The Cost of Death on the Rise

It can be expensive to die, and I am not talking medical bills at the end of life.  The cost to purchase burial items are expensive.  An article written by Michael De Groote in the Deseret News by Michael De Groote dated January 23, 2014 discusses two points.  One point is that cost of burial paraphernalia is increasing with the cost of living.  A second point is surviving family members often make poor funeral purchase decisions during the death crisis.  It is our opinion here at Hughes Estate Group that pre-funeral planning is more likely to keep costs down.  It also allows family members the freedom to grieve properly without dealing with unnecessary money decisions.

Unique Coffins Seen Around The World

I read a very interesting article in the Wall Street Journal that mentioned the kinds of coffins being made now-a-days for people to be buried in. The article explores the human rituals that attend death and what people sometimes are buried in. To quote one paragraph, "We bury our loved ones in the ground. We burn them in fire. In some cultures, we leave corpses as carrion, inviting the birds to pick the bones dry. In others, we hang the dead in trees or stow them in caves. In naval circles, we consign them to the ocean." The article mentions an airplane coffin made for a grandmother who never had a chance to fly in an airplane. It really is a fun article to read. The full article can be found here.

The Mummy Bequest

It is a personal decision whether or not you want your body donated at your death as organ transplants or even for medical research. In recent years it has become more and more common for individuals to make these kinds of donations. Alan Billis, a former British taxi driver, donated his body for scientific research. What makes his end-of-life bequest unique is that he donated his body to be mummified in the same way the pharaohs were mummified. In fact, the mummification process on Mr. Billis will become a documentary titled Mummifying Alan: Egypt's Last Secret. His family was supportive of Mr. Billis's decision and joke about their claim to a real live mummy in the family.

Read more about it here.

Doritos Creator Taking Doritos to the Grave

Arch West the inventor of Doritos passed away September 20, 2011. He was 97 years old. He got the idea for his chips while on vacation with his family. On October 1, his family will throw Doritos in Mr. West's grave before it is filled with dirt as a tribute to their father.

Here are some articles about Mr. West:
Doritos Creator to Be Buried with Chips
Doritos Creator Dies -- Gets Tastiest Funeral EVER!
Man behind Doritos taking popular chip to his grave, literally
Doritos creator Arch West taking his tasty chips to the grave

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Funerals

What purpose does a funeral serve?

It is the customary way to recognize death and its finality. Funerals are recognized rituals for the living to show respect for the dead and to help survivors begin the grief process.

What do funeral directors do?

Funeral directors are caregivers and administrators. They make the arrangements for transportation of the body, complete all necessary paperwork, and implement the choices made by the family regarding the funeral and final disposition of the body. Funeral directors are listeners, advisors and supporters. They have experience assisting the bereaved in coping with death. Funeral directors are trained to answer questions about grief, recognized when a person is having difficulty coping, and recommend sources of professional help. Funeral directors also link survivors with support groups at the funeral home or in the community.

Do you have to have a funeral director to bury the dead?

In most states, family members may bury their own dead although regulations vary. However, most people find it very trying to be solely responsible for arranging the details and legal matters surrounding a death.

Why have a public viewing?

Viewing is part of many cultural and ethnic traditions. Many grief specialists believe that viewing aids the grief process by helping the bereaved recognize the reality of death. Viewing is encouraged for children, as long as the process is explained and the activity voluntary.

What is the purpose of embalming?

Embalming sanitizes and preserves the body, retards the decomposition process, and enhances the appearance of a body disfigured by traumatic death or illness. Embalming makes it possible to lengthen the time between death and the final disposition, thus allowing family members time to arrange and participate in the type of service most comforting to them.

Does a dead body have to be embalmed, according to law?

No. Most states, however, require embalming when death was caused by a reportable contagious disease or when remains are to be transported from one state to another by common carrier or if final disposition is not to be made within a prescribed number of hours.

Isn't burial space becoming scarce?

While it is true some metropolitan areas have limited available cemetery space, in most areas of the country, there is enough space set aside for the next 50 years without creating new cemeteries. In addition, land available for new cemeteries is more than adequate, especially with the increase in entombment and multi-level grave burial.

Is cremation a substitute for a funeral?

No, cremation is an alternative to earth burial or entombment for the body's final disposition and often follows a traditional funeral service.

Why are funerals expensive?

When compared to other major life cycle events, like births and weddings, funerals are not expensive. A wedding costs at least three times as much; but because it is a happy event, wedding costs are rarely criticized. A funeral home is a 24-hour, labor-intensive business, with extensive facilities (viewing room, chapels, limousines, hearses, etc.), these expenses must be factored into the cost of a funeral. Moreover, the cost of a funeral includes not only merchandise, like caskets, but the services of a funeral director in making arrangements; filing appropriate forms; dealing with doctors, ministers, florists, newspapers and others; and seeing to all the necessary details. Contrary to popular belief, funeral homes are largely family-owned with a modest profit margin.

