One day a great deal of information about you will be needed by your family or the person who is responsible for organising your funeral. By preparing your funeral arrangements in advance, you will have provided all the necessary information required, and have the opportunity to explore all options and make the most personal decisions. This article lists some things to consider if you decide to pay in advance for your funeral arrangements.
• Any money paid by the client to the Funeral Director must be placed in a Funeral Bond
• Any money invested into a Funeral Bond cannot be redeemed by the Funeral Director until they have performed the funeral for the Client.
• If the Client wishes to ‘lock in’ the prices of a Prepaid funeral then a ‘once off’ Price Guarantee Fee (calculated at 7.5% of the total) is payable at the time of the investment. This will then ensure that the prices are fixed over the life of the investment and also covers the cost of the administration of the prepaid funeral plan.
• If locking in then :
o There are some items that are not included in the contract because the Funeral Director cannot reasonably anticipate what those costs may be in the future (for example: newspaper notices, the cost of refreshments for the funeral, printing costs [prayer cards, mass booklets, orders of service, etc.], certain limited cemetery costs and post-funeral monumental masonry works).
o Any costs associated with requests for additional or altered funeral services will be paid by the person responsible for the funeral or the client’s Estate, at the rate current at the time of the provision of the services.
o Any items contracted in the original Contract which are not used at the time of the funeral may not be refunded, this will be determined at the discretion of the Funeral Director at the time of the request by the family.
Funeral Plans which are to be paid by installment will need to be re-calculated prior to the final payment to cover the increased costs over time. Your partly prepaid funeral will not be protected from price increases until the final payment has been made. However, it is worth remembering that the interest accrued during the term of the installment plan may offset any increases in cost.
Paying in advance, for your funeral is one sure way to guard against escalating costs, as funeral costs tend to double every seven years.
Once the type of service and cost has been agreed, Kings Funerals guarantee to carry out the funeral as arranged, whenever it is required in the years to come.
