Funeral Planning Survey

Several years ago, our firm mailed out a Funeral Planning Survey. In this survey, we asked questions relating to preplanning a funeral to help our family determine how members of our community plan for one of the hardest events a family will have to face...the death of a loved one. 

For this week's End-of-Life chat, we take some of those questions that appear on that survey and break them down for you to explain the benefits of preplanning and prepaying your funeral. 

Funeral Planning Survey

Is there an honorably discharged veteran in your household or immediate family?  

If you can answer YES to this question, did you know that honorably discharged veterans may qualify for burial benefits, including a free burial plot or cremation niche at Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery in Rittman, Ohio? For earth burial, this would include the grave liner for the casket as well as a headstone and could save a veteran's family upwards of $2,500 or more. In addition to the veteran, his or her spouse and any dependant children may also qualify at no charge. 

Are you aware that prepaid funeral plans exist?                                                                                             

There are numerous benefits to prepaid funerals. The biggest benefit is that you can lock in the price of your funeral wishes, which prevents loved ones from having to worry about how they will pay for your funeral. Prepaid funerals allow you to tell your family what your wishes are for your funeral, allowing them peace of mind knowing that they have honored your wishes without trying to guess what your wishes are.

Are you aware that properly structured prepaid funeral expenses are considered "exempt assets" when applying for Medicaid and are thereby protected from being spent on nursing home expenses?                   

Often times our funeral directors are making prepaid funeral arrangements for families trying to place their loved one in nursing home care. Medicaid requires "spend downs" in order for loved ones to have the least amount of expenses. When done properly, families have the ability to change ownerships on life insurance policies to funeral homes to fund the funerals of loved ones. Our family is happy to go into more detail regarding Medicaid spend downs and how we can help you protect your loved ones' funds for their funeral wishes. 

How much might you expect to pay for a funeral? Under $1,000? Between $1,000 and $3,000? $3,000 to $5,000? $5,000 to $7,500? Over $7,500? 

The National Funeral Director's Association (NFDA) has stated that the median cost of a funeral is approximately $7,500.00. A prepaid funeral allows you to lock in the cost of a funeral at today's prices. A perfect example of this can be seen in any funeral home's prepaid funerals. Our funeral home has a family we are presently servicing where they prepaid their loved one's direct cremation. In 2001, our firm charges $970.00 for a direct cremation, which included our staff making the arrangements, picking up their loved one and taking them to the crematory, the cost of the required alternative container for the cremation, the fee of the cremation, death certificates and the cremation permit. In 2021, that same direct cremation now costs $2,195.00. The family is not expected to cover the difference of $1,225 because they prepaid the costs ahead of time. 

If you have given any thought to this subject, which of the following would you choose for yourself: burial or cremation?

When it comes to this question if you can't answer this basic question, how could you expect your loved ones to answer the question with doubts? By preplanning and prepaying your funeral, your family is not left with having to answer questions like this.

If you desire burial, what are your wishes for the type of casket, visitation wishes, and cemetery?  

I recently experienced this personally when my father was going in for surgery. While it was a routine surgery, my siblings and I worried that if something went wrong, we would have to make the funeral arrangements for his funeral. As we met with the funeral director, we realized that even though dad had mentioned throughout the year's things he wanted regarding his funeral, we still had no clue what to select in terms of casket (what gauge of the casket, what color, what designs), what kind of visitation and funeral services he would want (all in one day; a funeral home service vs a church service) and the biggest one was the cemetery, as we have family at several local cemeteries. 

If you desire cremation, which options have you considered for the final resting place of your cremated body: burial in a cemetery; placement in a niche or columbarium; scattering; leave for family to keep at home?

When we are making arrangements for cremation, this is always one of our funeral director's first questions to the family, especially because it will help determine what type of cremation urn a family will require. Many cemeteries in the area require special marble urns for inurnment of cremated remains or an urn vault if a family selects an urn outside of the marble. Often times when we ask this question, our families are unable to answer because they only know that their loved one wanted to be cremated. It's important to let your loved ones know what your wishes are for your cremated remains. 

Do you maintain up-to-date biographical information and accurate family records to assist you or a loved one with funeral or cremation planning? 

Again, another big topic that comes up when making funeral arrangements is vital statics information. Information including your date and place of birth (city and state), Social Security Number, and names of your parents (father's full name and mother's full name with maiden name) all have to be on a death certificate. When that information cannot be provided, it is listed as Unknown, which can make locating records years later for other family members difficult. It's also helpful in advance to have a list of loved ones with spouses and children to make writing death notices easier for you. One of my favorite photos hanging in the office at the funeral home says "Here are 135 different ways to spell Katelyn." The worst thing anyone wants is to run a death notice with a name of a loved one spelled wrong or completely forgotten. 

The purpose of a funeral ceremony is to: honor the deceased; celebrate a life well-lived; provide closure for loved ones and/or gather loved ones together to start the healing process? 

We really hope that everyone answers all of the above. It is important to remember that the funeral is for the living, it is a way for them to express their emotions, share stories and memories, celebrate a life. 

Are your loved ones and family members aware of what you desire and prefer for your own arrangements? 

One of the companies we write our prepaid funerals with is Funeral Director's Life Insurance Company or FDLIC. Their local representative for Cleveland, Steve Jenkins, likes to ask the following questions when he is giving a talk on prearranging funerals:

"How many of you have told your loved ones your wishes for when something happens?" He encourages everyone to raise their hands to answer the question, and many in the room will raise their hands. He will then throw out the next question. "How many of you have put your wishes down on paper?" This is when hands start going down. He then asks his final question. "Of the ones whose hands are still up, how many have paid for your funeral in advance?" This is when most of the hands go down. Funeral directors are never exempt from this-and he continually asks funeral directors how we can advocate prepaid funerals if we ourselves don't have one. He makes a good point. 

When making funeral arrangements, there are approximately 85 things that must be done, provided, answered, and accounted for. In a time of great sadness, it is often easy to forget things, question decisions made, and have regrets later on about those decisions. 

Preplanning and prepaying for your funeral is a wonderful gift that you can give your loved ones. It gives them peace of mind at a difficult and very emotional time that your wishes are being heard and honored.