Funeral Expenses

I work in the industry, average funerals in the US are between 8-12K.

And funeral homes are required by law to provide an itemized menu of all costs.

I can't give you specific prices, but will suggest this.... if it's a loved one you lost and you are the one making the arrangements.. then take someone with you who is LESS emotionally involved.. reason being, when upset, sometimes making monetary decisions can be tough and if you feel guilty or really sad, then sometimes a person spends more.. you need to take someone who can think rationally and economically (don't mean to sound terse) but hey, funerals can cost.. keep in mind, a person (unless specified and they are paying and left funds behind to do so) don't need the most expensive casket... .or floral arrangements... I am not cheap, but just think one has to look out for one's finances... the fact that you are asking, leads me to believe that this is a concern of yours.. therefore, it's great that you are checking around. again, do take an objective party with you..

I wish you the best
blessings

We just pre-planned and pre-paid my M.'s as she's terminally ill and we expect only a few more weeks before her home-going.

Preparation, casket, and other misc expenses was about $12,000. We selected a casket that was priced right about in the middle. We didn't include use of the room at the funeral home since the practice at our church is to have the wake at our church. In NY that was $1200 a day - for an afternoon and evening. They still charged $600 to have a staff member on hand at the church. The cemetery plot is another $2500 - $5000 depending. We found that the small local cemetery on a pretty hill near the harbor was half the price of the big, huge cemetery near the highway that's 20 minutes away. The cemetery also charges a fee to open the grave - that was about $750 as I recall but is included in the $12,000 paid to the funeral home. They did provide us with an itemized bill and they provided the "trust" paperwork which allows those funds to not be included in her assets for Medicaid purposes.

This could all have been done a little less expensively - and maybe we could have shaved off about $2000 total (cards, flowers, less expensive casket) - but that's still $10K before the cemetery plot.

Just a note that I hope doesn't apply to you - praying that it doesn't - but expenses for a baby or child are generally much less - I think becuase the industry all recognizes that it's such a heartbreaking time that they don't include any profit at all - sometimes it seems they barely break even.

Praying God's comfort during this time for you.

we paid $8500 for my dads we got a cd no limo and a medium cost coffin which my dad said get a cheapy but we didnt. we had to go 1 1/2 hrs to the cementary he wanted to be buried in. the dinner was done by my church. and we didnt have to have the concrete box in the cementary he was buried in. some cementaries require them which I think was $1500 more. my dad did a cheap funeral for his M.. graveside cheapest casket he could get and he paid $8500 for hers. so it doesnt matter how you do it they are going to get at least $8500 from you. my granpas was $10500 I think but they rented a limo

I don't have an answer, but OMG! I had NO idea that funerals cost this much money! How in the world do people afford to bury someone? My M. was just diagnosed with cancer and this question kind of entered my mind, but I simply had no clue. *sigh* I am going to buy burial insurance (if there is such a thing) so my kids won't have this burden when I leave this world.

The cost for a funeral varies widely. Depends on what you want, when the funeral/burial is done, location in Florida, whether you have a plot already, if you are going to pre-pay or pay at the time, etc.

I suggest you contact several funeral homes in the area that it might be needed and discuss options.

My M. is going to med school when she dies.
She taught 6th grade for over 30 years and she thinks it would be fitting for her to be a medical cadaver for a med student in a classroom after she dies.
After 1 year, the remains are cremated and sent back to family.
From what information I've found so far, it doesn't cost anything.

My grandpa just passed away this past December. His funeral was roughly 10 grand. But, his cemetary plot had already been paid for (at the family cemetary we go too, it's 500$ a plot). The casket was 6 grand, the funeral home was 3 grand, the preacher/minister was $200, the memorial paper (to hand out to ppl that come), plus the CD with pictures on it was bout $300. The vault that he will be placed into in the ground was $1000. Everything just kept adding up. Plus, he has to be kept a the vault (moselium?) until March or April, because here in Michigan, the ground is frozen and they have a Freeze/Thaw Law. Thankfully, the cemetary doesn't charge anything for digging the grave, etc and they do a beautiful hand dug job, and replace all the sod...so it's not just dirt with straw on it.

I'm sorry you and your family are going through this!

It depends if you are doing a burial or cremation. When I buried my Father 17 years ago, his burial cost $7,000 and the cremation was $3,000. That was in Vegas. We did spend a little more for the coffin we wanted and a headstone.

Keep in mind, Costco sells coffins online for a lot cheaper, flowers are cheaper if purchased outside of the mortuary and you can submit the obituary through the paper yourself.

Funeral homes work with everyone budgets, a lot of things are available to rent now days. When my dad suddenly died, he was so poor, my uncle paid for everything. It was about $6,000. His casket was rented for $200.00, his preacher was his best friend in HS-he did not charge-but a $100 donation was made to his church, he was cremated for $600.00, rest went to the funeral home for preparation, wake was provided for free by VFW hall, food was donated. Both grandmothers were around $10,000. They had everything preplanned, still expensive.

Both my parents' funerals were here in NY and cost between 11 and 12 thousand dollars each - this included the cost of the casket, preparation of the body, the room for the viewing for 2 afternoons and evenings, prayer cards that we had made up, and the pallbearers and hearse. Everything else was separate - having them transported from FL to NY, fee for church, musician, gravesite opening, etc. At least that's what I recall. One was 5 years ago, the other was a year and a half. Hope that helps.

p.s. thank you so much for answering my question earlier - I really appreciate the prayer and will use it this afternoon :)

You have a rigtht to get an explanation of cost from the funeral home and then shop around. There is no reason to spend 7-10K.
This is very hard to do when you are stressed. My brother was overcharged for my nephew's funeral. I went to other funeral homes to see what they charged for certain things and made the funeral director refund the over charges.
For my mother, we didn't do the embalming. She had cancer and we didn't want an open coffin. That saved alot.
So sorry you are having to go through this.
Victoria

My dads was about 1200. He had purchased a joint plot and over paid on it, it also gained interest. When he purchased the cemetary was just a cemetary, so this was for burial and plot only. Later on through the years they opened their own funeral home...we were able to apply the left over ammount (minus burial and plot, including head stone) to the funeral home for all of their expenses (preperation fo body, transportation from funeral home to burial site, flower arrangements, etc etc). If my dad had never done this I don't know how we would have burried him. My SO and I are looking into the same thing.
This is all in California.
I hope this helps.