Funeral Pre-Planning
Plan Ahead and Make Funeral Arrangements Now
Why prearrange my funeral or burial? When you plan ahead, you will be able to compare the many options available and make an informed decision about your funeral and cemetery arrangements, and make choices that are meaningful to both you and your family. You will gain peace of mind knowing your family and friends will be relieved of the emotional and financial burden often associated with making arrangements when a death occurs. In addition, by prefunding your funeral and cemetery services, a guaranteed price contract will allow you to purchase at today’s prices, free from inflationary pressures in the future. Your local funeral or cemetery provider can help you pre-plan.
If I pre-plan and prepay my funeral or burial, how do I know that the money will be there when I die? If you decide to prepay your funeral or burial prearrangements, there are generally two methods to assure the funeral home’s and/or cemetery’s performance. Your money is either used toward a premium to purchase life insurance whereby the policy proceeds will pay for your arrangements, or your funds — either the entire amount or a portion of them — will be deposited into a trust fund account to defray the provider’s costs.
Can I change any of these prepaid funeral services later? Changes are generally possible, but be careful. When changes are made, they oftentimes affect the terms of guarantees that were created under the original agreement.
What if your funeral home or cemetery changes ownership? Prior
contractual agreements are not voided simply because a change of ownership
occurs. The funeral planning agreement you have with the prior ownership
is carried forward with successor owners as part of the purchase agreement.
Can social services take my pre-arrangements away from me? Take
away? No. Challenge the amount being set aside to pay for an expensive
funeral? Yes. Funds set aside to pay for a reasonable funeral arrangement
are not counted as assets as one qualifies for social services.