Dying — like being born — is a natural part of life. And, just as a birth requires preparation, the issue of death also has to be addressed.
While planning a funeral and burial involves many decisions, individuals should also consider factors that range from death away from home to arrangements for single individuals.
Families of individuals who die while traveling away from home in the United States should contact a funeral director where they live to handle shipping arrangements, said William Counce, director of Funeral Service Education at Jefferson State Community College.
“Trying to find a funeral director in a town or city you’re not familiar with is tough,” Counce said.
Counce adds that having a local funeral home handle arrangements eliminates having to pay two funeral homes.
“Usually, the funeral home that has the funeral is the one that will usually assume the expenses from the other places (with costs passed along to the family),” he said.
The situation is only slightly different when death occurs outside of the United States, according to John Deacy, vice president of Ridout’s Brown Service in Birmingham.
Deacy said if someone dies out of the country, the family should contact their local funeral director — who would then work through the United States Embassy to have the deceased returned home.
“It really starts with that local funeral director, wherever death has occurred, to get the process (started) of getting the deceased back home,” Deacy said.
When an individual dies abroad, a consular officer from the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate is charged with reporting a death to the State Department by cable and informing the closest known relative or legal representative, according to information included in the National Funeral Home Directors Association 1999-2000 Directory of Members.
The directory said the cable is regarded as the official notification of death and outlines costs and options available in the disposition of remains. All costs relating to the disposition of remains are the responsibility of the family, with no United States government funds appropriated for the return of remains of a deceased United States citizen.
Brock said areas within 50 miles are included in the amount a funeral home charges for picking up a body, with $2 added for each mile over that distance.
He added the funeral home attempts to offer families the most economical means of having their loved one’s body returned home. He said funeral homes normally work through airlines when the body must be transported more than several hundred miles.
Both Delta Airlines and Kenyon Air have programs in which they work with funeral homes to assure corpses are returned home safely, according to Brock.
There are also services such as Medjet Assistance in Birmingham that will have remains flown back. The insurance runs $150 annually for individuals and $225 for families.
Although insurance like Medjet is designed for the transportation of individuals facing a medical crisis, the coverage includes the cost of returning corpses from distances more than 150 miles away — an expense that can sometimes run several thousand dollars.
An issue single individuals should consider is who will handle their funeral arrangement. Kenny Hart, operations manager of Radney Funeral Home in Mobile, said individuals without families usually make arrangements prior to death or have friends who can assure burial expenses are paid.
Hart said the government usually assumes costs in deaths involving the indigent.
Another element of planning a funeral that Counce said is important is to make sure final arrangements will not result in emotional distress for families.
“An individual ought — if he or she wants to plan a funeral — to take the wishes of the survivors first and not their own wishes,” Counce said. “A funeral is definitely for the living, and the people who are left behind ought to be the number one consideration.”
Counce said he has seen “too many instances” where survivors feel obligated to carry out exact wishes of the deceased, when it is not what they want.
“And there’s a lot of conflict, a lot of emotional distress and even long-term emotional distress,” he added.
ADVANTAGES OF PREPLANNING
- Comfort. Prearrangment relieves families of having to deal with funeral arrangements at the same time they are grieving the loss of a loved one.
- Savings. Prearrangement allows customers to lock in at current prices, providing protection against inflation; it also allows for life insurance and savings to be used for other matters after a death.
- Choice of payment. Costs can be made in payments, usually with no finance charge, or in a lump sum.
- Involvement. Prearrangment allows an individual to make preferences known with a permanent record for family members.
ADVICE ON PREPLANNING
- Have information ready about the individual that includes matters such as birthdate, Social Security number, parents’ names, etc.
- Find out if the arrangement is transferable to an affiliated funeral home if you relocate.
- Ask questions. Get assurance the amount paid will be enough to cover inflation. Also, ask about things like perpetual care of graves and mausoleums.
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