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Selecting a funeral home

The selection of a cemetery should be approached in much the same manner as the selection of a funeral home: it should suit your needs. Some cemeteries have mortuaries, funeral homes and crematories on site, and they often have chapels.

In addition to the traditional graves, many cemeteries also have community mausoleums and columbariums, as well as memorial gardens for the scattering of ashes. Plaques may be bought to commemorate the event; these are often contained in a memorial wall, or other structure at the garden. Mausoleums have crypts that allow for the above ground entombment of a body within a casket, while a columbarium provides niches for urns holding cremated remains. Lawn crypts are set in the ground.

The price of graves varies widely, depending on the cemetery, and the location you select within it. You can purchase space that allows for two caskets, if you like, either side by side ('companion') or stacked one above the other ('double depth').

Visit the cemetery to assess how well it's maintained. Consider the location and the ownership. While some cemeteries are owned by cities, others are owned by private or religious organizations, and they'll have different policies.

Some have very specific requirements with respect to grave liners or vaults, and these can be expensive. They may also have their own rules about headstones or grave markers and memorial tributes that may be left at graves. There may also be rules about visitor access.

You should visit any cemetery that you're considering and meet with a representative to discuss such issues prior to making a final decision. Before purchasing space at a cemetery, find out what options you have should you move to another area, or wish to change your plans. Can you get a refund? Or sell your plot?

Ask about extra costs: there may be a charge for opening and closing a grave, installing a liner or vault, or sealing a crypt in a mausoleum or a niche in a columbarium.

Gravestones will cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars into the thousands, and can be inscribed with whatever words or images you choose.

They can usually be bought through the cemetery or, if you prefer, a separate company. Whether a large, upright headstone or a small, flat marker, the cemetery will likely charge an installation fee.

Being laid to rest at a cemetery is a matter of personal choice. Cemeteries can provide a place of remembrance for your surviving friends and family -- somewhere that they can come to feel close to you. Many families want to be close to one another after death, and buying space for several plots at a cemetery in advance allows for such wishes to be honored.