Funeral & Burial Costs (for sale, renting, limousine)
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Just so that you are aware, St. Charles Cemetery is in the Hamlet of East Farmingdale in the Town of Babylon, Suffolk County (and, not in the Village of Farmingdale in the Town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County).
The Irish in me forebodes that (silly supersistions!). Gpsma, thanks so much for the information on the funeral costs. I had NO idea that that price would not include the burial plot. Can you give an estimate on that if you are comfortable? I would rather bite the bullet on this when the time comes and look for a plot that could accomodate four people.
Maybe you should try and get over that for now and really start planning. Look at it this way, NONE of us get out of here alive, do we? So you're not jinxing your relative in that way.
Besides buying a plot, there is also the cost of the memorial gravestone and even the engraving on the stone.
Now is the time to find out if this relative has any life insurance and the details on that. He may have even bought the low cost burial insurance that is advertised on TV constantly. If there is a policy, many funeral homes will simply take assignment of it and not make the family pay cash upfront and then the insurance beneficiary gets what is left in terms of money after everything is paid.
As an alternative to buying a plot you could look into cremation and then putting the urn in a mausoleum. I've seen that at Calvary out on LI and it's a nice setup. Another thing you could do is see if there is room in any grave of a relative. More than one person can be buried in a grave in many cemetaries, even if it was originally set up as a 1 person grave, although there is a limit on how many and a time period that must pass before you put another person in. Perhaps your family member can be buried in the grave of his mother/father? Then the only expense would be the actual burying and adding an inscription on the gravestone. Note: if you want to bury him with another relative, be sure and have the closest direct descendant of the buried relative on hand so they can sign the paperwork granting permission to the cemetary to inter your relative in the grave.
Cokatie...you may want to visit a funeral home and discuss making a pre-arrangement. I did it for my uncle who was in a nursing home. It makes it a lot easier when their time comes.
This is what was done when it became apparent the my FIL wasn't long for this world. Unfortunately, one of his children was very emotional and insistent on picking out a terribly ornate casket. There was no public wake, a private viewing at the funeral home the day of the funeral and a funeral mass at the church, followed by a graveside service at a national cemetery. The costs were over $10K -- the super deluxe casket being a big factor.
cokatie -- my heart goes out to you in this difficult time. It's never easy when it happens, but being prepared in advance helps when the dreadful day arrives.
My grandmother just passed this weekend at 92 years old. I went with the family to plan to funeral. It cost $11,000 for the funeral home (with the cheapest casket) (malverne) and $500 for the Church for the funeral mass. My Grandma already had the plot paid for. We couldn't believe how expensive everything is.
I just recently went through my mother's papers and pictures and came across the funeral bill for my father who passed away in 1967. His funeral, including casket, three day wake, and church service came to $1550. This did not include a grave as he is buried at Pinelawn National.
I think that is pretty expensive considering that it is over 40 years ago.
You can lower the costs by not selecting a high end copper clad casket. You'd be surprised what they try to sell you in a "kind and compassionate" funeral home.
^^^This, and it goes double if there is going to be a cremation afterward. I haven't had to deal with this in 10 years, but last I heard, it is illegal to re-use caskets in NY, so if the casket is only going to be used for a viewing, my humble opinion is that there is no need to spend a whole lot of money on it. It's only going to be destroyed.
You are all right. I need to get a backbone and head down to the local funeral home. There have just been so many bad days and moments during the past month, that I am loathe to add another one to my list! But, it's one of the facts of life, right?
^^^This, and it goes double if there is going to be a cremation afterward. I haven't had to deal with this in 10 years, but last I heard, it is illegal to re-use caskets in NY, so if the casket is only going to be used for a viewing, my humble opinion is that there is no need to spend a whole lot of money on it. It's only going to be destroyed.
I just went through planning a cremation. The funeral home sold a crematable casket for almost $1,000 or you can "rent" a casket for $1,700. The rentable casket is wood but it is just a coverage. The actual casket is a liner inside the rent-a-box
^^^This, and it goes double if there is going to be a cremation afterward. I haven't had to deal with this in 10 years, but last I heard, it is illegal to re-use caskets in NY, so if the casket is only going to be used for a viewing, my humble opinion is that there is no need to spend a whole lot of money on it. It's only going to be destroyed.
I don't think (but I could be wrong!) they make you buy it ... I think they use the showroom sample models for these viewings.
I don't think (but I could be wrong!) they make you buy it ... I think they use the showroom sample models for these viewings.
That wasn't the case with my mother. They make you buy the casket because they can't use it again. At least, that's how it was 10 years ago. It's considered a health hazard because even embalmed bodies can leak.
The law may have changed since the last time I had to contend with something like this, but I doubt it. Funerals are just as much of a racket as weddings.
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