Funeral Services vary from person to person, so it’s difficult to tell you exactly how much you will spend on a funeral.  We do know that people believe funeral costs to be much higher than they actually are. But understanding the parts of a funeral, we can help you choose the best options that suit your budget and wishes.

The National Funeral Directors Association states that the national median cost of a funeral with viewing and burial for calendar year 2016 was $7,360. If a vault is included, something that is typically required by a cemetery, the median cost is $8,508. The cost does not take into account cemetery, monument or marker costs or miscellaneous cash-advance charges, such as for flowers or an obituary.* 

The total cost of a funeral is determined by three considerations:

1.  Selecting the type of Services 
2. Choices to make your service unique 
3. Final disposition costs (Cemetery or cremation requirements) 

First is Choice of Services provided by the funeral home:

You may not know that there is over 20 hours of work with each funeral.  Families only see the end results but there is a lot of work that goes into each event from Embalming, dressing & casketing, cosmetics, to the set up for the services and then the paperwork of filing death certificates, getting copies, and the cost of these services really depend on how much work a funeral home has to do.

Many of the questions that have to be answered when determining the costs are the following:

• Do you prefer a public or private visitation?
• Type of services: formal or informal service.
• Full body burial or Cremation Burial.

Having the right funeral director can help create more of a Celebration of Life rather than a funeral where the minister never says the person’s name.

On all of the above items.  Some states require that a licensed funeral director is present when the body (cremated or burial) is present. Costs for these services range from $1500 – $4250 depending on the type of services you prefer.

Second is the merchandise needed for the services you have chosen above.

• Casket:  with burial or cremation some type of casket or container is needed to transport the human remains in a dignified manner.  Caskets range from $90- $15000

Third is the Final Disposition Costs

• Burial in Cemetery 
  1. Cost of the Lot ($850 – $3500)
  2. Cost of the Opening & Closing (range $650 – $1500)
  3. Outer burial Container:  with each cemetery the requirement varies.  Some require a concrete grave box others require a vault. Even with cremation some cemeteries require some type of container that the human cremains are placed in. (range $785 – $12,000)
• Cash advance items
  1. Lowering device & tent (some smaller cemeteries do not have this equipment and it must be rented through another company.)
  2. Newspaper notices – Newspaper costs can range from free to $400 in some areas.
  3. Death Certificates: not every company will need a certified copy but you will need to have at least 1 to close bank accounts.  Usually insurance companies and stocks/bonds require a certified copy of the death certificate. They will range in price from county to county usually $25.
  4. Minister charges ($75-$125)
  5. Final Date for Inscription on Marker ($125-$175)

There are a lot of decisions to be made when a funeral occurs.  By planning ahead you can help eleviate the many decisions. Click on Start Planning Today! to go right to our website and you can start recording all of your wishes today.

*http://www.nfda.org/news/statistics