Pay outright for a funeral when PWD still here.

TNJJ

Registered User
May 7, 2019
2,967
0
cornwall
Hi! I have managed to get a lot of money back for dad from a loan that wasn’t legal (over £20,000 is back) . Dad has no funeral plan. Can I as LPOA arrange and pay outright for his funeral now? He is not interested just wants to be “ buried” and that is as far as I get.
I am keeping some back for care and reinvesting the rest.
I just thought it may be easier now before he does go and I have to go the the investment people to get money out. Any ideas?
 

silkiest

Registered User
Feb 9, 2017
865
0
Hi @TNJJ, my parents took at a plan a few years ago. they gave me the details recently and looking at the prices today it will have saved a lot of money when the time comes so its certainly worthwhile.
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
Yes you can take out a pre-paid funeral. I was going to do with mum, but before I got it sorted she passed away!
I contacted the funeral directors who I wanted to use. They had three levels of funeral plan depending on how fancy a funeral you wanted, you choose which one and pay a lump sum up front. Then when the funeral is needed you contact them. It seemed quite straightforward (and doesnt count as Deprivation of Assets either), but mum died before I could actually do it. I dont know if all funeral directors do this.
 

TNJJ

Registered User
May 7, 2019
2,967
0
cornwall
Yes you can take out a pre-paid funeral. I was going to do with mum, but before I got it sorted she passed away!
I contacted the funeral directors who I wanted to use. They had three levels of funeral plan depending on how fancy a funeral you wanted, you choose which one and pay a lump sum up front. Then when the funeral is needed you contact them. It seemed quite straightforward (and doesnt count as Deprivation of Assets either), but mum died before I could actually do it. I dont know if all funeral directors do this.
Thank you. I’m going to use the family one we always use. I have already done mine.
 

Jaded'n'faded

Registered User
Jan 23, 2019
5,259
0
High Peak
Definitely do it - it's one of the few things that isn't considered Deprivation of Assets.

My mother (in her early, undiagnosed phase) bought herself one, completely forgetting she'd taken one out years ago that she was still paying monthly. Fortunately, the old plan was for a cash payout and the second one paid all her actual funeral costs so we were able to get both...

A couple of things: beware taking out one of these plans (and the 'over 50s savings plans') because if you live long enough, you will pay in more than you get back. This was the case with mum's cash plan and she knew how useless it was because she told me about it. The trouble is, unless you keep on paying the premiums every month, you won't get the payout. Fortunately, mum had had the plan a long time so it was only about £3 per month but even so, it is galling to keep paying something when you know the amount you'll get back is fixed.

Second thing: the plan mum took out (for the funeral) was with Golden Charter (other companies are available) and related to a funeral director in the area she lived. But I moved her to a care home near me so I was a bit concerned. I contacted the company and they said it was no problem as it was all transferable to a local FD. (I think I was given a choice of a few local ones that were in their scheme and one was the nearest to me that I would have chosen anyway.) The transfer was done quickly and easily so my advice would be to make sure the plan can be transfered in case the person needs to move at some point.

When mum died, I was really grateful that she had the plan as the FDs did everything - I just had to make one phone call to them. It made the whole 'dealing with death and organising a funeral' thing so much easier. I'm going to make my will, set up LPA, etc, as soon as I've completed my house purchase and I will definitely be buying a funeral plan too.
 

Duggies-girl

Registered User
Sep 6, 2017
3,620
0
@TNJJ My parents went together many years ago and paid for both their funeral plans outright. I still have dads plan tucked away with all of the probate stuff. It was really simple and saved a lot of money compared with todays prices.. The morning dad died I phoned the company and gave them the details and dads funeral plan number and they sorted everything out from then. They came to collect dad early that afternoon, everything was included except the flowers and the celebrant who spoke about dad at the funeral.

We arranged and paid for the wake ourselves.

Mum and dad used a very well known company that probably has a branch in every town in the country. I thought they were very good and I intend to take out a plan for myself very soon.

Well done for getting money out of a loans company.
 

jennifer1967

Registered User
Mar 15, 2020
23,135
0
Southampton
we have paid for his cremation. no service etc which was what he wants. he doesnt want people crying over him at a funeral but to go out as a family and mark his passing in a celebratory way. just phone them, they will do the cremation and bring his ashes back to me so i can scatter them in devon where he grew up. hes not religious and cant see what he should pay for a service when it can go to something more productive.
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
Thank you. I’m going to use the family one we always use. I have already done mine.
Ah, I think I answered the wrong question. I thought you were asking whether it was possible to pre-pay for a funeral, but you wanted to know whether you could use your POA to do it.
Yes, you definitely can. I would have been able to do it using deputyship which is more restrictive. When I filled in the annual financial report form one of the things they asked was what financial decisions you were intending to make for the year ahead. They obviously asked this in case you were thinking of doing something that you were not allowed to do and they could contact you about it before you did it. I put on mums annual report that I intended to purchase a funeral plan and my report was accepted with no comment, so it was obviously OK. The funeral directors had no problem with the deputyship (although they had not seen one before and had to check) - it was just that mum passed away before it went through.
 

