Prepaid Funeral Plans

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Comments

  • Joes_nana wrote: »
    Hi me again..
    I had a very interesting chat with someone the other day who is in the funeral business.
    I asked about pre payment. Their reply was.... Keep the money somewhere accessible as these pre payment funds are looking like the next financial disaster.... Eeeek that's put the wind up me....

    I don't see why that should be, PPF plans are nothing more than whole life policies underwritten by major insurers. Is the person saying that the next financial disaster is going to be the failure of the insurence industry?
  • Drum
    Drum Posts: 12
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    I have recently sorted out Wills for myself and my husband and to make things easier for my family I am seriously considering purchasing 2 pre paid funeral plans. I am finding it really hard to get independent advice and simply cannot decide. Any views?
  • Drum wrote: »
    I have recently sorted out Wills for myself and my husband and to make things easier for my family I am seriously considering purchasing 2 pre paid funeral plans. I am finding it really hard to get independent advice and simply cannot decide. Any views?
    Don't! Put the money away and top it up when you can. Consider if you want to spend a lot or have a simple and inexpensive funeral. Then make it clear to your executors what YOU want.
  • just a quick one to say its not spam, im a new member and old and didnt know the rules. sorry ... i am genuine tho and i think ive managed to delete the post.

    apologies
  • My mom has just lost her partner of almost 30 years.She was paying £45 a month for 3 yrs. Sold this policy as a 10yr one.They were told the average cost of a funeralwas £8000.Both have health issues.Told flowers inc etc. They weren't.We could receive monies paid minus £500 admin fee £1300 approx or pay them almost £1900.Rather than lose £500 we paid.Cannot reclaim funeral benefit from DSS as plan is classed as paid up.They were being charged interest on their plan which they weren't told about. No mention of this on their forms.Lots of blank spaces on it though. Booked through Co-op and told Avalon were their customers,not us. Has been a nightmare from start to finish. The Co-op wouldn't even print the Order of Service claiming they didn't have enough time from the Wednesday to the Monday. Don't touch this company with a bargepole.
  • One thing came up recently when we were looking into paying for my mother's residence care. She has to pay until the value of all her assets goes down to £11k or thereabouts, with a sliding scale as she gets below £23k. The Local Authority can look to see where significant money has been spent, in case she have given money away "deliberate deprivation of assets" to avoid paying fees. One thing that is not taken into account, is paying in advance for a funeral.
    So, if Mum's assets go right down and she hasn't paid for a funeral, the money will come out of what's left, thereby reducing her estate. (She is still with us!) If she's bought a plan, it doesn't count towards her assets.
    On the other hand, money in a separate account, with the intention of paying for a funeral from it, will presumably be seen as part of the person's assets, when it comes to paying for care?
  • Mojisola
    Mojisola Posts: 35,551
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    CongoSue wrote: »
    So, if Mum's assets go right down and she hasn't paid for a funeral, the money will come out of what's left, thereby reducing her estate. (She is still with us!) If she's bought a plan, it doesn't count towards her assets.

    On the other hand, money in a separate account, with the intention of paying for a funeral from it, will presumably be seen as part of the person's assets, when it comes to paying for care?

    In a similar vein - my parents bought their funeral plans because of the capital limit when claiming benefits. At the time it was £6k for them as a couple.

    They wanted to keep enough by for two funerals as well as save for bigger items like a stair lift. The £6k limit didn't allow for that.
  • CMM21
    CMM21 Posts: 1 Newbie
    My Dear Dad died recently and I was shocked to see how much more his funeral costed compared to my mum's 14 years ago! Mum. - £1600.
    Dad's £3700.
    Looking into a plan but unsure. Welcome any advice or experiences .
  • Yorkshireman99
    Yorkshireman99 Posts: 5,470 Forumite
    CMM21 wrote: »
    My Dear Dad died recently and I was shocked to see how much more his funeral costed compared to my mum's 14 years ago! Mum. - £1600.
    Dad's £3700.
    Looking into a plan but unsure. Welcome any advice or experiences .
    Avoid the plan and put the mpney into an account for yourself. You can get a basic funeral with cremation for well under £2,000. You just need to avoid all the expensive extras. Find a truly independent funeral director and talk to them. Make sure you set out exctly what YOU want and tell your executors.
  • Primrose
    Primrose Posts: 10,620
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    It,s all very well people advising us to out the money aside in a separate account rather than paying for a funeral plan but I have no children so if a friend is my executor and has to organise my funeral why should that person have to pay for my funeral expenses out of their own pocket when funeral directors expect funerals to be paid for immediately?

    Putting money aside might mean that an executor can't access it until probate had been granted and that could take months. Surely one of the reasons for paying up front is to avoid this kind of hassle and pressure on the people who have to organise and pay for your funeral?
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