Posted in Triplett & Carothers on January 2, 2025

There are many benefits to planning your own funeral:

• Planning can save money. When people are mourning, they often make impulsive decisions, such as buying an expensive casket or ordering the most luxurious limo. If you have made your own arrangements, specifying exactly what you’d like, it will keep people from thinking they have to honor you with “only the best.”
• Planning will save your family emotional duress. Because they know your wishes, they can bring them to pass without worrying (or fighting) over what you might have wanted.
• Planning means you’ll have the service you want. You can pick the officiant (thus avoiding a leader who didn’t know you) as well as who will give tributes or readings. You can pick what readings or music you’d like. You might even specify that your survivors throw a party instead of having a service.
• Prepaying for your funeral may help you qualify for Medicaid. The assets you put toward an irrevocable contract are generally exempt from Medicaid consideration — but check the laws in your own state for specifics.
• Prepaying for your funeral is a hedge against inflation. If you buy a prepaid funeral insurance policy, you can specify that the services and merchandise you buy will be delivered at the price you pay now, not what they might cost at the time of your death.

Some cautions

If you have a prepaid funeral plan with an irrevocable contract, your survivors cannot change your wishes. If the contract is revocable, depending on where you lived, your survivors may be able to modify or even cancel the contract after your death. If you have planned your funeral with a funeral home but not prepaid it, the funeral home will likely try to honor your wishes but is not legally bound to.

Be sure that any contract you sign specifies your rights. If you enter into a revocable agreement, you should specify that you can get your money back if you change your mind and that you are entitled to the principal and accrued interest. If you enter into an irrevocable agreement, meaning that you can’t withdraw the principal or interest, be sure that you can move your money to another funeral home should you move (or should the funeral home go out of business).

In many states, if the funeral home you’ve chosen sells its business to another funeral home, it must provide you with written notification within 30 days of the sale. You will be able to change your arrangements and request your money back with interest or give written authorization to transfer the funds to another funeral home. Check to see what the laws are in the state where you live.

Let someone you trust know that you’ve prepaid your funeral arrangements and the name of the funeral home so your family doesn’t select another funeral home and pay again. Get a receipt and keep it in a safe place.

Reach out to Roz Carothers and her team at Triplett & Carothers to learn more.

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