Rip Off Britain Funeral Plans....Oh Dear

I wouldn’t take out a plan with a small undertaker unless it was backed up by satisfactory insurance in the event of their ceasing to trade.

I think that if someone goes into care it might be worth someone with POA getting them a pre-paid funeral before their money runs out and the state takes their house and savings, otherwise they could be wiped out and the costs would fall to their children. I think that is perfectly legal and would not be considered deprivation of assets, but I’m a long way from being an expert.

Anyone thinking of a prepaid funeral please read this article. My friend and her husband bought 2 prepaid funeral plans three years ago and have recently been informed that the firm has gone bust and they are unlikely to see anything of their £7,000.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60861793.amp

I’d better open an account for DS then to cover that sort of thing.

Germanshepherdsmum

PoA ceases on death.

I didn’t know that…

Oh that sounds very smart GSM.

We visited the funeral home and were told that the insurance is to protect the funeral plan, should the funeral home go out of business. To be fair, the funeral director told us it didn’t seem worth it because my mother is very old. He said we can simply arrange a funeral (no particular details) and leave details of where mum is and they’ll collect the body within two hours of death and embalm and then store till we get home. This would apply if mum died on any of our holidays, but the NZ one will be longer, and we’re thinking of going back to NZ again at Christmas for another month. Obviously I would prefer if we were here whenever mum dies, but unless we put our life on hold, we can’t guarantee that. The other fly in the ointment is my mentally ill sister, who could simply override any wishes we have or instructions we left. That’s why I thought if it was bought and paid for, it should protect against that. It’s impossible to discuss this rationally with my sister due to her condition. She would probably regard doing the funeral without me as suitable punishment for not being there. We do absolutely everything for mum, the list is endless since she came to live near us some four years ago. Even now she’s in a care home we still do a lot, arrange finances for her, get things she wants, organise birthday cards for her for the family, but most importantly visit all the time. Mu sister does nothing for her and I just feel I have the right to say goodbye when the time comes without my sister preventing me from doing that just because I happen to be visiting my daughter and grandchildren.

Do you mean a pre-paid funeral rather than an insurance policy maddy? I wouldn’t have thought someone of your mother’s age would be insurance. I’m considering a pre-paid funeral because although my son’s a high earner it would mean the basic arrangements don’t fall on his shoulders. And I’m going to have a lavender blue coffin with silver coloured furniture!

I’m thinking of taking out a funeral plan for my mother, who is 94 years old. I will have to pay an extra £500 as an insurance against the funeral company going bust, although it is a well established family firm local to the area. Little chance of them going bust, they are a long established family firm. Anyway the reason is that we’re hoping to go to New Zealand later this year for a month or so to see our daughter and family. If anything happens whilst we’re away I need everything set up, the care home to know who to contact, and mum to be kept at the funeral home till we return. That can be done apparently. I also have a mentally ill sister who lives away and is likely to descend on this area, make a great fuss and try to arrange funeral without me (she’ll say if I can’t be bothered to be here…..) and I want to be able to attend my mother’s funeral whenever the time comes.

PoA ceases on death.

ShropshireMiss

I suppose you could take it out of the bank when you think you are on your last legs, although obviously wouldn’t work if you were involved in an accident.

Surely if your AC have POA they can access your bank account ?

When my DF died - I had to pay 50% of his funeral cost ‘up front’ the balance within 21 days after.
No mention of waiting until his house was sold.

Yes, that’s the norm Doodledog.

Is it not the case that most funeral directors will wait for the estate to be settled to get payment, so if the deceased has savings or a house to sell there should be no need for a funeral plan?

I suppose you could take it out of the bank when you think you are on your last legs, although obviously wouldn’t work if you were involved in an accident.

Putting the money in a savings account would be better, perhaps one with very limited access to resist the temptation of dipping in.

Would that not be difficult for loved ones to access in order to pay for the funeral? I've done the same as Kim19 but even that will need revising periodically to take inflation into account.

I've given one of my sons a lump sum with the full approval of the other. Don't trust these funeral companies one little bit.

Might be best if they all went bust or were closed down. Putting the money in a savings account would be better, perhaps one with very limited access to resist the temptation of dipping in.

go on bbc iplayer Rip off Britain....was watching it at the time I posted....., funeral plan firms going into liquidation..... so nothing left for yours or loved ones funeral.

worth watching!

I didn’t see it. What was said?

What’s it about Lemsip?

Lemsip perhaps more information might bring about response posts. I'd be interested to hear more about the subject.