Wills

NE5

I'm thinking of paying in advance for my funeral

What sort of criteria do I need to follow.

I have a pack from Dignity, and a local funeral director which my family has always used. 

Robin9

Personally I would go with my local funeral director.   

Make sure your family and executor knows who to contact. If you live alone perhaps an envelope on the mantlepiece marked -
 to whom it may concern.

Your thread title is "Wills"  - do you have one ?   Funeral details are not normally included in them.

tacpot12

The issue with pre-paymeent of funerals is what guarantee will there be that the firm you give your money to will still be around decades later when you die? My plan is to ensure that I have enough cash left at the end of my life to pay for a funeral, proabably, and if I don't, then my executors have a chocie to make as to whether they want to pay for me to be buried how I want to be buried, or how they want me to be buried, or the leave it to the council to bury me. 

bobster2

tacpot12 said:

The issue with pre-paymeent of funerals is what guarantee will there be that the firm you give your money to will still be around decades later when you die? My plan is to ensure that I have enough cash left at the end of my life to pay for a funeral, proabably, and if I don't, then my executors have a chocie to make as to whether they want to pay for me to be buried how I want to be buried, or how they want me to be buried, or the leave it to the council to bury me. 

If there are assets in the estate - the executors can't simply chose to have the council pay for the funeral.

If the local authority arrange a public health funeral (because nobody else arranged one) - then if there are assets in the estate - the LA will pursue the estate for those costs.

NE5

Robin9 said:

Personally I would go with my local funeral director.   

Make sure your family and executor knows who to contact. If you live alone perhaps an envelope on the mantlepiece marked -
 to whom it may concern.

Your thread title is "Wills"  - do you have one ?   Funeral details are not normally included in them.

the local funeral firm has been around for decades and is still a major firm. There is very little chance of it going bust IMO.

But I contacted them for details, and they sent me a Dignity pack, when I thought that they would send me details themselves.

I suppose I should contact them again, and be more precise with the request.

NE5

Robin9 said:

Personally I would go with my local funeral director.   

Make sure your family and executor knows who to contact. If you live alone perhaps an envelope on the mantlepiece marked -
 to whom it may concern.

Your thread title is "Wills"  - do you have one ?   Funeral details are not normally included in them.

Ref the title, an oversight on my part. I;m doing a Will as well, but for now I want to pay for the funeral if I can. 

poppystar

My parent went with a local funeral director who had been in business for decades. They did not go bust but sold out to one of the major chains - probably because the next generation of the family didn’t want to take it on. I was lucky in that the new people who were offering a fixed price package by then did offer a few extras to make up for the higher payment that has originally been made with the funeral director.

Personally I’ve not taken out any prepayment deal. The main advantage I can see in taking one out rather than leaving funds in the estate is that you can control what will happen better. This is not something I care about particularly, beyond the few instructions in my Will. 

You might ask the funeral director why they have sent you Dignity info. It may be that doing individual plans with clients is simply too much hassle for them - without the commission they might get from Dignity. 

boingy

poppystar said:

You might ask the funeral director why they have sent you Dignity info. It may be that doing individual plans with clients is simply too much hassle for them - without the commission they might get from Dignity. 

I think it's almost certainly commission (or an "equivalent").

Spendless

Id speak to your local FD and ask the question 'what happens if this firm no longer exists at the time of my demise?'

The problem with leaving enough in your estste to cover funeral costs is if you end up in a care home you will pay in full or part until your estate goes to below £14250. Your funeral costs would then come out of that. This is why my Mum purchased a funeral plan for my Nan when she went into a home. It turned out to be a wise decision since Nan lived to be almost 99 spending the last years of her life in a care home.