A Quick Guide to Pre-Arranged Funeral Planning

“Is this what they would have wanted?” is an all too common question when families come to plan a funeral. Making your wishes clear ahead of time can prove to be a great comfort to loved ones.

What Is Pre-Planning?

Pre-planning is the process of planning your funeral arrangements in advance. It involves making decisions such as:

• What type of funeral service do you want?
• What type of casket or urn do you prefer?
• Is there going to be a viewing the night prior in addition to the day of services?
• Where will the services take place?
• Who do you want to participate?

A pre-planning counselor or funeral director can help you through the process. They can help you organize and record everything according to your desires.

Our staff can provide you with advice and guidance during your pre-planning process. They can ensure you have all the information you need in order to make informed decisions.

Your arrangements can be paid in advance (upfront or monthly payments) or they can be stored here at our funeral home until they are needed.

Why Pre-Plan?

There are many reasons why people decide to pre-plan. However, the most common reason we hear is that individuals want to protect their family members (spouse, kids, parents, etc.) by ensuring they won’t be left with the cumbersome task of making arrangements at a time of loss.

We encourage individuals and families to pre-plan in order to help relieve their family members of the stresses and difficulties that come with planning a funeral during a period of grieving. Planning ahead let’s your family and loved ones know your final wishes and desires so they aren’t left guessing.

What About Pre-Payment?

Funeral pre-planning, for a lot of people, has become an extension of the estate planning process. As they plan for retirement or the next stage in their life, pre-planning their funeral is one more thing they choose to take care of. Pre-planning your funeral allows you to protect your family from inflation and rising costs by locking in at today’s prices.

Should I Pre-Pay?

Everyone’s circumstances and situation are different which will influence your decision, but there are some great advantages to pre-payment that you should consider:

Guaranteed Services: As soon as you have fully funded or made a down payment on your arrangements, we guarantee to provide the selected merchandise and services regardless if the price goes up over time. For example, if you select a $3,000 casket today and the price of that casket increases to $5,000 at time of need, you are not responsible to pay the difference. However, there are some services that we cannot guarantee the cost of because the services aren’t provided by us directly, such as obituaries through the local newspaper. Our staff are skilled at helping you to estimate these expenditures and to make allowances for them in your funding arrangements.

Estate Planning: Many people choose to pre-plan and pre-pay for their funeral as they are approaching retirement. Often times, it is during this point in your life that you are in your prime earning years and have the most expendable income. Pre-payment can eliminate an unpredictable future expense from your financial planning.

Budgeting: We offer a pre-planning payment option that allows you to pay for the cost of your selected merchandise and services over a period of time, interest free.

Pre-Payment Options

You have the choice of paying in one installment (all upfront) or through monthly payments. We offer families interest-free monthly payments if they put 10% down. You can spread the monthly payments out up to five years (60 months).

With our pre-payment plans, you are locked-in at today’s prices – which means you don’t have to worry about the increases in costs overtime. This is why many people choose to pre-pay for their funeral arrangements.

How To Pre-Plan Your Funeral

The process to begin the planning conversation is simple. For some, casually bringing up the idea to plan ahead to your spouse or family over a family gathering or dinner is best. For others, planning a formal meeting might be better suited.

Regardless of how you approach the situation, the conversation is much easier to have when death is not imminent.

When you are ready to start making your arrangements, call one of our pre-planning counselors at 435-881-8874 to get started. They will ensure that all necessary steps are taken to help you along the way.

Please call our Pre-Planning Counselor at 435-881-8874 to ask questions or schedule your appointment.