northumbrian_k

Volunteer Host
Mar 2, 2017
4,415
0
Newcastle
Yes, my wife is paying monthly for a funeral plan out of the current account that I operate on her behalf as POA. Because of her age there is a limit of a year for monthly payments (following an initial deposit). There is a choice of different-priced plans which one makes at the outset. As no paperwork had been received I contacted her provider. The manager I spoke to was happy to deal with me as Attorney subject to receipt of proof of LPA via email.
 

marionq

Registered User
Apr 24, 2013
6,449
0
Scotland
We took out a funeral plan around 2014 for my husbands sister while he was still compos mentis. It was in his name as sponsor/owner with the sister the named individual to be buried/ cremated. Unfortunately my husband died at the end of 2019 so when his sister died a few months ago he wasn’t there to sign off the arrangements. I had thought her care home would now be in charge of all that but they wanted a family member to sign eg moving the body, what she would wear and a host of other things.

I was pleased with how the whole thing was organised and it was a tasteful little funeral but I think more needs to be done on smoothing over the final details about responsibility. They made a computer blunder and billed me for the lot because my signature was on everything and although that was cleared up within the week it shouldn’t be able to happen. I envisaged a less able elderly person in that situation not being able to sort it out and paying twice.
 

TNJJ

Registered User
May 7, 2019
2,967
0
cornwall
@TNJJ My parents went together many years ago and paid for both their funeral plans outright. I still have dads plan tucked away with all of the probate stuff. It was really simple and saved a lot of money compared with todays prices.. The morning dad died I phoned the company and gave them the details and dads funeral plan number and they sorted everything out from then. They came to collect dad early that afternoon, everything was included except the flowers and the celebrant who spoke about dad at the funeral.

We arranged and paid for the wake ourselves.

Mum and dad used a very well known company that probably has a branch in every town in the country. I thought they were very good and I intend to take out a plan for myself very soon.

Well done for getting money out of a loans company.
Thanks. It was the timeshare saga. That was a nightmare in itself..
 

TNJJ

Registered User
May 7, 2019
2,967
0
cornwall
Thank you everyone. It gives me peace of mind that I can do so. I’m not going to tell dad as I will only get grief. I have no idea what hymns he likes as he is not religious. Mum suggested Glen Miller. Very difficult when he won’t talk about it.Mind you, dad never had talked about anything so a lot of stuff is guess work ?
Thanks. It was the timeshare saga. That was a nightmare in itself..
 

Wildflowerlady

Registered User
Sep 30, 2019
1,103
0
Neither of my parents would ever discuss Will's, death or funerals. When my mum died a insurance policy she had been paying for actually paid back less than what she paid into it and didn't cover the cost of her funeral. My dad had the same type of policy paid in the same but presumably because he was male when he passed it paid out even less. Neither had made Wills. My sister and I took a funeral plan out for dad using the fact we were attorneys. We didn't discuss with him as dad wouldn't have wanted us to. We had to pay in full because of dads age 86years. We actually lost dad within 3 months of doing the plan, some things were already sorted as he was being buried in the same grave as mum. As it was with Covid and my not being able to attend his service was just very short and held outside with only 5 people attending. A sad affair all in all but at least he was able to be back with mum again and that's what I try to remember when feeling sad about not being able to be there.
 

silver'lantern

Registered User
Apr 23, 2019
208
0
I thought acting with LPA depends if they are considered to still have capacity. If so I was under under the impression we can't do anyting unless they want/agree. The discussion has to be had and their views repected even if we dont agree. The LPA comes into force when they no longer have capacity. You can advise but the choice is theirs. So it depends on capacity. If he doent have capacity then the LPA kicks in. this is how i view the LPA we have in place
 

silver'lantern

Registered User
Apr 23, 2019
208
0
I want to pay in advance for our cremation packages now. I have done mine, but he wont commit to it yet. He doesnt know why, nor what he has to think about, but wont agree just yet. Says he needs to think about it. I just have to keep chipping away, reminding him, asking if he has made up his mind yet. he says no he hadnt given it another thought since i mentioned it last! lol one day the decission will be made and I will have to respect that even if he decides he doesnt want his paid for in advance. Whilst he is still concidered to have capacity I cant make the decission even though we have an LPA in place.
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
Having capacity isnt an all or nothing thing @silver'lantern - you can have capacity for one thing and not for another. It also doesnt mean that they have capacity if they are still able to say no. They have capacity if they are able to understand the question, remember it long enough to consider it, make a decision and understand the consequences. Many people with dementia are unable to do these things and therefore simply say "no" because it is the safer option.
 

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