A plain-language guide
Planning ahead for a funeral, gently
There are several ways to pay for a funeral ahead of time, and they work very differently. This guide sets them side by side in plain words, drawing on the government’s own consumer guides, and points to where help is if someone has just died.
A plain-language guide. Not an insurer, not a funeral director, and not financial advice.
Within
The order of service
Six short pages, beginning with the first hours after a death.
- When someone dies: the first stepsWho to call, registering the death, and who needs to be told.
- Choosing a funeral directorPrice lists, written quotes and the questions worth asking.
- What a funeral costsThe lines on the bill, and the two official ranges.
- Four ways to pay ahead, comparedSavings, funeral bonds, prepaid funerals and funeral insurance.
- How funeral insurance premiums workWhy the total paid can pass the amount your family receives.
- Bereavement payments and supportServices Australia’s payments, and people to talk to.
If someone has just died
Services Australia’s first steps, in its own order.
- If the death was unexpectedCall 000.
- If it was expectedCall their doctor, who will sign a certificate confirming the death.
- In a hospital, hospice or aged careYou don’t need to do anything. The staff will arrange the doctor and tell you how long they can care for the person.
The rest, a step at a time: when someone dies, the first steps, and the payments and support that may help.
Four ways to plan ahead
ASIC’s Moneysmart describes four ways to put money aside, or earmark it, for the cost of a funeral.
A savings account
Moneysmart calls saving the simplest way. Tell your family about the account so they can find it when they need it.
A funeral bond
A deposit, then regular payments that can earn interest. The money can only go to your funeral, and it can’t be withdrawn early.
A prepaid funeral
You choose your funeral with a funeral director and pay at today’s prices, in full or by instalments.
Superannuation
Your family may be able to use part of your super. They usually need to lodge a death benefit claim first, so they may pay upfront and be repaid later.
Funeral insurance is different: Moneysmart says it is not saving for funeral costs, but paying for insurance to help meet them later. Savings, bonds, prepaid funerals and funeral insurance are set side by side, with the state rules on where prepaid money is held, in four ways to pay ahead, compared.
“Funeral insurance can cost you a lot more than the benefit your family will receive.”
ASIC’s Moneysmart, Funeral insurance
Why that happens, and what the regulator found when it looked: how funeral insurance premiums work.