What It Means to Preplan a Funeral

Planning a funeral during an emotional time is stressful, especially when the family is unsure of the kind of service their loved one wanted. That’s why people are increasingly preplanning their funeral with funeral homes in St. Louis, MO.

But what does it mean to preplan a funeral? This guide will explain what you should know.

Preplanning a funeral means making specific arrangements about the type of funeral you want, ensuring your time knows exactly what you want when the time comes.

The plan can be on paper or digital, and the exact details are entirely up to you. A funeral preplan can be as simple as specifying if you want a burial or cremation or as detailed as outlining the order of service, who will speak, and the music.

Preplanning your funeral offers an array of benefits, the most significant being that you get to choose the exact type of funeral you want. Without a well-defined plan, the decision is left to your family, whose choices may not align with your desires.

Beyond that, planning your funeral will help alleviate your family’s stress after you pass. Within the first 24 hours after death, there are over 70 details for family members to attend to.

This is a lot of stress in a difficult emotional time, and much of it comes from figuring out what to do from scratch. Preplanning the funeral ensures this won’t be the case, especially since family members are involved during preplanning.

Funeral preplanning also helps you—and your family save money. If you prepay, you lock in today’s funeral costs and protect your family from higher prices from inflation or local price increases.

It also prevents your family from spending money on services they don’t need. Studies have shown that families, due to emotional distress, spend more on unnecessary services while arranging a funeral. Having a preplan protects them from this.

It is possible to preplan a funeral without paying for it. In this scenario, the plan serves as a guideline for your family and the funeral home to follow. However, paying ahead is strongly advised.

Asides from locking in current prices, prepaying offers the chance to benefit from discounts, which some funeral homes provide since you won’t be using the services immediately.

You can also take advantage of flexible payment plans. This enables you to plan a funeral as big and splendid as you want without spending a lot of money upfront.

Whatever the cost, it’s saved in a bank or an insurance company and only released to the funeral home after you’ve passed. If your family does not request additional services, they never see a billing balance throughout the execution process.

And you can prepay for all or some aspects of the funeral service. Like the plan itself, the depth of your prepayment is all up to you.

So that’s what it means to preplan with a funeral home in St. Louis, MO. Reach out to us if you have additional questions or fill this form. And if you’re ready to begin your planning, call us now to speak with our funeral director.