Pre-paid funeral plans

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Thank you all for adding your thoughts and / or experiences. They all give food for thought.

Mary that sounds horrible! We were left to pay for a family funeral but that is the way my family was and I wasn't pregnant.

Nina I only organised funerals for people close to me so had a pretty good idea what they would have wanted. There is another way of looking at it, my close family would see it as doing something for me and I know that two of them would be good at doing something creative. I think both ways are right, just different for different people. My family have access to my money so won't have to worry about paying for it!

I was thinking about this recently but haven’t got any further. There were 3 I was looking at, Age UK, Co-op and Golden Charter. I was leaning towards Age uk.

You don't have to think what Great Aunt Mary would have wanted. It's all written in the agreement what she wants, from burial or cremation to type of coffin and music.

In the plan you can state your wishes, where you want to have your service, place of interment, etc.

I have organised a fair number of funerals, the most stressful being my father's, when I was eight months pregnant and my mother shut herself in a room until the day of the funeral, leaving it all to me to organise everything.
When the family lair was opened, it was full, causing even more upset. Two days after the funeral I went into premature labour with all the stress and spent the next month in hospital on bed rest.

To the day she died, she never asked how my husband and I managed to pay for it. She had only a "penny policy" in my father's name and we had to use all our meagre savings.

We do not want our children to ever experience anything like that. I want it to be a celebration of my life, not a miserable occasion.

Sorry I just had to get that off my chest!

Thanks for all the info.

I have organised 3 funerals and found it quite helpful to have to think about what the deceased would have wanted. I think it may have helped with the grieving process. Don't know if with these plans you have to state preferences.

In the letter of wishes which is with my will I have told my family to do what they feel happy about but have requested some music and suggested what people should wear but only suggested. I think it depends on how the individual feels about it.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GC payments are paid into a trust to protect them.

Nonnie I maybe wrong but I think it's the pay monthly ones where some people have had trouble. With GC who incidentally are a large, long establish company you pay up front at today's prices which may save your estate hundreds if you live another 10 yrs or so

When my DH died fairly recently we used a local funeral director whose family has been in business for over 100yrs. I have now taken out a Golden Charter plan with the same director. When arranging DH's funeral my DS and DD did really not cope too well with having to make decisions as it was the first time they had to cope with a close family bereavement and I don't want them to have to deal with a similar situation when I pass away. It was surprising comforting to be able to express my own wishes and when I told them I had done this they were fine with it (bit relieved, I thought).

I don't know much about this but do listen to consumer programmes and remember these getting a lot of bad press about 6 months ago. Please be very careful and read the T & Cs.

My husband and I have very recently taken out Golden Charter plans. We wanted to take away some of the stress of making funeral arrangements from our children.

My mum also had a Golden Charter agreement. As Sharon says, they make the whole process very simple.
I took mum to the F.D. she stated her wishes F.D. filled in forms, gave us a copy mum paid the lump sum and that was it. 2 yrs later when we had to call the F.D. all we had to do was arrange a date for the funeral.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

That name rings a bell MissAdventure. My two brothers have a prepaid funeral and so did my mum. Arrangements are made via the funeral director who supply all documents in a folder which you keep and has a number. At the time of death, you take the folder and documents to the funeral directors, they phone through and deal with it. You don't have to do anything yourself. If you need any extras for example an extra car. That has to paid for separately.

I think it might be 'golden charter' that they're registered with.

That is one of the things on Mum's 'to ask' list, Purpledaffodil, so your experience is very relevant. Thank you for the advice.

I think there is an overall body (pardon the pun!) that reputable firms are registered with, and they step in should the company be unable to honour the contract.

Just a thought, be careful if it’s a local company. My aunt had a plan with a company based in Surrey and moved to Yorkshire to be near family. Sadly she died there and her family had huge problems as the Surrey company could not arrange her funeral. They were given a small payout, but had to top up considerably.

Thanks for your answer, Coolgran65
What you suggest sounds very likely ☺

I think it might actually be via an insurance company and the Undertaker Is the facilitator.
Stand to be corrected.