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Pre-planning - What you need to know

You do your family and friends a tremendous service by planning your funeral. In so doing, you relieve them of the burden of trying to know what you would have wanted, and allow them to simply follow a set of steps you've laid out for them.

When it comes to the sale of pre-need arrangements, state laws vary. To understand the licensure and content requirements of such contracts where you live, contact your state's Department of Consumer Affairs.

Learn about the different types of disposition and memorialization available to you. When pre-planning your funeral, or helping someone else plan theirs, you might find it helpful to begin by contacting a non-profit funeral consumer organization for advice. Some good options are:

• The Funeral Consumers Alliance (www.funerals.org):
  1-800-458-5563
• AARP (www.aarp.org):
  1-800-424-3410
• Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org)
• The Funeral Service Education Foundation's consumer assistance program (www.fsef.org):
  1-800-662-7666

"Traditional funerals" that involve impressive caskets, preparation of the body if there is to be a viewing (embalming, dressing, cosmetology), use of the funeral home for gatherings and employment of the staff for a variety of support services and the rental of a hearse and other vehicles for a funeral motorcade are expensive. Such a funeral can easily cost upwards of $10,000.

But a funeral need not cost nearly that much. It's all in the planning. The biggest variable in budgeting for this type of funeral is the casket and grave liner or vault, if required by the cemetery. Be aware that the price will vary widely between caskets made of different kinds of wood and metal. Consider that if the body is to be cremated following a funeral service, you might be able to rent a casket. This entails buying a relatively inexpensive inner liner but renting a more ornate outer casket for the service, which the funeral home retains after the funeral.

If the body is to be cremated directly, you may decide on the simplest of containers in which to transport the body to the crematorium, and have the cremated ashes (the "cremains") brought to the funeral service in an urn. You may choose to rent an expensive casket from the funeral home for a church service, but have a body buried later in a less costly model.

You also have the option of buying a casket separately, elsewhere. The Funeral Rule states that a funeral home must accept such caskets and may not charge an extra fee for handling one that it didn't sell.

When arranging for a funeral with a funeral director, make sure that you ask to be informed of all the costs that will be incurred. There may be things that you haven't considered, such as the church organist's fee, visitors' books, floral arrangements or charges for opening and closing the grave; these associated costs can escalate rapidly.

Pre-planning, often referred to in the funeral industry as "pre-need arrangements", is particularly important if you want to have an unconventional form of memorialization, such as a green burial, burial at sea or inland water, or a home funeral.