jb
02-15-2022, 09:23 PM
Thump post:
Been through seeing friends plan their parents funeral when they were killed accidently.
During this moment of grief, they had tons of paperwork to find, decisions to make, and still carry on their daily lives.
The funeral arrangements were the worst, not knowing what their parents wanted and a sort of hard sell by the funeral home, it was devastating to make these decisions. Then what was appropriate for their obit.
Did you know there are 3 types of cremations, different types of memorials, coffins from $3k+ to a few hundred dollars. They needed to get at least a dozen death certificates to close out bank/checking accounts, Veterans benefits, Insurance policies, car and truck titles, taxes, house ownership, SS checks stopped, mail, utilities, outstanding bills to pay, how many people they expected and what they wanted to feed them along with a lot more.
Had to come up with about 20K for the funeral, buy a plot and stone etc.
Really took a toll on them and their marriage. Parents had a living trust so they didn't need to worry about probate.
Well after watching them go through this Kay and I decided to go in and do our preplanned funeral arrangements. Funeral Home said most of their clients did this between 65 & 70 years old.
Covered everything above and more, we did not want our kids having to go through what they did.
Sort of a weird feeling doing this. My Mon did it when she turned 70 and we thought it just wasn't right but she lived another 20 years and everything was done exactly the way she wanted it. Saved me a lot of work living 200 miles away.
So back to the question, we did this through a funeral home that is owned by our friend, so no pressure, answered all our questions (over a 2 hour meeting) and left with a good feeling.
I found out the wife wasn't going to put my ashes in a urn on the night stand and she didn't want me to carry hers around in my truck, found a plot that faced West as we enjoyed sunsets more than sun rises, and a modest headstone for our ancestors to find someday. Years ago we put everything into a Living Trust, and made #2 son our Executor, and all the kids names are on our checking, saving, and investments account, but they still need a Death Cert. to close them.
Our funeral home friends asked if we had CC that cash back benefits, and said to put the funeral cost on the CC to take advantage of this, so we did. Called the CC Co. to let them know of the charge showing up just in case they flagged the 21K charge.
So that's it, one less worry to worry about. :wink
Been through seeing friends plan their parents funeral when they were killed accidently.
During this moment of grief, they had tons of paperwork to find, decisions to make, and still carry on their daily lives.
The funeral arrangements were the worst, not knowing what their parents wanted and a sort of hard sell by the funeral home, it was devastating to make these decisions. Then what was appropriate for their obit.
Did you know there are 3 types of cremations, different types of memorials, coffins from $3k+ to a few hundred dollars. They needed to get at least a dozen death certificates to close out bank/checking accounts, Veterans benefits, Insurance policies, car and truck titles, taxes, house ownership, SS checks stopped, mail, utilities, outstanding bills to pay, how many people they expected and what they wanted to feed them along with a lot more.
Had to come up with about 20K for the funeral, buy a plot and stone etc.
Really took a toll on them and their marriage. Parents had a living trust so they didn't need to worry about probate.
Well after watching them go through this Kay and I decided to go in and do our preplanned funeral arrangements. Funeral Home said most of their clients did this between 65 & 70 years old.
Covered everything above and more, we did not want our kids having to go through what they did.
Sort of a weird feeling doing this. My Mon did it when she turned 70 and we thought it just wasn't right but she lived another 20 years and everything was done exactly the way she wanted it. Saved me a lot of work living 200 miles away.
So back to the question, we did this through a funeral home that is owned by our friend, so no pressure, answered all our questions (over a 2 hour meeting) and left with a good feeling.
I found out the wife wasn't going to put my ashes in a urn on the night stand and she didn't want me to carry hers around in my truck, found a plot that faced West as we enjoyed sunsets more than sun rises, and a modest headstone for our ancestors to find someday. Years ago we put everything into a Living Trust, and made #2 son our Executor, and all the kids names are on our checking, saving, and investments account, but they still need a Death Cert. to close them.
Our funeral home friends asked if we had CC that cash back benefits, and said to put the funeral cost on the CC to take advantage of this, so we did. Called the CC Co. to let them know of the charge showing up just in case they flagged the 21K charge.
So that's it, one less worry to worry about. :wink