What recourse does a consumer have for poor service or overcharging?

Funeral service is regulated by the FTC and state licensing boards. In most cases, the consumer should discuss the problems with the funeral director first. If the dispute cannot be solved by talking with the funeral director, the consumer may wish to contact the Federal Trade Commission. Here is there website address.

Do funeral directors take advantage of the bereaved?

Funeral directors are caring individuals who help people deal with a very stressful time. They serve the same families 80% of the time, and many have spent most of their lives in the same community. If they took advantage of bereaved families, they could not stay in business. The fact that the average funeral home has been in business over 59 years shows that most funeral directors respect the wishes of the bereaved families.

Is it right to make a profit from death?

Funeral directors look upon their profession as a service, but it is also a business. Like any business, funeral homes must make a profit to exist. As long as the profit is reasonable and the service rendered are necessary, complete, and satisfactory to the family, profit is legitimate.

Don't funeral directors mark caskets up tremendously, at least 400%?

No. Talking about the mark up on caskets is really not the point. Most items--clothing, furniture, jewelry--are marked up as much or more than caskets. The real question is whether the funeral director is making an excessive profit. And the answer is "No." Profits run around 12.5% before taxes--not excessive by any standard.

Who pays for funerals for the indigent?

Other than the family, there are veteran, union, and other organizational befits to pay for funerals, including, in certain instances, a lump sum death payment from Social Security. In most states, some form of public aid allowances are available from either the state, country, or city or a combination. Most funeral directors are aware of the various benefits and know how to obtain them for the indigent. However, funeral directors often absorb costs above and beyond what is provided by agencies to insure the deceased a respectable burial.

The Phases of Grief

Grief is the physical, emotional, and mental condition brought on by a loss, such as the death of someone you love. Grief is the body's natural ability to heal emotional injury. Grieving can be hard. Lack of understanding makes it harder. Grief is a personal process characterized by three phases:

Phase 1--Shock (Denial)
This begins with the news of the death, but the reality of the death may occur in a few minutes, a few days or even several months later. This phase "protects" the survivor from the emotional impact of the death. Common characteristics of this phase iclude a need to stay busy, confusion, an inability to express emotion, inability to function and an overwhelming sense that somthing is wrong without grasping the reality of the loss.

Phase 2--The Expression of Grief
Anger, bargaining, and/or depression may last for several days to several years. They are mental, physical and emotional manifestations that may come and go or appear in any combination.

• Mental: Preoccupation of the death: how it happened, the person that died. Inabilities to focus, to remember or to be productive are mental expressions of grief. You may have paranoid or inconsistent thoughts. You may even want to make radical changes in all aspects of your life, but it is imprerative that you take time to think clearly and not make impuslive decisions that you may later regret.



• Physical: Fatigue, weakness, insomnia, weight gain or loss, headaches, the tendency to catch stress-related illnesses, a sense of vulnerability, discomfort with too much activity or stimulation are all physical expressions of grief.



• Emotional: Intense sadness, fear, anxiety, anger, depression, loneliness, confusion, helplessness, isolation and guilt are emotional expressions of grief. The inabilities to feel love or give love, compulsive behavior, thinking that you are "crazy" are often felt by those in grief.

Experiencing these symptoms is quite normal and in many ways are a necessary part of the healing process of grief. If you feel, however, that you are not able to handle your grief on your own, you may want to consider professional help.

Phase 3--Acceptance
You will know when you have reached this stage when you are able to recall memories of your deceased loved one fondly and pleasantly instead of painfully. Once acceptance has been reached, planning for the future becomes more realistic. A new and wiser you will have emerged.
The rate of acceptance often depends on your ability to feel and express your grief openly. Take time out from your usual standars of behavior. Surround yourself with people that you feel comfortable with, tell them how you feel and what you need from them. Feel and express your emtions. It is okay to cry, to laugh, or to be silent. Write things down about your feelings, your wishes, regrets and joys. Give yourself breaks from grieving to rest, have fun and be nurtured. Try to eat well. Try to get your sleep. Above all, give yourself time.

Joke of the Week

George M------, son of Prof. and Mrs. E. S. M------, is now connected permanently with the ------- funeral home, where he will be pleased to see his friends. Shreveport paper.

Make Sure I'm Dead Before You Bury Me

A South African man experienced a very unique situation this past weekend. The man had an asthma attack. His family thought he had died. They called an undertaker who took him to the morgue. His body was placed in a morgue refridgerator. Hours later, morgue employees became frightened by pounding noises coming from the morgue refridgerator. With the aid of police, the morgue employees opened the refridgerator and there the man was alive. He is now back with his family.

