All About Funeral Prearrangement

By Seale Funeral Home
    The death of a loved one can be a very difficult time. When this occurs, you are required to place your trust in a complete stranger to care for your family. There are questions and decisions to be made that, in a time of grief, will be a struggle. One of the ways to be better prepared is by contacting your local funeral home and meeting the staff and prearranging the services that you wish to have.
    There are two types of prearrangements, “non-funded” and “funded”. “Non-funded” is essentially giving the funeral home the information that will be needed for the certified death certificate, choice of service, selection of a casket, and possibly information for the obituary. But as the term suggests, you don’t pay anything at this time. This is very helpful at the time of death for the relatives, because they will know what you had in mind for your service. The “funded” prearrangement includes the information of the “non-funded” with the addition of pre-paying for the services and funeral merchandise selected. One benefit of pre-paying with some funeral homes, is the ability to freeze the cost of the selected funeral services and merchandise. Not all funeral homes provide this protection, so be sure to ask. Another benefit is a more relaxed setting due to the fact you aren’t grieving an immediate loss.
    If you have not had the opportunity to make a prearrangement before a death occurs, your first step would be to contact the funeral home of choice and determine the type of service desired, whether a traditional service with burial, graveside service or cremation service. They will give you a list of items of information they will need and make an appointment for the arrangements.
    There are many myths and beliefs that may intimidate or frighten someone from making that initial contact. But we are here as a trusted and respected service to the families of our community.