Questions to ask a funeral home before you decide

Arranging a funeral usually happens quickly and under stress, which makes it easy to miss something. This list is here so you can ask the same questions of more than one home and compare answers side by side, rather than relying on memory.

Services and what's included

• Do you offer burial, cremation, repatriation and tombstones, or only some of these?
• What's included in your standard package, and what's billed separately?
• Can you accommodate specific cultural or religious requirements, and have you done so before?
• How soon can the service take place if timing matters to us?

Cost and payment

• What's the full cost, itemised rather than a single headline number?
• Do you accept funeral cover payouts directly, and from which insurers?
• Is a payment plan available, and what happens if we can't pay the full amount upfront?
• Are there any costs that typically come up later that aren't in the initial quote?

Logistics

• Do you handle collection and transport of the deceased, including from another city or province if needed?
• Do you have your own venue, or do we need to arrange a church or hall separately?
• Who is our point of contact, and how do we reach them outside office hours?

Before you decide

Get the full breakdown in writing before you commit. If a home is reluctant to itemise costs or put answers in writing, that's useful information on its own. Comparing written answers from two or three homes side by side usually makes the right choice clear.

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