Who is legally responsible for your funeral expense?

Answer 1

When someone dies, the responsibility, as well as the liability of arranging a funeral falls upon the immediate family. However, if no family members present themselves to arrange the funeral, the local authorities would, in most instances, take responsibility for the provision of the funeral. This means that if the local authority (Council, City, and occasionally Federal) must arrange the funeral and you've died 'intestate,' meaning having left no will, they will arrange for a simple, basic funeral. In this instance, a local authority member would use an established legal right to enter your property to determine whether what, if any, assets exist that may be sold to fund the funeral.

When no funds are found, the government agency may be able to find contact numbers for family or friends who would like to financially assist in the payment for a funeral. Should this not exist, and you've died with virtually no assets, depending on the local authority (and country's law), you could be disposed of via a pauper's funeral. In parts of the US, this could include a common field, where other individuals have been buried en masse, in typically unadorned wooden coffins, similar to those used in traditional Jewish funerals. Some communities have moved to a policy of cremation and collective dispersal of cremated remains, thus eliminating the costs of burial and coffins. In either case, neither leaves a memorial marker of any sort.

In almost every country, there are social funds to assist those families who lose a loved one, who truly cannot afford to pay for a funeral. Albeit limited funds, it provides for a funeral of dignity. However, in these scenarios, it most often prohibits those who claim they cannot afford to pay, to have any input, whatsoever, into the day, time, location of funeral, etc. The only grant a family may possibly be offered is that right to choose a celebrant or minister for the funeral.

For those considering the future and may be concerned about leaving family members laboured with the challenge of arranging and paying for a funeral, there are numerous pre-pay plans whereby a funeral can be pre-paid through monthly instalments, where entering into the agreement, funeral prices are frozen. (In some places, funeral costs have literally doubled in the past three years!)

This permits you not only to express your own wishes, but also to avoid having your loved ones face the often difficult task of making decisions, where family relations can become strained due to disagreements regarding options, costs, and choices.

Answer 2

Your estate. Nobody in this life, but you have to pay it in your next life with interest.