How To Plan For Your Funeral

There’s some bad news and good news that you need to hear. The bad news is that you are going to die. The good news is though, you have some time to plan for it. And we aren’t talking about estate planning either. In this post we will be talking about how to plan your funeral. 

Designate a Funeral Director

I know this might be obvious, but after you die, you won’t be able to get your funeral planning started, so you’ll need to have someone to do it. Illinois is one of eight states that require you to have a funeral director. A funeral director is in charge of writing out the death certificate and issuing permits to move the body for final disposition. 

Designating a funeral director means you have one point person for your funeral planning. This reduces the risk of family members arguing over how to handle everything. Your funeral director should abide by your wishes to the extent possible, but Illinois law gives them final decision-making authority over your funeral planning. If you fail to designate a funeral representative, then unfortunately you will not be able to do a home funeral 

Make Your Wishes Clear

If you know what you want, tell your loved ones, and especially your designated funeral director. Put your wishes in writing, so there is no confusion. Things you may want to specify include: 

• Whether you want to be buried or cremated; 

• Whether you want a funeral or a memorial service; 

• Where you want the service to be held; 

• Whether you want the service to be public or private, and who should be invited; 

• Whether you want people to send flowers or some other sort of tribute, like a donation to one of your favorite charities; 

• Who should be asked to be pallbearers, if pallbearers are needed; 

• Who should conduct the service, what music should be sung/played, and who should be invited to give a eulogy or speak; 

• Any other details that are relevant to you. 

You can put all this information in a health care directive or in a document that you give directly to your funeral director. One thing you that should not do is put this information in your will, as it is doubtful that your will is going to be reviewed before your funeral, so your wishes would most likely not be seen and therefore not honored. Make sure that your loved ones know that you have put your wishes for your funeral in writing, and also where they can find a copy of the writing if they need it. 

Do Some Comparison Shopping

Chances are, if you paid more than you needed to and didn’t get exactly what you wanted, it’s because you waited last minute to do so and were under pressure to get something. The same is true of funeral planning. When your family has to find a funeral home, coffin or urn, and a burial plot, they need to take what’s available, and pay what it costs, whether or not it’s what they (or you) wanted. 

Thankfully, you can work with a funeral home and make some preparations ahead of time. There can be great variation in prices for funeral services and goods, so it’s smart to shop around while you have the chance. The Federal Trade Commission’s Funeral Rule states that funeral homes must provide consumers with a general price list for all goods and services. It also prohibits certain misrepresentations and makes clear that consumers cannot be required to purchase certain items. 

Although many people do for convenience, you don’t need to purchase everything from the funeral home. For instance, you can purchase a casket elsewhere, including at Costco or Amazon.com. 

Pay Before You Go

It’s reasonable to think that you want to avoid leaving the burden of paying for your final arrangements on the shoulders of your loved ones’. Most funeral homes offer a pre-payment option, which is something that you may want to consider, but you need to know the risks: if your loved ones need to use a different funeral home, they may have trouble getting your money back &if the funeral home goes out of business, your pre-payment may be gone for good. 

A better option would be to create a payable-on-death account with your designated funeral director as the beneficiary. This way, the funds will be readily available to them and they can use them as needed, not only for your funeral per se, but for associated items like a memorial reception after the event. 

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