I unfortunately, was recently left to make final arrangements for my
54-year-old stepson who passed away on Sept. 12th, 2021.
He had a $10,000 Final expense life insurance for seniors, whole life policy, but that was not enough. The Gravesite, Vault, opening and closing of the grave and the Grave marker were over $7,000 and had to be paid for up front before the burial.
That is not counting transportation from the hospital morgue to the funeral home or the preparation of the remains for burial, the death certificates, the casket, the casket spray, the viewing hours, the funeral service, the gravesite service, and I am sure I am forgetting something, but needless to say, $10,000 did not cover it.
Had we been allowed to honor my stepson's wishes to be cremated, his $10,000 whole life policy probably would have been enough.
As it turned out however, even though he had been separated for over 10 years, he never got a divorce and his estranged wife wanted nothing to do with him, or the arrangements and would not even agree to sign the state required cremation consent form so we could honor his last wishes.
You just never know about these things until it is too late to make
any needed changes.
I hope my experience has been helpful in enlightening you of the expenses that will lie ahead and that will have to be paid out of pocket by someone if there is not enough life insurance to cover the final expenses.
Sincerely,
Mike Kimble, Sr.