Prepaid funeral on credit card?

Flowergirl61

My friend has a terminal illness. She has been living off benefits since she fell ill and is a single parent of one child and her parents are guardians in her will. Before falling ill she had a good job and still has credit cards that she hardly uses as doesn't want to get into debt. Is it legal for her to prepay for her funeral using one of her credit cards? She would just be making the minimum monthly payment on the debt but she has no assets when she dies so the balance would remain outstanding and unpaid. She knows her parents do not have the money to pay for her funeral

Keep_pedalling

No, this is not a good idea. Morally deliberately running up dept you know can't be paid off is wrong, and it will undoubtedly cause her parents unnessasary stress having to deal with the credit card company afterwards.

A pre paid plan may also have restrictions on an early payout so the plan may not payout if she dies with the 1st year anyway.

She should not worry about funeral costs, in these circumstances, a simple but dignified funeral will be provided by the local authority or the hospital if that is where she dies.

Yorkshireman99

Flowergirl61 wrote: »

My friend has a terminal illness. She has been living off benefits since she fell ill and is a single parent of one child and her parents are guardians in her will. Before falling ill she had a good job and still has credit cards that she hardly uses as doesn't want to get into debt. Is it legal for her to prepay for her funeral using one of her credit cards? She would just be making the minimum monthly payment on the debt but she has no assets when she dies so the balance would remain outstanding and unpaid. She knows her parents do not have the money to pay for her funeral

The local council or the hospital where she dies will pay for her funeral. Running up a debt on a credit card like she is contemplating whould be dishonest.

Detroit

If her parents are on certain benefits they can receive help with the cost by claiming a funeral payment from the social fund.
When the time comes they can seek advice from CAB on whether they are entitled.
Funeral directors are usually knowledgable about social fund payments for funerals, and many will advise if they are eligible, and what arrangements can be made within the budget of the grant.

Yorkshireman99

Detroit wrote: »

If her parents are on certain benefits they can receive help with the cost by claiming a funeral payment from the social fund.
When the time comes they can seek advice from CAB on whether they are entitled.
Funeral directors are usually knowledgable about social fund payments for funerals, and many will advise if they are eligible, and what arrangements can be made within the budget of the grant.

Why claim when the local authority or hospital will pay for a basic funeral?

Detroit

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

Why claim when the local authority or hospital will pay for a basic funeral?

The authorities have procedures where no one is willing, or able, to responsibility for a funeral, and the person is, for want of a better term, alone in the world, and no one 'claims' the deceased.
It is certainly an option, but certainly not the better option than claiming the funeral payment, as the first would not enable the family to contribute to the arrangements.
A social fund payment being a grant of money, allows relatives choices, for example over coffin, venue, and, possibly very importantly to some, whether burial or cremation.
For the authorities to take responsibility would require the family to abdicate theirs, and this is something that many people would not wish to do.
To instigate this suggestion the family would be required to tell the hospital they wanted nothing to do with the arrangements, as if they explained they couldn't afford to pay, a social fund funeral payment would be suggested anyway.
I'm struggling to think of any reason leaving this to the authorities would be preferable, unless the family are not entitled to the funeral payment and cannot afford the funeral costs without.

Yorkshireman99

Detroit wrote: »

The authorities have procedures where no one is willing, or able, to responsibility for a funeral, and the person is, for want of a better term, alone in the world, and no one 'claims' the deceased.
It is certainly an option, but certainly not the better option than claiming the funeral payment, as the first would not enable the family to contribute to the arrangements.
A social fund payment being a grant of money, allows relatives choices, for example over coffin, venue, and, possibly very importantly to some, whether burial or cremation.
For the authorities to take responsibility would require the family to abdicate theirs, and this is something that many people would not wish to do.
To instigate this suggestion the family would be required to tell the hospital they wanted nothing to do with the arrangements, as if they explained they couldn't afford to pay, a social fund funeral payment would be suggested anyway.
I'm struggling to think of any reason leaving this to the authorities would be preferable, unless the family are not entitled to the funeral payment and cannot afford the funeral costs without.

The problem with the social fund payment is that is not certain, is unlikely to cover the full costs and can take weeks to obtain. The consequences of that can cause great distress. Unfortunately families often get pressured into paying for expensive funerals when they have no legal obligation. This can cause financial hardship that may last for years. Personally I don't think that is sensible way to deal with things.

Detroit

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

The problem with the social fund payment is that is not certain, is unlikely to cover the full costs and can take weeks to obtain. The consequences of that can cause great distress. Unfortunately families often get pressured into paying for expensive funerals when they have no legal obligation. This can cause financial hardship that may last for years. Personally I don't think that is sensible way to deal with things.[/QUOTE


I know what you mean, people do have trouble, but usually this is when there's questions around whether they're the appropriate person to take responsibility. There can be a tendency for a family member on benefits to apply when there are equally close relatives not on benefits who are considered able to have paid. This is the most common reason leading to refusal of the payment.

In the case described by the OP, if the parents are next of kin I don't foresee this kind of problem, providing they are on passporting benefits.

You're also correct that the payment won't necessarily cover all costs for everything the family may wish for. However, funeral directors are often very familiar with this payment, and many offer a package within the budget and even assist people to apply.

Correct also that the payment can take a while, but, again funeral directors used to people paying this way accept this.

It's really up to the people concerned, but if they are eligible, the SF payment is there for this purpose, while abdicating responsibility to the local authority is really an option of last resort.