Who pays for the funeral?

No, if she has no money and no immediate relations who had a relationship with her (child, spouse) then it is the local authorities responsibility to pay for the funeral.

No you're not legally bound to pay for your aunts funeral kateykrunch .

Thanks all, I have told the Council today, I can not deal with this.

I don't think these were 'heir hunters' as such, more likely people employed by the local council to track down relatives of a 'solitary death' to deal with personal effects and pay for funeral if applicable. Heir hunters do not come into play until the will is published and the person is found to have died intestate. I read a very interesting novel where the main character was employed by the council to go through personal effects, papers etc., to try to work this out. The book was called 'The Other Mrs Walker' I think.

As BB and others say, although if you take the initiative and arrange the funeral then you will have to pay.
I did this, in the North of England 20 years ago, my relative had nothing but debts and a council flat, so I paid for a simple funeral for him and it cost just over £1,000.
That covered one funeral car and a hearse, a flower arrangement on the coffin, a message placed in the local paper
A priest to conduct the short service, and transport to the crematorium for the placing of ashes.
Obviously, £1,000 all those years ago will have trebled by now I suppose.

You do t have to bear the cost, unless you have started to make the arrangements. Take a step back before this happens.

Katey you and any other relatives are not liable for anything. Once again we have just done that. The deceased left massive debt. All, rent, council tax, electricity and several credit cards have all been written off. We did get a bit from the Television licence though. So don’t worry. Nothing is yours to pay.

No one is obliged in law to pay for anybody else's funeral. PROVIDED that they haven't started making arrangements. The council are obliged under public health legislation to undertake a burial or a cremation as appropriate and are allowed to recover the costs from the estate if there is anything of value.
Such funerals are often the case where no relatives can be found at the time (like heir hunters) My late mother used to work for her local council doing craft classes at day centres and the man who managed the centres was also employed by the council to do the home clearances in such cases. He came back to the centre with a shoebox one day and said to her 'I have NO IDEA what to do about this (this was some 50 years ago) he opened the shoebox and there was a hibernating tortoise. Mum said well if you like while you make enquiries I will take it home and put it in the box with mine (actually it was mine but I was at college) The tortoise lived with us quite happily and died of old age about 20 years ago.
on another note, I haven't found rapacious funeral directors to be the case. The people who dealt with my Mum's funeral were very helpful and tried to steer us towards less expensive options but my Mum had left instructions. When my husband died, the folk I used (different firm, different area) and again were very helpful in suggesting less costly options for a cremation. Looking back, I was in such a state that I would have said yes to anything they suggested.

What don’t you think is possible Buttonjugs ?
I can assure you my figures are accurate - no cremation, requiem mass, village churchyard burial, hearse and 1 car as I said. What don’t you find credible?

MawBe

I paid half that for DH’s funeral, including burial in our local churchyard, a full requiem mass, simple oak coffin (didn’t like the wicker ones) , hearse and one limo . We sourced flowers ourselves (I think that was about £80) made a donation to the Parish Church funds for organ and organist and I think a few hundred for the wake - no more than £300 I am sure , so I do not see how anybody could arrive at a figure of £10k.

I don’t know how that can be possible. My dad had just a cremation, no cars, no service, and it cost £1300.

BBbevan

Sorry , yes you are right. £1,350 . Just from the mortuary to the crematorium. No mourners or flowers etc.

I paid £1600 for a similar funeral for my mother. It did come out of her estate though. We did attend the crematorium but had no service, just sat there for a few minutes with music playing. There were only four of us.

A company called Pure Cremation is advertising heavily in the UK. They offer basic funerals but seem to be around the £1600 mark.

I think the cost of a funeral can also depend on how affluent the area is. Maybe there should be some kind of regulations on funeral directors. No-one seems to argue the costs as it sounds callous and hard hearted. Therefore, funeral directors can get away with charging whatever they think they can get away with.

Must say I’m very glad a favourite childless aunt of mine had prepaid her funeral with a local firm, and stated her wishes for it.
It wasn’t a question of the money - her estate would have covered it - but it meant a lot less hassle, and saved us from wondering what she’d have wanted.

I believe councils tend to cremate rather than bury and if your Aunt was a devout Catholic she may not have wanted that. I suggest you speak to the council to find out what is happening and also speak again to the priest at her Church. There might be enough money in her estate for burial but I don’t think you can find out before putting in a claim. The Home where she lived may be able to tell you more as they would presumably have whatever papers and cash she left - e.g. bank statements, share certificates.

Phew, glad we clarified the cost of a simple funeral!
The funeral has not yet taken place.
My Aunt had told her care home that she had no relatives, hence the local council instructed Heir Hunters.
There is 1 heir (if still alive at 102) or 5 heirs.
No solicitors are as yet involved.
I want to give her the necessary send off, but have limited resources and other than knowing she was a devout catholic I dont know her wishes at this stage, I just wondered what my and the other 4 likely heirs would be liable for, apparently she stopped paying her care home fees and has rather a lot of debt.

If this is now with the "Solicitors" surely Funeral has happened??

Are you in the US CafeAuLait? What you describe doesn’t sound quite like a simple UK funeral.

Sorry , yes you are right. £1,350 . Just from the mortuary to the crematorium. No mourners or flowers etc.

Should add - the estate paid for the funeral. I couldn't pay that much for a funeral personally.

It cost me close to 10,000 pounds for a funeral. I thought it was quite simple. Costs were: Transport from the medical examiners office to the funeral home, casket, embalming, celebrant, chapel, grave site, burial fees, simple wake, family transport to the funeral and back, death legalities and certificate, transport of casket to home (cultural tradition to have the wake in the home). Nothing more than that. The grave site on its own was nearly 3,000 of that cost.

That was what I was wondering!

Realistically, I guess BBbevan intended to write £1,350 for a simple funeral.

I paid half that for DH’s funeral, including burial in our local churchyard, a full requiem mass, simple oak coffin (didn’t like the wicker ones) , hearse and one limo . We sourced flowers ourselves (I think that was about £80) made a donation to the Parish Church funds for organ and organist and I think a few hundred for the wake - no more than £300 I am sure , so I do not see how anybody could arrive at a figure of £10k.

Nanawind

BBbevan is that correct over £10k for a simple funeral.

Much much less for a Simple Direct cremation. Could be under a thousand.

BBbevan is that correct over £10k for a simple funeral.

Oh yes Bbevan. It does come out of the estate if there is any, I agree.

What I posted only applies if there’s no money.