Pre-planning can help give you and your loved ones peace of mind
What can I expect from beginning to end when making funeral arrangements?
Most people have no idea how much there is to making final arrangements for a loved one. There are so many questions to answer, decisions to make, and all on what might be described as the worst day of their lives. Until they’ve had to sit in that arrangement conference, most folks also have no idea what final arrangements cost.
There are an estimated 78 questions that will be asked during that conference: Burial or cremation? Ground burial or mausoleum/ columbarium? Which casket/urn? What day? Who’s going to speak? Sing? It goes on and on.
A family who comes in to make arrangements may be with us for two to four hours depending on how prepared they are for the questions mentioned earlier and how well the family members agree on the decisions made.
What are the advantages of pre-planning a funeral or cremation?
Pre-planning allows you to help make decisions for yourself instead of leaving that for a bereaved spouse or other members of the family. The stress of the day after a loved one has died is not the best environment for making a lot of decisions. When you plan ahead, all of that can be done ahead of time. Instead of spending three hours with a funeral director, the family would confirm decisions, sign a few documents, pick flowers, and be on their way back home where they really want to be on that day.
When someone passes, someone in the family is writing a check. Our family of funeral homes may not be quite too strict, but I can promise you in many parts of the country, the full payment must be made prior to a service or visitation. When a family has life insurance, they plan to use that to pay for a funeral. In many cases, the family still has to pay the funeral home and wait to be reimbursed by life insurance. Oftentimes, they cannot file for that insurance until they have a death certificate, which sometimes takes two to four weeks.
When you pre-plan, not only are you locking in the price no matter how much longer you live, you also have the ability to pay over time. We use plans of three, five, seven and sometimes 10 years to pay for a pre-arrangement. There can also be an insurance component to that, so if you pass before the pre-arrangement is paid for, the insurance will kick in and pay the balance — and we don’t have to ask your family for more money.
Locking in the price is a significant reason, as we’ve seen multiple price increases on caskets, urns and especially shipping since COVID. When the price is locked, that no longer becomes an issue.
How can I customize a funeral?
Caskets can be personalized in several ways, and most urns are engravable. The marker at the cemetery is another way that pictures and hobbies can be used. When it comes to the funeral or memorial service, the options are endless. I once attended a service for a Texas rancher, and the funeral director was beyond creative. The casket was draped in the Texas flag and beside it, on two bales of hay, were his favorite saddle, a lasso and his work gloves. Packets of bluebonnet seeds with the rancher’s name and dates of birth and death were given to guests as they exited the service. Everyone was encouraged to go home and plant those seeds as a way of remembering their friend.
Is embalming required?
Embalming is not required by law, however, most funeral homes have a policy regarding this. If a body is going to be publicly available (open casket) for a funeral service or visitation, it is our company policy to embalm the body. There are several religious practices that do not allow for embalming, so those beliefs and practices have to be considered in certain circumstances. But as a safety precaution, we would prefer to embalm if there is going to be a public service.
ABOUT THE EXPERT
Todd Webb has been with Texarkana Funeral Homes since 2020. He started in the funeral home business in the Dallas/fort Worth area in 2012. Todd has a degree in church music. After 27 years in that field, he began to work in funeral pre-need after an unexpected loss in his family.