To be suspicious of Justgiving requests towards funeral expenses on Facebook?

[Soontobe60]

I've just been browsing Facebook and my local village page has a post from a person setting up a Justgiving page for his grandads funeral expenses. The grandad is known in the village apparently, and is terminally ill according to the post. So, either the grandson is desperate to help his family and raise money towards the future funeral, or he's chancing his arm and using his grandad to get money for himself. I don't actually know this family so can't tell if it's genuine or not. I'm not sure if I should donate or not! WWYD?

Funeral parlours definitely don’t loan the money. I’ve never heard of that. That’s not true...is it? There might be some type of payment by instalments?

With regards to children's funerals, they are normally free. I always politely point this out when someone posts about one on my local faceache groups. It's not my place to comment on how families grieve, but I want potential donors to know that the basic costs would have already been covered. (My local council pays for cremation fees too) www.co-operativefuneralcare.co.uk/arranging-a-funeral/funeral-choices/childrens-funerals/ If families want money to cover lost earnings or to take the surviving siblings on holiday that's fine but be honest about it.

Daisypond...maybe I've got that wrong, but that's what I thought a friend told me whose relative had died.

If you have a low income or if you're on benefits you may qualify for a funeral grant which is paid back out of the estate if there is one.

Mrswombat
Most funeral directors (or the child funeral charity) will cover the basic cost of a child's funeral, you're right, however this is for a very basic service.
Thereere are still many additional costs faced by families.
Any 'luxury' can be hideously expensive. Things like a burial plot/ embalming/ a car to transport the family/ a coffin which isn't plain mdf/ a religious celebrant/ collection and storage of ashes.... lots of these things are vitally important for the grieving family to have and hardly unreasonable to want

Mmm, I can see circumstances where you just wouldn’t be prepared for the costs.

When my mother died unexpectedly I was 26, had just moved house and changed jobs, burning through my savings. I had no other family. Mum had taken out a funeral plan years and years before and had always joked that I wouldn’t need to worry about her funeral, but it turned out it would only cover a third of a fairly basic package.

All I could think about was how mortified Mum would be not having a proper funeral (this is illogical, I know, but she cared deeply about how people saw her). At an already horrible time this was another layer of anxiety. I was lucky that a very very kind family friend gave me the rest of the money and absolutely refused to take a penny back from me. I most likely would have had to take out a loan.

I can’t imagine that I would have done something like a gofundme, but I can see how people would be desperate enough.

It would certainly be more useful than my closest relative, who’s only comment when I said I hadn’t thought I needed to be saving for a funeral was ‘well you are the next of kin....’ Helpful.

@TabbyMumz @daisypond a lot of funeral places will take the money from the estate as long as there is proof etc.