay it.

I think this woman was one of those 'oh, I leave all that to my husband' brigade. She may have felt safe and unworried while he was alive, but he really didn't have her best interests at heart when the crunch came.

Aunty Margaret

isayoldchap · 13 April 2005 at 3:19PM

homealone wrote:

my mother has recently become a widow. the cost took us all by surprise of doing all that was needed. it has now worried her that i will have money problems when it comes to her time and wants to make sure that money is not a headache. she has seen various over 50s insurance plans on the tv no medical required etc but cannot remember who they were with. can anyone help?

I think one was the Cornhill over 50 plan

funeral expenses

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