Should People arrange a funeral if they can't afford to pay for it?

[addie140910]

My grandma has had her funeral and burial paid off for about 5-6 years now. The funeral home offers a payment plan and she didn't want to be a burden on anyone with them having to pay if she couldn't, so everything is picked out and arranged already.

That being said she is in her 60's i think and she is a perfectly healthy happy person. : ) Very active as well

 

[moomin_troll]

My mum believes that the state should pay for us all to have a basic funeral and all be cremated and then if people want things added then they should pay for that.

Ofcourse that then leaves the question of how on earth would the government afford that I no.

When my oh died I knew I wanted the best, but I also knew I could afford it. The army ended up paying for it all which was good of them.

Like everything in life u should only have what u can afford. Must be awful for u going after debts in ur line of work

 

[Tasha]

I have no idea how people can live with not paying for the funeral costs. With Riley Rae we owed just under £100 (I think, it is a blur tbh) and they sent the bill and I just thought oh I will pay that later and totally forgot, they sent a reminder 28 days later and to say I was mortified would be an understatement. I made my DH run a cheque in that day and also a bunch of flowers. I guess though £100 and £5k is very different but even paying you £20 a week for how ever long would be better than just hiding from the debt

Honey's and Riley Rae's funerals were free apart from certain fees but we could of paid more for things like a hearse etc and luckily if we had wanted that my parents and PIL said they would cover the costs (we hadnt thought about covering the costs of burying a child tbh) but we didnt want it, it felt like our girls would be too exposed in a hearse (personal choice, obviously) plus it meant we had the journey just me, DH and our daughter, it iwas a special time.

We have had a lot of funerals for my family to try and organise, and each time we have gone for a simple funeral, because that is what my family prefer. There are a few things fee wise that shock me tbh, like my aunt died in hospital and my mum had to pay for the doctor to certify she had died, or that fact that they cleaned her and so my mum paid for that (but they didnt even ask previously or explain it would happen just sent it in a bill breakdown )

 

[TattiesMum]

There are a few things fee wise that shock me tbh, like my aunt died in hospital and my mum had to pay for the doctor to certify she had died, or that fact that they cleaned her and so my mum paid for that (but they didnt even ask previously or explain it would happen just sent it in a bill breakdown )

Everyone who has a cremation has to pay the 2 doctors required to certify for the cremation papers - it's not cheap either

The cost of washing your Aunt puzzles me a bit though ... unless they put 'hygienic treatment' on the bill which is the euphemism that funeral directors use for embalming. I HATE the phrase because I think it's misleading, so I always actually say 'embalming'.

It's not unusual for people to forget about their bill either ... it's an awful time for people and they are often all over the place, so we expect it

 

[Mummy2B21]

wow people that have lavish funerals for there loved ones but cant afford to pay or moreso no intention of paying fd's should pass there debt onto debt collectors no? A simple funeral is all that needs as long as they are there to respect and honour the person i dont see why a lavish funeral is needed if they cant afford.

 

[moomin_troll]

Even a basic funeral costs a lot of money

 

[Blah11]

Oh what a good question and one Ive never really thought about. Hopefully I'll never be put in that position. Most people who are elderly have some sort of funeral payment plan do they not? I know my Grandma defo does as she doesnt have any assets and she rents.
I imagine I'd go for a midrange. I'd do without things like the best coffin and horse drawn carriages but I wouldnt go for everything basic and do things like cremate instead of bury just because its cheaper. & I'd do my best to pay it off.

 

[Blah11]

There are a few things fee wise that shock me tbh, like my aunt died in hospital and my mum had to pay for the doctor to certify she had died, or that fact that they cleaned her and so my mum paid for that (but they didnt even ask previously or explain it would happen just sent it in a bill breakdown )

Everyone who has a cremation has to pay the 2 doctors required to certify for the cremation papers - it's not cheap either

The cost of washing your Aunt puzzles me a bit though ... unless they put 'hygienic treatment' on the bill which is the euphemism that funeral directors use for embalming. I HATE the phrase because I think it's misleading, so I always actually say 'embalming'.

It's not unusual for people to forget about their bill either ... it's an awful time for people and they are often all over the place, so we expect it

its really horrible when I get post for the doctors at work with cheques for £70 odd just for writing out a death certificate. It takes them literally 2 minutes! Takes the piss, as if they dont earn enough already A lot of them donate their money to whatever ward the patient was in which is a nice thing for them to do.

 

[lau86]

Me and my brothers Paid for my dads funeral out of our inheritance from my nan. He had a 'midrange' funeral. I wouldn't have embarrassed myself giving him a cheap funeral, I imagine he wouldn't have really cared though. I wouldn't have had a funeral and not paid for it, that's really wrong. If we hadn't had the money upfront we would have paid it off slowly

 

[TaylorsMummyx]

my BIL died at 34. My sister spend 12k on his funeral. He had horse drawn carriage, massive flowers, white bling coffin ect. She did it so it didnt look so daunting to there son and daughter. His work paid 10k to the funeral and she paid the rest.


when my mum died, we had no flowers, cheapest coffin ect and stil cost 3.5k!

 

[Fergie]

I couldn't afford my daughters funeral. As small an amount as it was (£300) i was off sick and only getting £50 a week and my darling ex husband buggered off back home to Turkiye and left me to deal with it. I was lucky though that my wee brother paid for it all or i wouldn't have got her ashes, but the FD i went with said i could have paid in instalments as they knew my situation.

I can understand that it's a stressful time for people but there really is no excuse for not paying for a funeral.

 

[Hayley90]

H