Should you prepay and plan your own funeral?

A funeral can cost upward of $10,000, and, increasingly, people are choosing to preplan and prepay for their funeral, which may be practical for a number of reasons. Some view it as an extension of estate planning.

While preplanning may not make sense for a reasonably healthy 55-year-old, it may be practical for an older person.

Planning has its advantages -- you can determine which funeral home you'd like to use and whether or not you want a service and what that service should entail; surviving family members are spared the stress of such decisions at an already emotionally trying time; and you can designate where your remains will be buried, entombed or scattered.

A person who has been "recently involved in planning the service of a loved one" may be motivated to devise his or her own plan, says Christi Dockins Guilliams, a funeral director at McCombs Funeral Homes, which has facilities in Cape Girardeau and Jackson. She has been a full-time member of the McCombs staff since 1998.

Another factor may be one's choice of cremation rather than burial of the body, Guilliams says.

Cutline-File Credit:Christi Dockins Guilliams, a funeral director at McCombs Funeral Homes, poses for a photo Sept. 25 in Jackson. (Fred Lynch)

"The interest in cremation is increasing, but in our area people still aren't completely comfortable with it. There does seem to be a trend toward prearranging cremation *... so their survivors can be assured cremation is what their loved one preferred," she says.

"Depending upon the selection of merchandise, the costs associated with traditional burial can be that high [$10,000], but they usually aren't," Guilliams says, adding the cost of a funeral may vary broadly, depending "on what one considers to be a funeral cost."

"Some people interpret funeral costs to mean only the items selected at the funeral home -- expenses for staff, facilities, transportation of the deceased, casket, urn and outer burial container," she says, adding that, to others, the term may include grave space, flowers, a headstone, transportation for family members traveling to the service, hairdresser fees and gratuities for a minister, vocalist or instrumentalist.

Most funeral-home websites carry prices for plans at various levels and spell out what each plan includes.

They also may have links for shopping for caskets and urns, which are available for purchase at other online shopping sites.

Christi Dockins Guilliams, a funeral director with McCombs Funeral Homes, poses for a photo Friday, Sept. 25, 2015 in Jackson. (Fred Lynch)

Beyond burial and cremation, funeral directors also have the knowledge to manage anatomical donations, whether a complete body or certain organs to research facilities.

Even if you preplan your funeral, you don't have to prepay, although most funeral homes offer prefunded funeral accounts as part of the contract.

Rather than prepay for a funeral, you may wish to set aside the funds in an insurance policy or establish a payable-on-death savings account; of course, cash, check and credit cards are accepted.

Bo Shantz, agent at State Farm Insurance in Cape Girardeau, says, "For their final expenses, some people purchase a whole-life insurance policy. The funeral home can be listed as an assignment. If the funeral home is the beneficiary, they would be entitled to the entire amount, regardless of the actual cost incurred."

Guilliams says, "Insurance and trusts are common methods funeral homes use to accommodate the investment of a preneed client," adding that state law prohibits funeral homes "from keeping in their account a consumer's prepaid funeral funds."

The Federal Trade Commission, which oversees regulations related to funerals, cautions prepayment may have its drawbacks.

For instance, a funeral home may change hands or go out of business, prices may go up or down, or you may move away from the area where the plan was made and paid for.

The FTC suggests putting your preferences in writing and providing a copy to a family member and your attorney; it cautions against putting the directive in a safe-deposit box, since arrangements may need to be made on a weekend or holiday, when there wouldn't be access to the box.

"In the case of an elderly couple, often the health of the surviving spouse is compromised. They might even be a resident of a nursing home, so access to a safe-deposit box is completely inconvenient," Guilliams says.

Guilliams has specific advice for veterans: "I would encourage all honorably discharged veterans to keep on hand a few copies of their DD214. This document is essential to obtaining a veteran's marker, military honors, a U.S. flag and burial in a state or national veterans' cemetery. Married veterans should also keep on hand a copy of their marriage license, as the spouse of an honorably discharged veteran is also entitled to burial in a state or national veterans' cemetery."

Christi Dockins Guilliams, a funeral director with McCombs Funeral Homes, poses for a photo Friday, Sept. 25, 2015 in Jackson. (Fred Lynch)