Friend's son died, family can't afford funeral costs

zaksmum

Is there any help for a family that is unable to afford funeral costs?

My friend has lost her son, aged 37, as a result of a massive accidental drugs overdose, and has no money at all. She's on long term sickness benefits with no savings and lives alone.

Please can anyone advise, might there be any help that could possibly help towards essential funeral expenses?

Her son was single, with one small child from a previous relationship and also had no money.

p00hsticks

zaksmum wrote: »

Is there any help for a family that is unable to afford funeral costs?

My friend has lost her son, aged 37, as a result of a massive accidental drugs overdose, and has no money at all. She's on long term sickness benefits with no savings and lives alone.

Please can anyone advise, might there be any help that could possibly help towards essential funeral expenses?

Her son was single, with one small child from a previous relationship and also had no money.

Unfortunately I believe government bereavement payments for those on benefits are only given towards the costs for the burial of spouses or civil partners, not adult children. Perhaps you could try speaking to a local funeral director to see if there is anything they can suggest ?

One possibility is that if no-one is in a position to organise the funeral then the Local Authority must step in to arrange a 'public health' funeral - but for this to happen your friend must step back and not make any arrangements herself.

Murphybear

According to the Government website

"Rules on your relationship with the deceased
You must be one of the following:

the partner of the deceased when they died
a close relative or close friend of the deceased
the parent of a baby stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy
the parent of the deceased child, if they were under 16 (or under 20 and not in full-time education)
If the parent is ‘absent’, you must be responsible for the child and the absent parent must get a qualifying benefit."

I think your friend would qualify as a close relative

konark

The amount the government will give you (assuming you qualify) will be less than half the price of even the simplest funeral.

sleepless_saver

Even if she is eligible for help, the amount of money in the funeral grant may not meet the full cost. See link to gov.uk for detailed info.
So she might be best to leave arrangements to the local authority.

melanzana

This kind of situation is just so sad. But I am sure it happens regularly.

The local Council have a duty to bury or cremate a person who died within their borough once they have established that neither the estate nor the family has the means to do so themselves.

As far as I am aware the council will arrange the funeral and will inform next of kin of the arrangements.

seven-day-weekend

How awful - both that her son has died and that she can't afford any sort of funeral.

Unfortunately afaik, the only thing she can do is let the LA make the arrangements.

pmlindyloo

This link gives some more detailed information:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/help-if-on-a-low-income/help-for-people-on-a-low-income-the-social-fund-and-other-welfare-schemes/

It may also be possible to apply for a budgeting loan to help with the costs. Information about this also in the link.

zaksmum

Thanks for that information. Any sort of help will be better than nothing - the son's father walked out many years ago and has made no contribution at all, and has refused to be involved in any help with costs at this time.

My friend is absolutely distraught.

TELLIT01

It's a sad situation but, as others have advised, the local authority needs to be advised that family members can't pay and the LA will then make the arrangements.
Much as it may hurt, the mother will be doing herself no favours if she goes into debt to pay for the funeral herself.

meg72

p00hsticks wrote: »

Unfortunately I believe government bereavement payments for those on benefits are only given towards the costs for the burial of spouses or civil partners, not adult children. Perhaps you could try speaking to a local funeral director to see if there is anything they can suggest ?

One possibility is that if no-one is in a position to organise the funeral then the Local Authority must step in to arrange a 'public health' funeral - but for this to happen your friend must step back and not make any arrangements herself.

Not so, when my Son died I received grant of approximately half the cost, rest was found by family and friends.