Prepaid Funerals/Cremation

[kwselke]

Since last Fall when my mother passed away, I've been thinking about making arrangements and paying for the final services I will need when the time comes.

Funerals are for the living, not the dead. I have no children or current spouse. I do have friends and family that will probably like to honor my passing, but I'd hope they would gather at their convenience to remember and maybe tell lies about me. I have a valid will, but I'd like to arrange a simple cremation for my remains. No services other than the basics.

Jinglebob has a thread about prepaid funeral plans gone wrong. I'm looking to arrange and pay for my own last needs. Basically I'd need pick-up, storage till cremation, cremation, scattering of ashes if no friends or family are willing to to it, documentation fees, tax, title and license. I might need this service next week or 20 years from now, but it is only fair to the folks that I care about for me to make my own arrangements.

I live in Texas, and I know that various states have various laws about such plans.

Any guidance on this subject you may have will be appreciated.

 

[jscheck]

Well, as you've already figured out states differ in these things. I'd find a funeral home recommended by friends who were happy with their services. In my line of work (Crime Scene Investigator)I deal a lot with folks who die at home unattended. If no family is present the body is taken to the morgue. The funeral home of choice then picks up the body and does all the other work at the discretion of family or pre-existing arrangements. Check with your local municipality and local law enforcement (they've probably had to deal with deceased citizens with no immediate family and can guide you better than I.) I hope your friends appreciate your efforts to handle things before it's too late!

 

[gman51]

I also choose cremation and just scatter my ashes on my land. But I recently had donor put on my DL.
You could donate your body to science. As far as prepaid cremation costs go if you go a prepaid plane through a funeral home you can expect the costs to be over two grand and closer to three grand. Even then there could be added costs on top of that when you do die.
If you use a cremation service prepaid the pricing is more around $700 depending on the particulars when you die. Such as transportation and pick up of the corpse and cremains. I have cash set aside to pay for handling the cremation rather than buying a prepaid plan.

A friend and her mother bought prepaid cremation plans and each was I believe over $2500.

I had to deal with a sudden death and had no funeral plan. I ended up going with the local funeral home that came to remove the body. Believe me a last minute decision is not what you want for those taking care of your death. That was back in 96 and even back then it cost me almost $1900. That was without a viewing or funeral services. Because the death was unexpected there had to be an autopsy and that raises the costs for an open viewing before cremation much higher. Unless a person has been under doctor care for an illness then there most always will be an autopsy ordered by the coroner. This is one of those possible added costs to a prepaid cremation if your plan called for a viewing.

Depending where in Texas you are located you could see if this company's service is available.Cremation - Crematorium - Crematory | aCremation

Check them out and see if they offer what you would choose to have.

Before signing with anyone I Google "company name and complaints or reviews". There are, like anything else, businesses that aren't so great.