Call Kurtis: Pre-Paid Funeral Confusion

A Marysville woman is convinced her mom pre-paid for her own funeral. But the daughter ended up paying thousands more out of pocket when her mom passed away.

If your loved one says they paid for their own funeral, how do you know they really did?

"She was a good mom, she was a very good mom," says Jodi Johnson.

As her sick mother spent her final days at home, Jodi had to bring up a tough topic: funeral arrangements.

"I had to ask her if she was sure that she paid for everything. She was quite sure. She said, 'Everything but the flowers.'"

But around the time of her mom Marlene's death earlier this year, the funeral home, Sierra View Mortuary in Olivehurst, said the funeral security plan her mom purchased in 1983 wasn't paid off. A grieving Jodi says she had no choice but to pay what Sierra View asked, and has receipts proving she shelled out at least $2,800.

"I just wanted my mom to have a proper service," says Jodi, "It just had to be taken care of."

Parents pre-paying for funerals is a nice thing to do and allows them to lock in lower prices. But what can you do, so both parents and children have piece of mind that the arrangements are in fact taken care of?

"Tell the executor of your will that you have a preneeds and where that preneeds is with and keep the paperwork," says Russ Heimerich, of the California Department of Consumer Affairs, which has a Cemetery and Funeral Bureau.

Heimerich recommends sitting down with your loved one and going through their contract or policy to find out exactly what's included and what extra costs may pop up.

"A lot of the preneeds contracts don't include minster services, they don't include flowers," says Heimerich, "Opening and closing the grave are not usually included."

"I got so many papers, its unreal," says Jodi.

After her mom's funeral, Jodi went through a sea of documents and can't find a statement showing her policy was fully paid. We contacted the funeral home's parent company, Stonemor Partners, which gave us these statements:

The first contract, which was signed in 1983, was a Funeral Security Plan (FSP), policy # 210661. A Funeral Security Plan is an insurance policy, not a cemetery or funeral contract. There were two portions of the policy, one covering cemetery items and one covering funeral items. The funeral portion included a Princess casket, funeral service and a vault for Marlene, which amounted to $2164.94. It also included a cremation casket, funeral service and a cremation service for Wayne, which amounted to $1430.28.

The cemetery portion or the policy included one burial plot, a double depth headstone with vase, and labor to install the headstone. The price of this portion was $932.64. The total for the whole FSP was $4527.86.

The important points to remember are: First, the FSP is an insurance policy. Second, it was never paid in full; therefore, the policy lapsed. Finally, the items on it were not guaranteed, which means items would not be sold to her at 1983 prices.

There was a second Funeral Security Plan signed in 1984, policy #780705, in the amount of $980. This policy was for two burial rights and was paid in full. The family still has ownership of these plots.

For the first FSP totalling $4527.86, Marlene had paid in a total of $2117.20, which was divided as $1712.72 towards Marlene's plan, and $404.48 towards Wayne's plan.

Originally, $1496.23 was the amount quoted over the phone by FSP as paid, when we spoke to them in March of this year. When we called again today to verify information, the amount quoted was $2117.20. The company has never produced a statement for us to consult. In any case, the policy was never paid in full. All of the money that Marlene paid into the policy remained in her account and accumulated interest. At the time of her death there was a cash balance of $3348.96. This entire amount was paid directly to the funeral home for contract #11026 for Marlene's funeral and is detailed below.

This was an insurance policy, therefore all payments were sent directly to Funeral Security Plans Inc.

Funeral Security Plans will be preparing a written statement of payment history, and will send it to our cemetery on Monday September 19. We do not have these records here at Sierra View.

Jodi purchased a vault, a vault setting and an opening/closing for Marlene. This was contract #3100500, the total of the contract was $2170.28, which was paid in full. Jodi also purchased a final year of death engraving on the granite headstone. This was contract #3140551, the total of the contract was $393.50, which was paid in full. Jodi also paid the $8.50 fee for the Department of Consumer Affairs.

Jodi signed a contract with the funeral home, #11026 when Marlene passed. This included: An immediate burial package for $1795.00, a casket for $1125.00, flowers for $345.00, sales tax of $121.28, ans death certificates, permits, etc.for $184.00. The total of the contract was $3570.28. Jodi added 4 death certificates for $48.00. She only made 3 payments totalling $270.31.

The balance of this contract was paid by FSP in a check for $3348.96 to the funeral home, which was the entire amount paid to FSP plus 30 years interest earned on the funds paid by Marlene. The cemetery never received any of the money from FSP.

Including the two contracts mentioned above plus the $270.31 paid to the funeral home, the total of all of Jodi's payments was $2842.59.

In summary:

The total amount paid by Marlene was 2117.20.

The total amount paid by Jodi was $2842.59.

The total paid by both was $4959.79.

What they received was:

1 double depth burial plot (2 rights)

1 double depth granite marker

1 marker setting

1 engraved date of death

2 opening/ closings

1 disinurnment/reinurnment

2 concrete vaults

2 vault setting fees

1 DCA fee

1 traditional tented graveside service

2 caskets

flowers

death certificates

2 burial permits

1 cremation

1 dressing/casketing

The total price for all of these goods and services in 2011 is $16,241.50.

Not only did Jodi not re-pay for items, but many of the items they received were never paid for in the first place. Sierra View Memorial Park cemetery was in actuality only paid for one vault, one engraving and one opening/closing.

"It's very hard, it's very hard," says Jodi.

She knows grieving for a loved one, is no time to be dealing with financing a funeral you thought was paid for.

"I don't want anyone else to go through what we went through," she says.

Jodi is now filing a complaint with the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau, hoping they can sort this

out. The bureau has answers to some key questions about pre-needs funeral plans at this link.