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Slightly somber post but..
My aunt died last week. Despite not being particularly close, my mum is still her closest relative. When my aunt died she had absolutely no assets, no house etc etc.
My mum and dad are both retired, have small pensions, but are having to stump up 5k for the funeral costs which is for a very basic service and cremation.
Now obviously my mum is willing to spend the cash but to her it is alot of money. She doesn't get any state benefits so has told me that as she can't claim any financial assistance she has no choice
Anyone know any differently?
Ta
You need to look into this rather than let your folks just pay. It's not your folks responsibility, although they want to, but there should be assistance if your aunt was on benefits with no assets.
but are having to stump up 5k for the funeral costs which is for a very basic service and cremation.
if they haven't signed on the dotted line yet... check with the local council (local to where the funeral will take place that is) and see what they offer in the way of funeral services - some have started to offer fixed price funeral packages themselves in the light of increasing costs /prices of commercial undertakers. And even if they don't - check the undertakers haven't been upselling add-ons to the the package that your parents don't need/didn't ask for - even if its being described as 'basic'
EDIT - given the average cost of a funeral in the uk is more like £4000 (therefore many will be less than that) £5k may not be all that 'basic'
Yup - they have no obligation to pay IIRC. council do paupers funerals but really don't like spending the money so will do their best to push your mum and dad to pay. You should also be able to get a funeral for a lot less than £5000.
Other alternative ( but maybe too late now) is body to medical school - no money to pay
I'm not suggesting a paupers funeral BTW. Some councils have started offering an undertaker type service - you pay for it - its just not profit motivated
Might be eligible for something if they get pension credit.
https://www.gov.uk/funeral-payments/eligibility
Is there anyone else who can contribute?
Definitely no funeral plan or funeral insurance in place?
I found two companies in Edinburgh offering cremations for under £1000. goggle cheap funerals edinburgh
There is a company called Deerys - they do very cheap funerals - under £2000 and they guys are helpful
http://deeryfunerals.com/packages-and-pricing/
that £5000 will include all sorts of things not needed
Do the whole thing yourself - Local crem, cardboard coffin (google it), foam flower bed on ebay, cheap german supermarket flowers to poke into foam flower bed to go on top of cardboard to make it look nice, takeaway the remains in a plastic bag and scatter somewhere nice. Can do the whole thing for a few hundred. That's the instructions per my will anyway - When I go I'd much rather my family spend any funds I may leave behind on a party + bike parts than lining the pockets of some random funeral co 🙂
No, stop.
As I discovered recently when my dad died, the only person liable to pay for a funeral is the deceased. I don't understand why your folks are having to "stump up" anything unless they're having their pants pulled down or are choosing to pay.
Case in point - what happens when a homeless person dies?
Actually - poking around on my like above - I came across
An advice service for helping to plan affordable funerals
what happens when a homeless person dies?
they never die - they're all immortal Norse gods remember
They do smell a bit like they've died though .
Go to the citizens advice and ask them what help/funding is available, a very close friend recently had to deal with this situation as her husband (and my friend obviously) died recently after an initial diagnoses of osphegeal cancer two years ago, then spreading throughout his body which left him unable to work/support the family, all their savings were spent on just surviving/day to day living costs so at the end of a very traumatic and ****ing harrowing two years of watching someone waste away there was nothing left for funeral/cremation costs. The basic cremation/funeral costs amounted to nearly £4000, I’m not exactly sure but I think over £3000 was received from a government scheme to assist with costs and friends paid the rest
As I discovered recently when my dad died, the only person liable to pay for a funeral is the deceased.
I would think it's the person who ordered it. I am sure no one can force you to order a funeral for someone else but if you do then you should be the one liable to pay for it.
It's really worth shopping around, when my brother died I went to co-op and thought it was a bit steep.
Just hearse, body storage and crematorium fees came to about 4k.
Luckily my ex had an independent funeral guy in the shop next door to hers, who did it as a sideline, he's a tattooist by trade.
We got all that, plus an extra limo to follow the hearse, and a speaker guy who came round to arrange what he was going to say and what music to play etc. for about 3k.
Went to a local independent florist who did the flowers for about half what the co-op were charging, and they let slip when I showed them the sort of thing I wanted from the co-op brochure, that they were subcontracted by the local Co-op anyway.
You need to shop around to save money, and you can save a lot, but it's the sort of time you're least likely to hunt for a deal, a death in the family is stressful enough as it is, I appreciate bargain hunting is the last thing on your mind.
Thanks folks. On further checking cost is closer to 3700 than 5 k but still a big wedge. She's already signed up unfortunately, so no option to shop around.
Will give citizens advice a bell tomorrow to find out if any of it can be claimed back.
Do the whole thing yourself – Local crem, cardboard coffin (google it), foam flower bed on ebay, cheap german supermarket flowers to poke into foam flower bed to go on top of cardboard to make it look nice, takeaway the remains in a plastic bag and scatter somewhere nice.
I'm quite happy to be disposed of cheaply and my nearest and dearest are well aware of this. However if people haven't had that sort of discussion it can seem a bit distasteful not to "do the done thing" and go the normal route with shiny coffins, multiple cars etc. I can see why relatives feel they have a "duty" to provide a "proper" funeral rather than have a "pauper's funeral" (more accurately called a Public Health Funeral).
Can do the whole thing for a few hundred.
No you can't! The cost of the cremation certificate alone is at least £164 in E&W (now free in Scotland). Just getting the cremation performed at the council crem is into the mid - high hundreds. If your family pay a funeral director to organise that for you, move the body, provide the cardboard coffin etc you'll be well over a grand.
If your Aunt had any money in bank accounts, it can be released by the bank to pay the costs of the funeral if the next of kin gives them a copy of an estimate of the funeral costs before the funeral. No need to wait for probate.
Now obviously my mum is willing to spend the cash but to her it is alot of money. She doesn’t get any state benefits so has told me that as she can’t claim any financial assistance she has no choice
As has been suggested I'd go to the CAB - not just in relation to this but to state benefits as well.
If they really have a small pensions (unless they have a fair amount of savings) there may be a load of benefits they are able to claim. Get one benefit and it often leads to another.
My parents were of the 'ooh, we don't like to claim what we're not entitled too' generation - but with help from the CAB they've gone through a load of hoops and now get a lot more in benefits.