Family let down by pre-paid funeral plan

A FLAW in how pre-paid funeral plans are drawn up has been exposed by a family of grieving siblings who were denied the opportunity to have a say in the funeral arrangements for their late brother.

Dignity Funerals, which owns more than 800 parlours nationwide, refused to deal with the next-of-kin of 65-year-old Peter Grant after he died from lung cancer in October last year.

Peter, a former electrician, was unmarried, had no children and had paid £3,000 in advance for his funeral to be carried out by Dignity.

When someone dies who is not married and has no children, it is any surviving parent that is designated the next-of-kin.

In Peter’s case, it was his 91-yearold mother for whom daughter Katherine Daniels had power of attorney. But when Katherine contacted Dignity to talk about Peter’s funeral on his mother’s behalf, it said it could not discuss the arrangements.

It said it would only take instructions from another sister of Peter’s who had obtained his death certificate. This sister is estranged from the rest of the family.

As a result, when the funeral took place, Peter’s mother, Katherine and four other siblings were denied an input into the funeral arrangements. With Peter’s estranged sister not turning up or putting in place any instructions, it meant no one led the service, there was no eulogy and no agreed music.

‘What kind of service is that?’ asks Katherine, 59, a headteacher. ‘We’ve had no closure.’ She did, however, manage to play one of Peter’s favourite songs – Neil Young’s Harvest Moon – on her phone, while his brother Donald said some words about him.

In light of her family’s experience, she now believes that people signing up to a pre-paid funeral plan should be required to nominate a person to deal with the funeral arrangements. This would head off any disputes. She is also launching a national petition to ensure other warring families do not go through a similar experience.

Katherine was so desperate to give Peter a fitting send-off that she asked Dignity if the family could pay its costs to date and take possession of Peter’s body and arrange a funeral with another firm. But it refused, urging the two sides of the family to reconcile or contact it via a solicitor.

Although she then got a letter of administration from HM Courts & Tribunals Service authorising her to take control of her brother’s affairs and funeral, it arrived after Peter’s cremation. Katherine has complained to Dignity accusing the company of showing ‘disrespect for the grieving family’.

She adds: ‘I will continue fighting on all fronts so that no family has to suffer what we have been through.’

Dignity told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Out of respect for the families we serve, we do not comment on specific or personal aspects of any funeral arrangement. Our role is to provide a respectful service for families and recognise that this can be a distressing time for relatives. We will not comment on personal disputes amongst families.’