 | Tom Morris
is president of Downing & Lahey Mortuaries and Crematorium. He joined the family business as a funeral director and embalmer in 1986-the fourth generation to do so.
There are two Downing & Lahey locations in Wichita-one on the east side at 6555 E. Central, and another on the west side at 10515 W. Maple. Tom can be reached at his office at (316) 682-4553, by fax at (316) 685-8624, or by e-mail at info@downingandlahey.com. You can also visit Downing & Lahey on the Internet at www.downingandlahey.com |
Final Arrangements
2001-09-01 11:07:00
Pre-planning
Question: We recently attended the funeral of my wife's aunt. She had been ill for some time. After the ceremony, we were visiting with her son and daughter. They told us they had taken care of all of the arrangements several months before she passed. They were both very glad they did, as it reduced a lot of stress. It seems obvious that advance planning will do this, but are there any other benefits? Is it less expensive? Can you lock in the cost at present-day rates? Can you assign proceeds from a life insurance policy rather than paying cash now?
Answer: There are many benefits to prearranging a funeral for yourself or a loved one. Thoughtful preparation can offer peace of mind not only to the one making the plans but also to those left behind. Preplanning is also a practical gesture because it allows you to make unhurried, informed decisions. It compels you to organize important documents your survivors will need later.At the time of a death, the funeral home will need vital statistics information to complete the death certificate and write the newspaper obituary. This is information that is easy to compile ahead of time but can be difficult to locate after a death. The information that some survivors struggle with is the maiden name of the deceased's mother, ancestry, years of education, military service information, and the proper way to list an occupation in the paper, just to mention a few.In addition to getting information ahead of time, another advantage of prearranging is the option of prepaying the funeral expenses. This can ease the possible financial pressures put on a family at the time of a death. To determine how much money is necessary to fund a prearranged funeral, the funeral home will first determine what today's cost of your funeral wishes are. These expenses will generally include the service charges of the funeral home, the cost of the casket and possibly the cemetery vault. In Kansas, most funeral homes use one of two methods to shelter the funds that are set aside to cover the prearranged funeral. The first method is with the use of a certificate of deposit at a bank. Most funeral homes will guarantee the future cost of the funeral as long as the interest is left with the original principal that is deposited. The second method, and more commonly, is with the use of a specially designed insurance policy. In essence, the insurance premiums serve as payments toward the funeral, and in most cases the funeral plan is guaranteed even if death occurs before the person makes all of the premium payments.Another advantage to prepaying a funeral is if the future recipient of the funeral is going on state assistance. The state of Kansas will often tell individuals to "spend down" their assets to qualify for state assistance. The state will allow you to prepay your funeral as long as the value of the insurance is irrevocably assigned to a funeral home. In other words, you no longer have control of the money, and the money must be used to pay funeral expenses.Most funeral homes will allow you to assign an existing insurance policy to them, but will probably not guarantee the future cost of the funeral. Many older insurance policies do not have an increasing death benefit, thus, a funeral home cannot be assured that the insurance policy will keep up with their increasing costs and inflation.
