IN North Allegheny Fall 2019 | Page 31

INDUSTRY INSIGHT O FUNERAL SERVICES ver the years I have written many times about funeral preplanning. For this issue I decided to write about the four most common questions or statements that I hear when people want to avoid funeral planning: I already have an insurance policy, why should I preplan? Having an insurance policy is a great start. That policy can help relieve the financial burden on families at the time of passing. Here are a couple of things to think about. Having the financial aspect of preplanning is only one of the three crucial things needed in preplanning. You also need to have your wishes in writing and have your vital information on file. Insurance policies only take care of one of those aspects. Also insurance policies can change over time. Some increase in value while other types decrease. Furthermore many types of policies have a cash value that can be considered an asset. This can affect government benefits. By preplanning, we can answer these questions and help ascertain if the policy will be the right choice for you to buy future funeral plans. Lastly insurance policies often time take 14-30 days to payout once the company has received all the claim forms and signatures. Many items associated with a funeral need paid for immediately leaving a gap in funding for the surviving family. All of my wishes are in my Last Will and Testament. A Will is an incredibly important document that instructs an executor on how to disburse your remaining assets. Unfortunately probating a Will doesn’t take place until weeks after a funeral has occurred. Particularly in Pennsylvania, the law is very clear that certain family members are in charge and have the rights to decide your final disposition before a Will is probated. By preplanning you can make the decisions yourself and have a legal document in place that makes those decisions taking the burden off others before a Will is even probated. What if the funeral home isn’t around in the future what would happen to the money I gave them? Although this does not happen very often, occasionally a funeral home will cease operations. The State Board of Funeral Director’s and Pennsylvania Law state that any funeral director that accepts SPONSORED CONTENT prepaid monies for future service must put 100% of those funds into financial accounts in the name of the person preplanning. It also states that the accounts creation be reported to the State Board. When a person chooses to preplan they should NEVER be asked to make the check or monies out to the funeral home or director directly. The monies need to be deposited into a third party and not commingled with other peoples funds. Therefore the funds are still the monies of the person preplanning and can only be withdrawn at passing. I just want to be cremated, we don’t have to preplan that. Out of all the legalities surrounding funerals in general, cremation tends to be the most complex. Basically this is the case because cremation is an irreversible process. So it is very important that all the legal decision-makers sign off on the authorization to have the cremation occur. So if a surviving parent has multiple children they must all sign the authorization. This can be an issue sometimes if a family member lives out of town or maybe hasn’t been in contact with the family for years. By preplanning, you have the ability in Pennsylvania to preauthorize your chosen form of disposition avoiding the pitfalls of finding family and having them all agree on your choice. These are just an example of four questions that are often asked when people discuss preplanning and there are many more. As a third-generation funeral director, I understand the complexities and questions families have. I am always open to answer questions honestly and give the pros and cons to different aspects of preplanning. What is most important is taking the step to have the difficult and open conversation as to what your final wishes are and how will they be paid for. Remember planning your funeral in advance guarantees your wishes will be carried out as you want. Not a guess by remaining family at an emotional time. If you have questions about us or our services, please feel free to call or find us on Facebook. You can also learn more about our family and services by visiting: www.sperlingfuneral.com Sperling Funeral Home, Inc. 700 Blazier Dr. • Wexford, PA 15090 Jarett D. Sperling, Supervisor 724.933.9200 NORTH ALLEGHENY ❘ FALL 2019 29