Unexpected Costs of a Funeral

04 Apr Unexpected Costs of a Funeral

Posted at 08:37h in Estate Planning, Finances by Triage Cancer

Too many people are caught off guard by the cost of a funeral. In general, funeral costs Unexpected Costs of a Funeral are not something you think about until you are at a very vulnerable point in your life. You are grieving the loss of a loved one and at the same time, being forced to make very expensive funeral decisions. Our hope is to provide you with a valuable perspective of the hard costs involved in a funeral and provide resources to help you start to plan for some of those expenses.

There are three main cost categories in funeral planning: costs related to the funeral home, the cemetery, and the grave marker. These costs can easily range from $3,000 to $15,000. We know that these costs can vary greatly depending on where you live and what you choose, but here is a list of the most common expenses:

Funeral Home

Funeral director’s basic services fee
Embalming and body preparation
Casket
Funeral ceremony and viewing
Miscellaneous (e.g., hearse, death certificates, obituary, memorial services, flowers, music, prayer cards, motorcycle officers to escort a funeral procession between a memorial and burial site, and other custom features)

Cemetery

Grave site (plot)
Open/Close Fee (digging and placing the casket in the grave)
Fee to place the grave marker (also called a head stone)

Note: most cemeteries have rules about the type of headstones allowed, including the size and features.

Grave Marker

Headstone

Note: the price of a headstone is generally calculated by weight, so the larger the headstone, the more expense it will be. If you want custom features such as an engraved photo or image, that will cost more. If you are not purchasing the headstone from a cemetery, but from another retailer, you may also have to pay to ship the headstone.

The good news is that if you are prepared for these costs, you can reduce them and find strategic ways to pay for them. For instance, you can compare prices of funeral homes. Funeral homes are businesses and just as you would compare prices on anything else, you can compare funeral home costs. Also, though the funeral home may not have it on display, they must offer a simple pine casket. You can even buy your casket at Costco. A funeral home cannot require you to buy a casket from them. In addition, no state requires embalming if certain time constraints are met.

Depending on your preferences, you could also consider cremation. By 2025, it is expected that 56% of people will choose cremation. Cremation can be less expensive, averaging around $3,200 plus the cost of a $20 urn that you can buy online.

Some funeral homes and cemeteries will not accept credit cards or payment plans, but require payment in cash and up front. Some funeral homes and cemeteries will allow you to set up a payment plan, if you pre-plan a funeral. You can also consider purchasing funeral or “final expense” insurance, to cover the cost of expenses.

Don’t let funeral costs catch you off guard. Thinking through these options and your preferences can help you be prepared and avoid overpaying for a funeral.

For information about pre-planning:

http://www.nfda.org/consumer-resources/planning-a-funeral

https://www.funerals.org/consumers/

For more general information about estate planning.