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When a death occurs, what do you do? If someone has died in the hospital they were usually already there undergoing some type of treatment. Others have usually been brought in to the hospital by ambulance as the result of a traumatic event. If someone dies somewhere other than a hospital, typically at home, usually the person has been found dead and the police have been called. The police are there to consider any event which could be considered foul play. Usually a coroner will be called to the scene by the police to examine the deceased and determine if the coroner's office should have any further interest in the death, such as conducting an autopsy.
Following the two typical scenarios described above, the family will be contacted if they are not already present. If you are that person contacted, what do you do next? Common sense and the law come together at this point. The law says that the next of kin now has the power to control the issues surrounding the funeral and final burial (or cremation) of the deceased. If a spouse dies, the remaining spouse is the next-of-kin. When that remaining spouse dies, the eldest child is considered the closest next-of-kin, although some courts have ruled that all children, regardless of their respective ages, have equal, undivided control. Guess what happens in those situations? Yes, the children fight about burial versus cremation, type of casket, type of urn, cost, and who will pay how much of the final funeral cost.
Funeral Insurance Considerations
If a person dies with no
children, the next-of-kin is their remaining parent(s), or barring
that, their bothers or sisters. But what if the next-of-kin doesn’t
want the role or the cost of handling the funeral arrangements and the
expense of the deceased? That can be the situation. Divorces, previous
deaths, family feuds, all too common in our world, can make the funeral
process confusing and difficult. Many times funeral directors end up in
front of a judge asking them to rule on who should control the funeral
of a deceased person, just to keep the funeral director from getting
sued because the funeral director chose to listen to the direction of
one family member over another. But even with the ruling of a judge,
the animosity created between family members can last the remainder of
a lifetime.
It is for these reasons many people have turned to pre-planning their funerals and paying for them in advance in order to defeat the kinds of problems and dilemmas discussed so far. By entering into a contract with a funeral home, a prearranged funeral contract can ensure such problems don’t ever affect whether or not a funeral, or the type of funeral, will take place. However, even funeral contracts have been overturned by judges when arguing family members have sued over control of the funeral and final resting place of the deceased, so be sure to consult your funeral director about how strong the prearranged funeral contract really is in following your wishes.
