Preplanning a Funeral There are many advantages to preplanning one’s funeral. It’s a simple procedure that doesn’t take much time but ensures peace of mind, and relieves the individual’s loved ones of a decision-making process at a stressful time. It allows the individual to make specific choices for his or her own funeral service based on personal preferences. Preplanning often involves the pre-payment of funeral and burial expenses in advance, which virtually eliminates the surviving family's need to deal with monetary considerations when a death occurs. And it’s important to remember that pre-funded arrangements can be moved to another funeral home at any time, without penalty, and can be changed at the consumer’s direction. In fact, all funds that a consumer uses to pre-fund a funeral, as well as the interest it earns, remain the property of the consumer, and there is no "administrative" or similar fee charged by a funeral director for opening and managing what is termed a "pre-need" account. Thanks to New York State’s laws regulating preplanning, which are the strongest in the country, consumers are assured that the funds they set aside for their final expenses are secure and will be available for use by the family when the need arises. The first step in preplanning is for the individual to contact their funeral director of choice. Usually, this is done on the basis of where the family lives as well as recommendations from family, friends and neighbors. Names of funeral directors serving a particular area can also be found at the New York State Funeral Directors Association’s (NYSFDA) Website (www.nysfda.org), which lists funeral homes by locality. A meeting with the funeral director should then be scheduled to explore products and services options and discuss costs. Once details of the funeral have been determined, the funeral director will prepare a preneed agreement and fully itemized statement, copies of which will be given to the consumer. The consumer has several choices for funding his or her pre-need agreement. One option is to pre-pay in full. The funeral director will then forward, within ten days, any payments received to an interest-bearing government backed trust account, or, if they are a NYSFDA member and use the service, to NYSFDA’s PrePlan Trust. Most funeral homes allow payments to be made on an installment basis, while additional deposits may be made at any time. When preplanning a funeral, it is advisable to encourage family participation and involvement, as the decisions made and options selected will undoubtedly affect survivors. Family members should be told about one’s funeral plans and where the relevant documents are stored. In any event, copies of all documents should be given to the spouse or next-of-kin, or authorized agent if named, to guarantee that the funeral plans will be carried out as the decedent intended. It is not advisable to keep these documents in a safety deposit box or in an attorney’s office because doing this may make them inaccessible immediately after death. A new State law allows anyone over 18 years old to designate by name another person to serve as their "agent" to ensure that their funeral and burial wishes are honored following their death. Although the person named as "agent" could be the next-of-kin or even another family member, it does not have to be one of these individuals. Any person that is properly designated by another to serve in this capacity will take precedence in overseeing his or her funeral and burial, even over surviving family members. A funeral director may provide a person with the appropriate document during the pre-arrangement process in the event that he or she wishes to name an "agent". NYSFDA has published a comprehensive brochure entitled "PrePlanning, Prefunding a Funeral" ($3.50) which explains different types of funeral agreements and consumer protections. It contains sample preplanning documents, and also features special information for SSI and Medicaid recipients. Two separate publications, "The Consumer’s Checklist for Pre-funding a Funeral", lists questions consumers should ask before they sign a pre-need funeral agreement, while the "Personal and Financial Affairs Check List for End-of-Life Planning" is an organizer to help a person locate and gather all important financial records and personal information ($1.50 each). These publications can be ordered from the "Bookstore" at www.nysfda.org, or by writing to: NYSFDA, 426 New Karner Road, Albany, NY 12205.