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When
it comes to funeral costs, you must understand
that funeral homes are businesses that deserve to be paid
a fair price for what they do. However, it is your job,
as a buyer of their services, to be well-educated about
your funeral choices, to determine the kind of funeral or
memorial service that meets the needs of your family, and
to locate an ethically-priced facility that will honor your
choices with caring and dignity.
To
help with funeral costs, many funeral providers offer various
"packages" of commonly selected goods and services
that make up a funeral. But when you arrange for a funeral,
you have the right to buy individual goods and services.
That is, you do not have to accept a package that may include
items you do not want.
Keep
in mind that the Funeral Rule stipulates that:
• You
have the right to choose the funeral goods and services
you want (with a few exceptions that you must be informed
of).
• The funeral provider must state this right in writing
on the General Price List.
• If state or local law requires you to buy any particular
item, the funeral provider must disclose it on the price
list, with a reference to the specific law.
• The funeral provider may not refuse, or charge a fee,
to handle a casket you bought elsewhere.
• A funeral provider that offers cremations must make alternative
containers available.
Now
lets look at funeral costs more in-depth.
Traditional
Funeral
This is generally the most expensive type of funeral. In
addition to the funeral home's basic services fee, costs
often include items such as:
• Moving the body to the funeral home
• Casket/grave liner
• Cemetery plot or crypt
• Embalming
• Cosmetology and restoration
• Dressing the body
• Rental of the funeral home for service
• Pallbearers
• Arranging for and caring for flowers
• Guest register and acknowledgment cards.
• Use of the hearse for transporting the body
• Burial and transit permit
• Newspaper death notices
• Completion of filing of the death certificate.
Many
funeral homes offer all kinds of extras—anything from the
release of a live dove at the burial site to a crystal pen
for the guest register—for additional fees (which drive
up funeral costs). Here are other add-ons that might either
be included in a “package” or offered by the funeral director:
• Clergy's honorarium
• Music for the service
• Extra limousines
• Burial clothes
• Marker or monument
• Burial vault or grave liner
• Crypt
• Cemetery charges for opening and closing grave
• Burial plot
• Cremation services
• Cremation urn
• Long-distance telephone calls or telegrams
• Distance and other additional transportation items
• Cemetery perpetual-care charges
• Taxes
Add
in enough features, and funeral costs for a traditional
funeral can be $15,000 or more.
Many Americans are beginning to question the need for a
so-called “traditional” funeral. Other options are being
explored—one of which is either declining some of the features
offered for a traditional funeral, or handling many of the
details directly rather than through the funeral home.
If you do want a traditional funeral, you can cut funeral
costs drastically be declining third party services offered
by the funeral home and contracting those services yourself.
Working directly with the cemetery, limousine service, florist,
and other third parties will definitely save you money over
what you would spend on a turnkey service from the funeral
home. You don’t even have to buy the casket from the funeral
home (though you will surely be strongly encouraged to do
so by the person you speak to).
Direct Disposition
The cost of direct disposition is related to the degree
to which funeral goods and services are used. The expenses
of a direct disposition service primarily involve:
• Removal of the body from the place of death
• Shelter of the body prior to disposition
• A suitable container to transfer the body
• Grave liner or vault as required by the cemetery
• Transportation to the cemetery
• Filing of the necessary legal documents
• Cemetery perpetual-care charges
• Taxes
Direct
burial usually costs less than the "traditional,"
full-service funeral. Since the body is buried shortly after
death a simple container is normally used. No viewing or
visitation is involved, so no embalming is necessary. Costs
include the funeral home's basic services fee, as well as
transportation and care of the body, the purchase of a simple
casket or burial container, and a cemetery plot or crypt.
If the family chooses to be at the cemetery for the burial,
the funeral home often charges an additional fee for a graveside
service.
Cremation
Cremation usually costs less than the traditional full-service
funeral. Direct cremation and scattering of the ashes is
probably the least expensive alternative if cremation is
the chosen method of disposition. However, if a memorial
service is desired to accompany the scattering of ashes,
there will likely be additional costs (see below).
If
an undertaker is used to transport the body, obtain permits,
and file the death certificate, the fee for services may
run well over $1,000. If a visitation or a funeral service
is held before cremation, the charges will be higher. Costs
for a cremation (without memorial service) may include:
• A suitable container such as cardboard, knock-down-wood,
pressboard, fiberboard, or composition container
• The cremation itself
• Transportation of the body and cremated remains
• An urn or other container for the ashes
• Burial in a niche in a columbarium (a special building
designed to hold cremation urns) or in a burial plot (if
either is desired)
• Memorial plaque
• Perpetual care costs for columbarium or cemetery
• Scattering of the ashes, unless done personally
Memorial
Service
In determining funeral costs, this option may be less expensive
than a traditional funeral, depending on the extent to which
the funeral home becomes involved. The service may be similar
to a traditional funeral service or may be modified to reflect
uniquely personal values and/or traditions. There will be
charges for options such as use of the chapel on the crematory
premises to hold a memorial service, and any goods or services
provided by the funeral home.
Product/Service Cost Components
Regardless
of the type of service and interment you select, if you
do business with a funeral home, there will be funeral costs
related to services and products that you are either required
to pay for or have selected. Examples include:
Basic
services fee for the funeral director and staff
The Funeral Rule allows funeral providers to charge a basic
services fee that customers cannot decline to pay. The basic
services fee is meant to include services that are common
to all funerals, regardless of the specific arrangement.
These include funeral planning, securing the necessary permits
and copies of death certificates, preparing the notices,
sheltering the remains, and coordinating the arrangements
with the cemetery, crematory or other third parties. Be
aware, however, that some mortuaries include other services
in this fee (raising funeral costs), so if the amount seems
high, ask questions to find out what is specifically included.
The fee should not include charges for optional services
or merchandise.
Charges
for other services and merchandise
Optional goods and services include transporting the remains,
embalming and other preparation, use of the funeral home
for the viewing, ceremony or memorial service, use of equipment
and staff for a graveside service, use of a hearse or limousine,
a casket, outer burial container or alternate container,
and cremation or interment. The prices for these should
be clearly itemized on the GPL.
Cash
advances
Cash advances are fees charged by the funeral home for goods
and services that it procures from outside vendors on your
behalf, including flowers, obituary notices, pallbearers,
officiating clergy, and organists and soloists. Some funeral
providers charge you their cost for the items they buy on
your behalf. Others add a service fee to the funeral costs.
The Funeral Rule requires those who charge an extra fee
to disclose that fact in writing, although it doesn't require
them to specify the amount of their markup (but you can
always ask). The Rule also requires funeral providers to
tell you if there are refunds, discounts, or rebates from
the supplier on any cash advance item.
Embalming
Many funeral homes require embalming if you're planning
a viewing or visitation. Otherwise, embalming generally
is not necessary or legally required. Eliminating this service
can save you hundreds of dollars. See the next section for
a list of facts about embalming.
Caskets
(follow the link for more)
Calculating
the Actual Cost
Your
funeral provider must give you an itemized statement of
the total funeral costs of the funeral goods and services
you have selected when you are making the arrangements.
If the funeral provider doesn't know the cost of the cash
advance items at the time, he or she is required to give
you a written “good faith estimate.” This statement also
must disclose any legal, cemetery, or crematory requirements
that stipulate purchase of specific funeral goods or services.
The
Funeral Rule does not require any particular format for
this information. Funeral providers may include it in any
document they give you at the end of your discussion about
funeral arrangements. It is therefore important to make
sure that you do receive this funeral costs statement, that
it is clear, and that you have any questions about it answered
prior to confirming arrangements.
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