Preplanning provides the peace of mind that comes with knowing that you have lifted the burden of making difficult decisions at a stressful time for your loved ones. It also ensures that your personal wishes and desires are respected and allows you to set aside the funds to relieve your family of the emotional burden and confusion that often accompanies this most difficult time.

A pre-paid funeral agreement provides for the payment of an agreed sum of money by the purchaser to the funeral establishment. These funds must be deposited in a state approved trust account in a bank, trust company or insurance company. The selected company will administer the funds for the named beneficiary pursuant to a written agreement with a funeral establishment.

Some of us will never have to arrange a funeral or select the method of disposition for a loved one, though many of us will take part in such discussions two to five times in a life time. It stands to reason that the expenses involved will not be familiar to us. It is your right and our belief that you have a complete if not a general understanding of the costs associated with the services we provide. By law, any funeral home that enters into financial discussions with a family, must present to all parties involved a copy of the funeral home’s general price list. The general price list should clearly identify the costs of the various services that they can provide. This list should also contain a range in casket and outer burial container prices. When making arrangements, always make sure that everything is priced and all merchandise is listed by manufacturer, materials and model number. This allows you to compare costs on products and services. The funeral director should present to you a copy of this statement referred to as ‘Statement of Funeral Goods and Services Selected. Usually, the left side of this statement will have the “funeral establishment’s costs” and the right side will have the funeral establishment’s best estimates on the fees and services provided by others in conjunction with the arrangements selected; sometimes called “Cash Disbursements”. These prices are not controlled by the funeral home.