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Floral Arrangements and Funerals: The Hidden Meanings of Flower Types

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Floral Arrangements and Funerals: The Hidden Meanings of Flower Types

For my mother's funeral, my sister and I spent a lot of time thinking about flowers for her funeral. We wanted beautiful, colorful flowers that reflected upon her energetic spirit and her love of bright, bold color. However, when we began to plan out her funeral with the funeral director, we were surprised to learn that different types of flowers had different meanings. Based on their meanings, some were appropriate for a funeral, and others were not. We had no idea about this, but I instantly became fascinated with the topic. I created this website to help educate others about the meanings of flowers and which are appropriate for funerals.

Three Ways To Help Your Family With Costs After You Die

31 March 2016
 Categories: , Blog

If you're trying to create a funeral plan so that your family will know what to do after you die, don't forget to take costs into account. Many people plan for their funerals and give their families instructions, but that still leave the family on the hook for the costs of the funeral, death certificates, and more -- not to mention house payments and other costs that you are handling now. That can make your funeral plans moot if you asked for more than your family can afford to pay at the time you die. Here are three ways in which you can make sure your family doesn't suffer financially while dealing with your death.

Pre-Pay Your Funeral Expenses

When you meet with mortuary and funeral home directors, you'll not only be able to choose your service type and so on, but you'll be able to pay for a lot of it right then. Believe it or not, not everyone takes advantage of this, and that can have two very depressing effects. One is that your family might have to wait to bury you if they can't come up with the money at the time you die. Even if your family is quite well-off now, their situation could change over time for the worse, leaving them unable to pay when they need to.

The other effect is that costs can go up. If you pre-pay now, your family will not have to deal with the increased costs later on. Some costs are known to go up, like religious-officiator fees, and those you might not be able to pre-pay. But you will be able to pre-pay most of it, leaving your family with a very low bill.

Get Life Insurance

Life insurance policies aren't going to pay out immediately once you die; your family will have to send in your death certificate and other company paperwork. But once they do that, the money is released, and that can help your family with costs related to your home, or even to your funeral if you neglected to pre-pay most expenses.

You don't need a huge life insurance policy that requires a giant medical exam. If you belong to an auto association-type club, you may be able to get a special policy through them, or your bank or credit union may offer something.

Make Your Accounts Payable Upon Death

This is a subtle change that not everyone knows about. Specifically designate your bank accounts as payable upon death. This means that if the person named as the beneficiary on your account comes in with your death certificate, the bank can pay out the amount of money in the account right then. Normally, banks want a beneficiary listed anyway, but specifically making the account payable upon death eliminates possible delays. Each bank is different, but many times, creating a payable-upon-death account is as simple as signing a form.

If you want other advice on ensuring your family doesn't end up dealing with financial pain after your death, talk to the funeral director who is helping you plan your funeral, along with an estate attorney. The more you do now, the easier things will be in the future. To learn more, speak with someone like Danks-Hinski Funeral Home.