When setting up a funeral for a loved one it can be an extremely distressing and emotive period, especially if the deceased person was someone close to you. Trying to get the balance correct to ensure that the person affected has all their wishes respected. Sometimes trying to second guess all of these can be difficult and even seem unachievable.
Funeral Plans – Many people nowadays have set up their own dedicated funeral plan. There are clearly many advantages of this which include ensuring that the actual funeral itself is paid for in advance so that this reduces the stress connected to this with the family members who will deal with this. By looking in the internet you can check the Funeral Advice Centre for lots of good credible information including costs, specific services offered, payment plan options and any law and paperwork issues. Contacting companies like this direct will ensure that you have some good professional advice in advance.
Will and legal documents – Clearly the guidance to everyone is to have a Will. By not having this, you are leaving yourself exposed to family disagreements and potentially your items or money being handed to someone that you don’t want. In your Will you can almost do as you please (there are some laws in different countries though that mandate specific handouts to your children for example). In your Will you can be very specific and the lawyer will keep you right on how this complies with the law. Nowadays, these are not specifically expensive and will cost a few hundred pounds maximum for a reputable company to complete this. Once the person has died, the Will comes into force which can even have specific requests on the type of funeral they want.
Costs – There is lots of information on the internet on funeral director companies where you can compare costs. It’s far too easy for people to just use their local company. This may be great to support your local business however could be costly. Using funeral comparison sites (just like you do with banking or cars) is probably the most cost effective way to do this. You can make direct contact with the companies and give more specific details in order to receive a more competitive quote. Funerals are not cheap by any means and will take a big dent out of your pocket if you have got a funeral plan and are expected to cough up the cash immediately so shop around.
Religious beliefs – Remembering that the funeral is for the person that passed away you should be respectful enough to take their religious beliefs fully into consideration. This may involve people attending a religious service that they do not connect to however people should remain curious and be respectful. Sometimes in order to execute a religious service effectively planning is required. In addition, some religions require people to be buried or cremated immediately and others require it to be some distance away from the date of death. Be sure to be aware of this and take this into account.
Image: Pixabay
