Paying for a Funeral?

Mojisola

help_pretty_please wrote: »

I've decided to leave my body to medical science, who says you can't be useful after your dead!

Not all bodies left to science are accepted so have a back-up plan in place for your children, just in case.

Be_Happy

I agree that opening a joint account with our son is the easiest way of ensuring that he could access money to pay, but there are too many 'unknown factors'. If he ever (God forbid) divorced or went bankrupt, the account would be taken into calculation. It could even be used if he were ever to claim any means tested benefits.

All in all, there is too much risk to our savings, but thanks for the suggestions, anyway.

lilac_lady

I've told my children that I want a non-religious funeral, no expensive coffin, no fancy cars, all my friends there and champagne afterwards. I hope they carry this out. I have a joint savings account with one of my children, created for this purpose.

richard9991

help_pretty_please wrote: »

I've decided to leave my body to medical science, who says you can't be useful after your dead! I have four children and have told them all and left the papers where they know where they are. They can have a party for me when I've gone and say nice things about me - I hope.

even with this the remains are given back after 2 3 years to the next of kin for a legal funeral.

baccyman

my mother took out a payment plan with funeral directors they told her how much her funeral would cost and she paid for the funeral i think that it was £3000. and that was for everything the cremation the service and her body being transported from hospital to the funeral parlour and then to the cematory,
and it turned out to be the best thing that she could do because none of us had to try and find the money to pay for her funeral and it was a lot easier on us than it could have been.
so i would suggest seeing a funeral director and prepay for the funeral or funerals because once you have paid then it is all sorted.

Primrose

What happens to a prepay funeral plan if either the insurance company or the funeral director goes broke? Is the money lost or does the Government step in and bail it out? In today's environment nothing can be taken forgranted and it would be galling to prepay for a funeral and then when the time comes, find the money has been lost and it all has to be paid out again by relatives.

savemoney

My OH gran just passed away, ist going to cost a little over 3k for a burial it seems the same price for a cremation too

jennifernil wrote: »

Mum and I had a joint account as she was a taxpayer (pension plus savings) and I wasn't (no job). This saved some tax.

When she died the funds came to me so there was no problem with accessing enough cash to pay the funeral directors bill, but I did think it was very high.

When you are grieving 'cos your Mum has just died, you are not really thinking straight. I knew Mum would not want money spent on fancy stuff, but even a simple cremation came to almost £3000.

How do they justify these prices?

baccyman

Primrose wrote: »

What happens to a prepay funeral plan if either the insurance company or the funeral director goes broke? Is the money lost or does the Government step in and bail it out? In today's environment nothing can be taken forgranted and it would be galling to prepay for a funeral and then when the time comes, find the money has been lost and it all has to be paid out again by relatives.

i do not know if the funeral directors have to take out any form of insurance to guard against going broke and leaving familys having to pay again,
my mother passed away just under two years ago so we had no problems,
but it might be worth talking to the funeral directors themselves to see what guarantees they have,
and if you go to one of the well known funeral directors in your area they will probably be ok, i have not heard of funeral directors going bust before.

Newly_retired

I would expect that these funeral plans have to be underwritten by one of the major insurers. Need to check out the T & C carefully before committing any money.
If anyone finds themselves in the position of being the imediate relative responsible for a funeral, and you are on certain benefits, you can apply to the Social Fund for a funeral payment. There is the possibility of a lump sum to cover the necesary expenses including a coffin, service, burial or cremation and basic travel.
If this is useful to anyone , ask me again for more details. I'll get them when I go into CAB on Monday.

Errata

The Co-op funeral service has this info on pre-paid funeral plans -

We do our part to guarantee the safety of your policy. All monies received are invested in individual whole of life insurance policies between the Funeral Director and Co-operative Insurance Society Limited (CIS). Regardless of whatever happens to us in the future, your money is safe and guaranteed.