Read the Deseret News article here.
Here is the New York Daily News article.
Yahoo News reported here.

Check out our website here to learn more about doing estate planning.

Headline of the Day

Lightning kills nine at funeral

Here's a heads up!

Cremation Solutions sells urns" that look like the person whose ashes they hold.

"Now we can create a custom urn in the image of your loved one or favorite Celebrity."

via boing boing via Cynical-C

The entrepreneurial spirit meets easy rider

Motorcycles have been a part of A. Jay Howard’s life since he started riding at 16.

Now, he has formed a business that will allow others who have lived with a love motorcycles to take their last journey under the power of a 2008 Harley-Davidson Road King Classic.

Coldwaterdailyreporter

Flukes

A San Jose woman who organized a car wash to help pay for the funeral of her brother's baby was hit by a pickup truck and killed while participating in the fundraiser.

I hear that wistle blowin . . .

No funerals for poor indigent people in Illinois. I guess they'll have to take the train to Indiana.

Left for Dead

One of the four decomposing bodies found in the vacant funeral home in Gary Indiana has been identified. It's the body of a 70-year-old man who's identity is not being released. The three others were determined to be female. They've probably been there since 2006 when Darryl Cammack, who operated Serenity Gardens lost his license. He has not cooperated with authorities, according to the Post-Tribune. The prosecutor's office in Lake County, Indiana, is requesting and investigation. You should check out the images here.

Questions Remain

Remains of a fifth person were found in the funeral home that was recently sold at a tax sale. A woman has come forward saying her stepfather's body may be among the four unidentified remains found. She said that at the memorial service for him, Funeral Home owner Darryl Cammack displayed a box supposed to be holding Johnson's cremated remains. When questioned, Cammack told her the body hadn't been "processed."

"One of the kids opened the box and said it was empty," she said. From nwi.com

The former owner cannot find his "records" and has denied responsibility.

Laying Around

Or maybe waiting for the service to start.

A Reverend and two deacons purchased an old vacant funeral home Gary Indiana to remodel and turn into a new home for their church. When checking the place out they found four bodies that had been left behind. One was in a body bag, one a cardboard burial box, and two were in caskets. Nobody knows who they are. They've been there for more than three years and can't be identified.

The previous funeral home owner lost his Illinois license in 2003 and was sanctioned in Indiana after several customers filed complaints.

Indiana's Post-Trib

Dying to Finance Conservation of Forests and other Green ways to Die

Reef Rest?

Bloomberg gives us the latest in body disposal trends . .

The Parks and Wildlife Department in Texas plans to become the first government agency in the U.S. to let families lay cremated remains in protected forests for a fee to help the state buy more land for conservation.

Back-to-Earth burials and low- energy, low-emission cremations.
Biodegradable embalming fluid to caskets made of recycled cardboard.
Cremation furnaces up to 40 percent more energy-efficient.

You can also improve the sea by using your cremains to build the Neptune Memorial Reef near Miami. It's also a great option for your "mantle people" relatives.

Interest article with more info and links here.

Recession's Grave Consequences

Lots of news articles on how the funeral industry is suffering in this economy - more people are opting for cremation and lowest-cost coffins and funerals. But none so fun to read as WAPO Dana Milbank's "Funeral Business Feeling Six Feet Under."

A few excerpts:

In case you've been dying for more bad news about the economy, here's a grave new indicator: Even the death industry is in a hole.

It was quite an undertaking, and it didn't work; apparently, funding funerals wasn't regarded as a spur to economic growth, because much of the benefit gets deep-sixed.

And it's not just the corpses that have to make do with less.

Wired Funerals

Tim Tuntland, the President co-owner of Litehouse LLC, is starting to introduce video streaming technology to Arizona funeral homes in an effort to help ease the financial and physical burden of travel.

The funeral is a chance to gather, grieve and pay last respects, but sometimes traveling to the goodbye ceremony can be a financial burden on families and a physical burden on people with disabilities.

The technology enables out-of-town funeral guests to watch the funeral, live, via the Internet.

"It's becoming real popular," he said.

From Phoenix abc15.com

Addams Family's Vacation.

The Museum of Funeral Customs in Springfield Illinois features maybe facing it's own imminent demise. Even with it's location a stone's throw from Lincoln's Tomb it can't attract enough visitors to support it. The museum includes a re-created 1920s embalming room, coffins and funeral paraphernalia, post-mortem photograph, and a scale model of Lincoln's funeral train. The gift shop sells key chains and paper weights that look like little coffins, and books on funeral customs like “Do It Yourself Tombstone.” There are coffin-shaped chocolates and even T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Everybody’s Gotta Go Sometime.”


Mr. Duane Marsh the director of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association, which operates the museum said he was working on a plan to keep the museum from closing, but he would not disclose details.