Funeral planning: 5 things your funeral director isn't telling you

5 things your funeral director isn’t telling you

By Julie Cazzin on June 14, 2014
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Before going to your funeral director, know where you don't need to splurge.

1. Pre-paid plans aren’t forever. You can cancel these at any time with written notice to the funeral home. They’ll have to refund the full amount plus accrued interest, less a cancellation fee of about $250. “These plans work best if you stick with someone well-established and don’t do anything online,” cautions Amy MacAlpine, an eldercare lawyer in Vaughan, Ont. 2. You don’t have to buy our expensive caskets. Funeral home caskets often cost around $3,500 or more. But you can buy a nice-looking one for thousands less online at casketoutlet.ca and have it delivered anywhere in Canada. The funeral home can’t charge additional fees for receiving the casket, or boost prices on other services. “Just make sure the casket you order is properly made and stands up to a lot of movement,” says Doug Simpson, registrar at the Board of Funeral Services Ontario. “Talk to the funeral home and have a frank discussion to ensure they’ll accept it.” 3. We like to upsell. From white dove releases to DVD presentations, fancy religious symbols and memorial window decals—the extras can just snowball. Don’t allow marketing pitches to drain your wallet. 4. Embalming isn’t always necessary. If you plan on having a viewing, most bodies can be presented very nicely without costly embalming ($450 and up) if you have the funeral within 72 hours of death—even if your funeral parlor doesn’t have a refrigerated holding room, as is the case with some smaller funeral homes. 5. You may not need me at all. It’s perfectly legal to plan and conduct a funeral in your own home, provided you comply with all relevant legislation and do all of the required administrative work. This option isn’t for everyone, but burials can even be free if you leave your body to science—they’ll cover the cost of burial in a collective cemetery plot or for cremation of the remains.

Comments Cancel reply

Ken Davis says:

September 5, 2020 at 2:22 pm

Hello,
Concerning prepaid plans: is there a format or any requirements that must be followed when writing the notice to get a refund.
Thank you.

Reply
1. Samuel Kavanagh says:
  
  September 8, 2020 at 10:20 am
  
  Response from the MoneySense editorial team:
  
  Hi Ken, thanks for asking.
  
  Due to the large volume of comments we receive, we regret that we are unable to respond directly to each one. We invite you to email your question to [email protected], where it will be considered for a future response by one of our expert columnists. For personal advice, we suggest consulting with your financial institution or a qualified advisor.
  
  Reply
warren mcinnis says:

July 4, 2021 at 1:47 pm

here is a question. we were wanting an urn placed into a vault. part of the proceedings were done at a funeral home via wefare . then wefare found out about the plan with the vault and claimed they were not going to pay so now we are on the hook for the entire amount . we want and tried to cancell the vault part from the cemetary they wont. and have half the costs as a deposit. can we do anything ?

Reply
1. Courtney Reilly-Larke says:
  
  July 29, 2021 at 11:15 am
  
  Due to the large volume of comments we receive, we regret that we are unable to respond directly to each one. We invite you to email your question to [email protected], where it will be considered for a future response by one of our expert columnists. For personal advice, we suggest consulting with a qualified advisor.
  
  Reply