What Shall We Do With
Granny?
By Sarah
Wilson (TMFCerce)
February 28, 2001
Few of us choose to consider our own mortality, unless it is
thrust upon us either by illness or the loss of someone close.
The funeral of my great-aunt took place a few weeks ago – an
elaborate Catholic affair taking the clan halfway across the
country to her chosen final resting place. The local authority
thoughtfully trebled the cost of the burial, as my aunt had
spent the last 18 months of her 88 years living outside the
borough.
The move was brought about because my aunt could no longer take
care of herself. She suffered increasingly from mental illness
in her later years, of a nature which, among other things, made
it difficult to communicate with others. As a devout,
traditional Catholic, she had clear ideas of how she wished to
be buried, and her relatives pieced the picture together from
the drips of odd words she would sometimes produce when
prompted.
Given that even the simplest crematorium funeral can cost over
£1,000, it's an expense that many families prefer to keep to a
minimum. This isn't necessarily connected with how much the
deceased relative has left – a stroll around my local cemetery
reveals that most of the elaborate memorials are for people who
died young, or East European Catholics. Unless you make it clear
when you are alive how you wish to be buried, your funeral is
more likely to reflect the attitudes of those who bury you.
If you are parsimonious to the last, then an efficient, low key,
local authority cremation is probably quite genuinely "what she
would have wanted". However, if you'd like to be paraded in a
Union Jack-draped coffin through the streets of Belper, mourners
throwing lilies in the path of the funeral procession and a male
voice choir singing "Candle in the Wind", you perhaps should
consider making some prior arrangements.
In my time of dying...
As, I've said, the more involved or costly your funeral might
be, the more you might want to make preparations in advance.
Let's say you want to be buried. Your family may be fine with
that. But you also want to be buried in the village of
your birth. The family may stretch to that.
You were born in St Lucia. Now, this is getting very expensive.
And then you also want all your living relatives to attend the
funeral and so on...
As you can see, the more your funeral costs eat into the cash
everyone hopes to get when you die, the greater the incentive
for next of kin, no matter how doting, to just conclude that
"the old bat was doo-lally" and do as they see fit when you're
gone.
Will she or won't she?
So, if you have any specific requirements, make certain your
next of kin or whoever is likely to carry out the administration
of your estate knows what they are. You should also have a Will.
A Will genuinely saves a huge amount of time and trouble.
You can write conditions into your Will. For example, no-one
gets any cash from your estate unless they turn up at the
funeral. But there is no legal obligation on the part of those
you leave behind to carry out your wishes upon death. Bear in
mind that your Will might not be read until after the funeral.
You should keep instructions for your funeral with your Will,
and lodge them in a safe place. Make sure the Executor knows
where it is kept and the conditions in the Will. You can also
keep a copy for yourself, if you want to wave it in front of
errant relatives as a reminder for them to be nice to you.
Preparing for the inevitable
You may want to make arrangements in advance. This ranges from
buying a plot in a cemetery, to taking out a pre-paid funeral
plan. This approach also has the advantage that you can ring
round and get the best price, rather than leaving it to
traumatised family or friends when you're not there to be
Foolish about it. If you can be fairly specific about what you
want, it can also protect your relatives or friends from the
"gold-plating" that some funeral directors indulge in ("well,
this is the budget coffin range...").
There are many "pre-payment" plans available, but again, you can
do it yourself, Foolishly. If you find out how much your funeral
is likely to cost (remember to add in things like flowers,
memorials and additional cars or transport for mourners), then
you can make sure that money is put aside. As long as the money
is somewhere reasonably accessible where it can grow at the rate
of inflation (preferably more), then the cost of your funeral
should be covered. You may even be able to make provisional
arrangements, if that suits you.
Inheritance Tax
When a person dies, the "estate" is frozen. Money cannot be paid
into or taken out of bank accounts, chattels cannot be sold or
moved and so on. The reason for this is ostensibly to stop
unscrupulous types from running off with all the cash before the
Will has been read. Of course, someone has to tell all the banks
and other institutions that the account holder has died.
The good news is that an exception is usually made for the cost
of funerals, so if you present a funeral director's bill at the
bank, the bill can still be paid even if the accounts are
frozen. However, there may be no exception made for any other
costs or outstanding debts and that, surprisingly, includes the
Inheritance Tax bill.
Inheritance tax is a complex issue and is dealt with in much
more detail in Stephen Bland's (TMFPyad)
article. You may need legal or accountancy advice, especially
where trusts are concerned.
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