FUNERAL COSTS

[claybury]

IF A FAMILY MEMBER PASSED AWAY WITH NO DEATH INSURANCE COVER WHO IS LIABLE FOR THE FUNERAL COSTS. THANKS FOR ANY HELP/

[boxtops]

I believe it's the next of kin, but the costs can be taken out of the estate. IMO.

[ubasses]

http://www.direct.gov.../Bereaved/DG_10018660

The above may be of some help

[daisya]

Yes it does come from the estate, one of the first things to be provided for. Other than that it is next of kin or family who are left as boxtops said.

[mojay]

Do speak to the funeral directors - who are very helpful - I've no idea how/why but they arranged a grant of £2000 from the state when I was in this situation

[Buenchico]

Nobody is ever obliged to pay for a funeral. If everyone refuses to do so (or simply can't afford to) then the local authority must pay for a basic funeral. The authority can then seek to reclaim their costs from the estate of the deceased person but if there's nothing in the estate the bill will have to be met by the authority. (It can't be passed on to anyone else).

Anyone who is thinking of getting the local authority to pay for a funeral must ensure that they (and everyone else) actually declines to do so. The local authority can't take over arrangements initiated by anyone else, even if those arrangements are still as basic as possible.

Otherwise the rule is simply that whoever arranged a funeral is obliged to pay for it. The costs can normally be recouped from the state of the deceased person but it would depend upon the wording of the will (if any) or who is entitled to receive the estate under the intestacy rules. (If there was no estate left, the person making the arrangements must foot the whole of the bill, unless others voluntarily agree to help out).

Chris

[Ann]

When my father in law passed away 10 years ago, sadly he hardly had any savings at all and my husband being his only son had to pay for the funeral (his Mum died many years before) We could hardly afford to scrape the money together ourselves and were advised to contact social services but all we could get in those days was a £30 death grant. Maybe things have changed now ......

[nohorn]

About a year ago in California I visited a local city cemetary. I was there inquiring about crematory arrangements, cost of columbarium (nich ?). Some cemetaries here in U.S. have indoor colombariums, some have outdoor walls with niches (shelves/). I hope anyone who reads this does understand what I am talking about. The niches at this place each one would hold two persons ashes.

The only thing I was surprised at was they said whenever the state had an indigient resident of this small city to dispose of, they had a very large urn about the size of a large barrell that was cemented in the ground, where they poured these ashes into it, and therefore added to all the others that had collected in that large container. I supposed it would eventually contain, many hundreds of persons' ashes.

I have no idea how the procedure differs in the U. S. as there are private. cemetaries, public cemetaries, etc. This one is was touring was a city owned cemetary........(socialism?)

[numnum]

my mum was in a similar situation where she had no money for the funeral. thankfully my uncle paid for it. i'm sure there was some help you could get for it though

when my stepdad died he had always said he didn't see the point in spending a fortune on a coffin and said he wanted a cardboard box/budget funeral

so my mum wanting to do what he said she told the funeral directors she wanted a cardboard box, when they showed it to her she said it was like a take away box and couldn't do that and got a coffin

we had googled it and seen some really nice patterend eco friendly coffins online which were about £150-£200 but we wouldn't have been able to get them in time

[MartinBev58]

My father passes away recently and when I phoned the Pension Service they asked if there was money in the family to pay for the funeral.
The total cost amounted to £3,500.
I would presume there would be some form of loan's available repayable from the estate and as the pension service asked I presume they would have pointed me in the right direction if a loan was required.
I would certainly not want to pay for funerals of distant relatives and I know the Council is liable for basic funeral expenses if there are no assetts but the Council can recover the costs from the estate if there is one.
I have my 2 daughters, sons in law and 4 grandaughters but all my other relatives are distant.

Martin