undertakers: when to pay

When I was executor for my uncle and aunt's estate, the solicitor called in all their bank accounts, shares and so on and settled outstanding bills, including the undertaker, from available assets and the proceeds from the sale of their property. I was kept well informed at every stage and that solicitor was worth his fee!

As with another poster, my father opened a joint current account with my brother and paid £10,000 in. My brother was able to pay for the funeral up front with the money, and also had some left over in that account. Rather than divvying that up between us all, we decided to meet now and again and enjoy a meal together and raise a glass to Dad - we paid for it out of that money. I know Dad would have wholeheartedly approved of that decision!

We have booked and paid for our funerals with golden charter via our local family funeral directors. They came to us and we arranged everything regarding hymns, readings, flowers and what we wanted done with us after the event. We thought it would save the children having to make difficult and often expensive decisions, most of which we didn't want but they possibly may have felt "should" be done. It did feel a bit odd but at £3,500 each and as we are going to be at least 100 will be a good bargin!

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Thank you all. I will alter my advice to my friend.

The Co-operative Funeral Service were very good for Mum and Dad's funeral and said they were happy to wait until the insurance policies paid out. I believe the Co-op still run a kind of helpline/advice line re pre payment plans and finance for funerals generally.

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When DH died the I gave the bill to the lawyer and it was settled out of the estate.

I had to pay a deposit, then the balance after the funeral - must say the bill came in pretty sharpish!

I'm actually quite shocked at the cost of funerals these days. It seems a rather cynical way to extract money out of vulnerable people in some cases.

We paid just before the funeral, but had no pressure from the Undertaker.

My brothers andcI just paid for parents' funerals when the accounts came in some weeks later.

Without getting into the whole prepaid funeral arrangement I've decided to open a joint account with DS so that a reasonable amount of cash is immediately accessible without having to wait for probate etc.
We (siblings) were able to cover Mum's funeral costs and were repaid from estate after probate.
I'm just not sure whether my offspring would be able to access cash upfront so think this is a reasonable way to deal witn immediate cash demands.

There was no estate in the circumstances that I encountered, the funeral costs were split between 2 parties. The other party paid their share in one lump, I couldn't afford to do that, so the undertakers very kindly let me pay on a monthly basis.

I think I have always paid when booking funerals even though the cost comes out of the estate of the person who has died. I simply claimed it once probate was granted.

Perhaps a prepaid funeral is something to be considered, I hadn't actually thought about that, having not had to arrange one.
MIL had everything sorted for hers, which must have been less stressful for the family.

In my experience when DD died was asked for payment as funeral was booked, when mum died same experience,dont know if they have some 6th sense when a person is uninsured although Bill was settled at time.We did feel that the funeral director was very business like with no real compassion or sensitivity and was some sort of business arrangement as usual in these sort of situations deceased family fragile and vulnerable and not really in a place to argue or protest...

There are companies (not linked to any particular funeral arranger) that will set up a payment plan for you (Golden Charter come to mind, but there are others)

Alternatively, many local undertaking firms will offer a pre paid type of arrangement. Most will show it on their website, alternatively you can always phone around to discuss the options.

Depends who organises the funeral. If its next of kin, they would be sent the bill. If it comes out of her Estate then the Executers would pay from the estate.