Pre-Planning
Provide Peace of Mind
Experience the peace of mind that comes from knowing your loved ones will not be burdened with funeral decisions during their time of mourning and remembrance.
Tailor Your Service
Ensure that you are able to make all of your funeral and life celebration choices deeply personal, authentic to your own standards, lifestyle, and beliefs.
Be Financially Prepared
Financially prepare for your service, getting an accurate estimate on the total cost and beginning the process of setting aside some funds. This is another important way to ease responsibilities for your family and friends.
Planning Guide
When a loved one dies, family members are left with the weighty responsibility of arranging the funeral, and ensuring that the final wishes of their loved one are honored. However, this can be stressful, especially when the deceased leaves behind no clear wishes or requests.
One thing you can do to remove this burden from your family members is to pre-plan your funeral, and to set in process the necessary arrangements. Not only will this help your family members during their time of grief, but it will ensure that your wishes are met, that the funeral service is just what you want it to be.
Consider starting the planning process today, with our help.
How the Process Works
The pre-planning experience is by no means a morbid one. On the contrary, it is a positive and even comforting step you can take to make sure that all arrangements are made for your service, that those who survive you will be able to celebrate your life knowing full well that the service is exactly as you wished it would be. Pre-planning is an act of service, as well: It minimizes the chance that any planning difficulties, obstacles, or uncertainties will arrive to distract your family members during their season of bereavement and reflection.
Burial Services & Insurance
Our compassionate and experienced staff members are prepared to offer helpful, empathetic assistance as you seek to plan your service. This is not a complicated or high-pressure undertaking—just a time of reflection, in which you can make sure that all of your wishes are recorded, your plans mapped out. Our staff will guide you through the process; you will have the opportunity to complete a Meaningful Funeral document, which you can then safely store with all of your other important documents. Learn more about memorialization options.
Benefits of Pre-Planning
Planning a funeral for yourself or for a loved one requires organization in the midst of grief and sadness. Consult these guidelines on the most important elements of funeral planning that you and your loved ones should know.
- Pre-arranging provides you or your loved one with the opportunity to become informed about the plethora of options regarding the funeral or cremation service. No two services are alike, and individuals can choose to showcase videos, photographs, music, special readings or any other involved elements with family and friends.
- Pre-arranging ensures that you document your wishes. A living will may cover medical treatment, but there are still funeral costs. You can remove some of the burden for someone making decisions who may not be aware of your wishes.
- Paying ahead of time eases future financial burden. It may benefit your surviving loved ones to prepay for your funeral or cremation services, as the costs of the products and services you choose may never be lower. Prearranging makes financial sense. We have many choices for payment plans.
- Begin the process by writing down your personal information or your loved one’s information.
- Write down important information to keep on hand as you plan the service, like social security number, ethnicity, religion, residence, birth information and so on. Having this information is helpful throughout the funeral planning process.
- Selecting individuals to be a part of the funeral service in advance takes away some of the emotional burden. You are able to select readers, performers and other individuals to be a part of the service in advance.
Funeral Trusts & Contracts Regarding Medicaid & CT Title 19
Commonly asked questions:
How can I prepare the pre-funded funeral contracts for RI state aid or CT Title 19? First, contact a local funeral home and arrange to meet to learn and understand your options and choices about how to pre-plan and pre-fund you funeral.
If I decide to pre-fund for my funeral, what happens if the funeral home goes out of business or I wish to use another funeral home or if I move out of town? Your pre-paid funds are sent to an escrow agent. These funds can be redesignated or transferred to another funeral firm of your choice.
Is the money I spend with a funeral director secure? Absolutely. All funds placed in the trust are invested in financial instruments guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or directly by the U.S. Government/U.S. Treasury Bonds. It is also permissible to purchase (or to assign an existing) life insurance policy to pre-fund your funeral contract.
In RI - Irrevocable burial costs.
- The funds deposited into the agreement are unavailable and cannont be withdrawn by the person or the funeral provider until the time of need. Interest and it is also unavailable.
- The maximum amount of an exclusion for an irrevocable contract is $15,000.
In CT - Irrevocable Trust and Burial Plot Allowances.
1.Irrevocable Trust - This can be pre-funded up to $10,000, according to Public Act 19-57 in 2019. Selections listed under the Irrevocable Trust include: basic service charges, funeral services, preparation of remains, vehicles, etc. (Note that the $10,000 financial cap may not be sufficient to cover all of the costs to provide for the funeral of your choice.)
2.Burial Plot Allowances - Revocable Contract - A Revocable Burial Plot Allowance Contract can be pre-funded in an amount for specific burial and cemetery items and services that meet your needs, without any dollar limitation, according to CT General Statutes 17b-91(b). The kind of burial plot allowance contract can only include the purchase of the following burial items.
- Casket or Urn
- Outer Burial Container or Vault
- Cemetery Expenses (gravesite, opening and closing charges)
- Cemetery Monument, Marker or Mausoleum and Engraving
A Revocable Contract can be cancelled or transferred at any time that the person is on Title 19. But, according to law, if the contract is cancelled, then the funds must be returned to the State of CT.
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