A Funeral's Cost Doesn't Have To Be A Burden To The Living

When suffering the death of a loved one, emotions can get in the way of clear thinking, so it sometimes helps to have a family member or friend handle the funeral details.

Families can sometimes save up to $2000 by doing a little comparison shopping and calling several funeral homes to get a good price.

Don't settle on the first one you talk to, shop around, get an idea of what the costs will be and how much you're willing to pay.

Using a credit card may work for you, if your card has a good rate, rather then paying off a balance and most funeral homes now accept credit cards as payment.

Insurance Death benefits are another way of handling expenses, but can be tricky if you don't understand how they work. When you bring the deceased's insurance policy with you, the funeral director calls the insurance company to make certain they'll pay the benefit, then you (the beneficiary named in the policy) sign forms granting the funeral director a portion of those benefits. You should never sign away any more than the good-faith estimate provided by the funeral. Funeral directors sometimes try to take control of the entire death benefit, keep their portion and return the rest, if any to you. Keep control of the benefits yourself.

Pre-paid Plans, while good, rarely cover all costs, so the best thing to do is to save the money in a special bank account yourself, do not hand it over to a funeral home to keep track off. If for any reason that funeral home goes out of business before you collect that money, you will probably never see it again.

And finally many cities set aside a budget to handle the burials of the homeless and very poor. Also MediCare & MedicAid have programs to assist qualified individuals to get a decent burial. Some churches may also have funds to help parishioners, so contact your local church for more information as well.