Q: What should I be aware of when considering pre-planning my funeral?

Find a funeral home like Springfield, where you can trust the people, where you can feel comfortable working with people who will help you celebrate your loved one in a way that will honour and bless them and the family.

- Ramona Sousa

Transcript

Some of the disadvantages of, of prearranging – there really aren’t too, too many – but, you know, people think, “Well, I might not be living here when I pass away.” Or, “I might change my mind.” Well, with the prearrangement, it’s still yours. You can still come in and make changes at any time.

The one trick, though, is to not over-plan it. I find when somebody has gone through every song and music selection and clothing and even written out their own eulogy, you’ve taken something from the family. The gift of the funeral is that you are engaging your loved one in it. If you’ve done everything for them, there’s nothing left for them to do.

It’s important to know that there are different kinds of plans available. And, uh, there are some products out on the market which, you know, will take money towards funeral related expenses. But some consumers get a little bit stuck in the fact that, “Well, what if I can’t keep making payments until I die?” or “What is the value of the benefit at any particular point in time?”

What we have gone out of our way to do, was to have a plan that’s – first of all – very simple, very flexible, and also that’s able to, uh, really address the concerns that a consumer should have for transferability, for cash surrender value and just for knowing that it’s guaranteed.

Um, quite a few funeral homes – all over North America – will honour each other’s contracts. Each, everyone’s a little bit different, but anything to do with any changes that you wanna make – or even cancelling – can happen; it’s your contract – it is all protected under, under law.

All of this planning is only as good as keeping your next of kin informed. Um, having it preplanned and then not giving copies to your family would be a crucial mistake.