Winter can be a tough time, especially for the elderly. And while On The Money does not have figures to hand to prove the case one way or the other, it seems to be a time of year when the number of funerals spikes.
Of course, funerals are not generally something for which you need to budget yourself. It is those left behind who will be responsible for organising things – although all the big funeral directors do offer advance funeral arrangement packages. But that doesn’t stop people fretting about the financial burden involved.
So what can you expect to pay for a funeral in Ireland these days? And can you expect any financial support to defray the cost, especially if your financial circumstances are tight.
As with anything else, the sensible advice for people committing significant costs to a service is that they shop around. But sometimes, sensible just has to take a back seat. Death is a time of trauma, especially for those nearest and dearest who are left to organise affairs. And the tradition in Ireland of moving fairly quickly to funeral and burial or cremation means there is not a lot of time to compare provider costs – even if your head was clear enough to do so.
To compound things, as with everything else these days, choice abounds – church service or humanist, burial or cremation, even settling on who does what and the design of the Mass booklets. It can all be somewhat overwhelming.
And the truth is that while there will be differences in cost, these are likely to be fairly modest between one undertaker and another on a like-for-like basis. Finding someone you are comfortable working with at such a sensitive time is probably more important in truth.
Funeral costs
Broadly speaking, funeral expenses are divided into two sections – professional fees and disbursements.
The professional fees will tend to be the larger sum. To be fair, there is quite a lot involved on this side of things. First, the body has to be removed from the house, hospital, nursing home or wherever to the funeral home, where it will be embalmed, prepared and dressed and placed in a coffin chosen by the family.
Coffins come in all sorts, each with its own price. There is a growing demand for ecocoffins but, if memory serves, you will pay a premium for these.
The body then either rests in the funeral home before removal to the church or crematorium for the funeral service. Wakes and removals are less common these days than they used to be, especially in Dublin, but if that is the family’s wish, the cost of transporting the coffin to the home or church will be included in the fees.
Finally, it includes the cost of a hearse or hearses on the day and transport of the family and the body to the church, crematorium or cemetery, and then the family onwards to wherever they are gathering. And, of course, there is an element which simply covers the administration of the whole event.
As a rule, funeral directors will have a package price which rises or falls according to which coffin is chosen, whether you need an extra hearse (for which you can expect to pay an additional €400 or so) and whether you have a wake or removal.
Disbursements cover a range of services. First up there will be the cost of buying a funeral plot if you plan on a burial. According to figures on the website of Fanagans, one of the biggest funeral directors in the State, you can expect to pay anywhere from €1,400 to €9,000, or even more for a plot.
If you already have a plot, you will need to get it opened to receive the body. That will cost anywhere from €450 to €1,200, Fanagans says, depending on where in the State you are. As a general rule, you will pay more in cities.
Fanagans says that some county councils charge “registration fees” on top of a grave opening fee and this can run to €400 in some cases.
Cremation is becoming a more popular option as people move away from religious funerals but also as a more economic choice. Cremation fees will come to around €475.
Then there are more discretionary expenses.
Most people will look to have some music at the service. Hiring a soloist with cost upwards of €125, with roughly the same for an organist. Often, if you opt for an organist, you are obliged to use the local church’s regular organist. You can, of course, opt for other musicians.
I suspect fees for church music are now closer to €300 or €350.
Then there are mass booklets. How much you pay depends on how many you require and how intricate the booklet but, again, you would likely budget for around €300.
Offerings are traditionally made to the church, if that’s the path you go, and its sacristan. A humanist celebrant is likely to cost much the same. Fanagans says this is at the family’s discretion and work out at €200 upwards. I know the last time I had to go this route, the charge was €400 and there was no mention of it being at our discretion.
If you are putting notices in the papers, it can quickly get expensive – easily €250. And you now pay around €125 if you go the increasingly popular route of rip.ie, which is a business now owned by The Irish Times group.
Finally, of course, there are flowers. These can cost whatever you decide is your budget. Fanagans says it can cost as little as €60. On the basis of my last experience, the figure was closer to €400, although there would be room to budget down from that somewhat.
Finally, last and very much least, are gratuities for the gravediggers if going for burial. These can be as low as €45 or €50.
But, all in all, the figures can mount very quickly and it would not be unusual to pay up to €8,000 for a funeral and burial – and that’s before you entertain the cost of meeting family afterwards in a local hotel or restaurant.
Paying the bill
So where does the money come from?
It can be reassuring for family, or executors who can formally have the responsibility of organising a funeral, to know that the cost of the funeral is an expense against the estate of the person who has died. Essentially, we all pay for our own funerals.
And while a person’s bank accounts will be frozen when they die, unless they are joint accounts, all banks will permit payment of funeral costs as long as they can see receipts. There will be forms to fill out but it is not terribly onerous.
Of course, that depends on there being money in the account in the first place.
Another option is available to people who are customers of credit unions – death benefit insurance. It is not universal but is available at many credit unions.
The policy will pay out a lump sum on death designed to cover the funeral costs. The figure is generally higher in case of deaths caused by accidents.
Generally, if you are younger than 70 and in good health, you will be eligible to join and you remain covered by the policy as long as you remain a member of the credit union and pay your annual premium.
Some credit unions have an enhanced Death Benefit Plus funeral insurance. This is a policy that pays out anything form €3,000 to €15,000 to cover expected funeral costs and reduce any financial burden on family.
The premium is based on your age but, critically, it does not rise as you get older to ensure the policy remains affordable. As long as you have paid in for a minimum of two years, it will pay out.
And, as long as you are aged between 18 and 80 when you take out the policy, you will be accepted, without the need for a medical.
If you’re not in that fortunate position, you may be able to get some help from the Department of Social Protection.
There used to be a bereavement grant available that would pay up to €850 to help defray funeral costs but, as funeral directors Massey note on their website, this was withdrawn by the Department recently.
If the death occurs as a result of an accident at work or travelling to or from work, or certain work-related illnesses, your family should be able to get a funeral grant under the Occupational Injuries Scheme. This amounts to a one-off payment of €850.
Some surviving spouses or civil partners can qualify for a one-off Widowed or Surviving Civil Partner Grant – an €8,000 payment in the year of death – as long as they have dependant children living with them when the death occurred, or a child born within 10 months of the death.
Dependant children in this case means those under the age of 18, or up to 22 if they are in full-time education and normally resident in the State.
That aside, there are two other welfare payments available.
An Additional Needs Payment is available to people on low incomes. You do not have to be on welfare to qualify though you will qualify if you are. It is means tested and the amount it offers depends on the assessment made by a community welfare officer.
You can contact us at OnTheMoney@irishtimes.com with personal finance questions you would like to see us address. If you missed last week’s newsletter, you can read it here.
