We’re here to help you save money during what could possibly be one of the worst times of your life. There are things you can do now, before you have to plan a funeral, to prevent spending too much money unnecessarily.
Here are the Funeral Consumers Alliance North Carolina’s Top 10 recommendations of things to do now:
- Plan ahead but don’t pay ahead.
If you want to pay for your own funeral, consider opening a payable-on-death (POD) savings account with a survivor as the beneficiary, rather than a prepaid contract. This is also known as a Totten trust. This insures that as soon as your death certificate is signed, your loved one (beneficiary) would have access to the funds in plenty of time to cover your funeral expenses. - Shop around!
Visit at least two funeral service providers. Ask for a General Price List (GPL). Funeral homes and crematories are required by the Federal Trade Commission to hand them out to customers who ask for them in person. - You are allowed to provide the funeral home with a casket you bought elsewhere.
Federal law gives you this right; a funeral home may not charge you a handling fee for accepting a casket you bring in for them to use. (Yes—this means the casket you purchase at Costco must be accepted by the funeral home!). - Say no to embalming!
North Carolina law does not require embalming—period! It is just funeral home business “policy” to require embalming for viewings. This is a matter of business practice, not public safety; that means it might be negotiable. And if you plan ahead, there will be more room for negotiating! - Choose immediate burial or direct cremation.
If a funeral provider offers burials and cremations, it must provide these low cost options. - If you can, find a cemetery that will allow you to be buried without a vault or grave liner.
Church cemetery associations usually are the most flexible. There are nine (9) cemeteries in North Carolina where green burial is allowed. These are: Mordecai’s Meadow at Historic Oakwood Cemetery (Raleigh); Highland Meadow (Fayetteville); Pine Forest (Wake Forest); Forest Lawn (Candler); Green Hills Cemetery (Asheville); Carolina Memorial Sanctuary (Mills River); Church of the Burrow (Moncure); Old Carrboro Cemetery (Carrboro); All Souls Natural Burial Ground (Greensboro); LANDMATTERS (developing a conservation burial ground in the Piedmont). - Care for your own loved one’s body at home until burial or cremation.
In North Carolina, it is legal for a family member to serve as its own funeral director, and we are happy to tell you how to do that. - Transport your own loved one’s body.
Yes, you can! Funeral transport is a licensed occupation in North Carolina, but families directing their own funerals are exempt. (Your hair stylist has to be licensed to cut your hair, but you’re free to cut your own hair, your children’s hair or your friend’s hair for free.) - Learn what the law allows and what it doesn’t.
An informed consumer is a wise consumer! - Join Funeral Consumers Alliance North Carolina.
Help us to continue our educational efforts to inform everyone how to make funerals affordable. And please remember we gratefully accept donations of any size so that we can continue to make our services accessible to funeral consumers of all means. Donate today or join FCANC as a lifetime member.