Doing my Will - why are there no free funeral options??

[Fragmentedbrain]

Ok I know this is unreasonable in a way because we can't just have bodies cluttering the streets. But also I didn't ask to be born (sorry to channel my inner teen). Why can't there be a straight to landfill no charge option? I've never had a single thing subbed in my life and I don't want a funeral (I'd be too socially anxious to go in life so would be hypocritical to ask anyone else to go) so why can't there just be a simple disposal option.

Getting old is really dispiriting

Do direct cremation via the crematorium, it’s more cost effective than through a nationally advertised scheme.

Beware leaving body to science. Some of them require the family to receive and dispose of remains later. That’s an unkind reminder of grief imo.

Nobody I know would want to go to my funeral (not because I'm evil or anything we just would collectively hate the social awkwardness of any group event)

When I'm dead so what everyone move on!

4k is exactly the cost I've been looking at and SCREW that

Sorry, but there are strict rules on disposal of human remains - we can't put them in landfill or leave them lying around outdoors. So go for direct cremation or medical donation.

Donate your body to science. No fees and no funeral.

You can make your own coffin. I watched a program about some workshops you can go to.
You can also be buried in your own land.
If you get a big freezer you can be stored at your house and get your relatives to pop you in your self made coffin and get them to bury you in your land.

Donate your body to science/medical school

I love this!!

Exactly. So tiresome.

Well if you’ve no money and no family who pay that’s exactly what will happen, there’s always a cost but no one incurs it. Otherwise there would be bodies in the street.

More expensive in real terms than now probably. It involved a week in hospital.

And foist the trouble onto them because one is a cheapskate?

You got nowt back then besides a paracetamol and a few stitches

No one wants to see or deal with your decomposing corpse being nibbled by foxes.

You might not care what happens to you but can you at least not make yourself a massive inconvenience and health hazard to everyone else and just pay for a direct cremation.

Give your body to science. My uncle did it. There’s no funeral but if you are in the south your body is processed by the London Anatomy office, which supplies all the medical schools in the South East, and every year they invite the families of those whose bodies were donated that year for a memorial service which the students attend to thank families for their contributions to science. It’s nice - you get to remember the person who has gone without the stress of funeral arranging.

If you do bury someone on your own land, it must be a certain number of metres away from dwellings and water courses, AFAICR. (DH always says 'just stick me in the compost heap." Nope, can't do that, too near the house.)
And if you sell your property you must also tell any buyers that a body has been buried in the garden. Don't know if you have to give the exact location...

You really don’t need to spend as much as £4k. There are much cheaper options, you just need to contact crematoriums directly. Even if you believe your birth didn’t cost much, it was far from free. Someone had to pay for it, it just wasn’t you. Tell your parents you expect them to pay if you don’t believe you are responsible.

The rest of us don’t want to smell or walk past your decomposing corse while the crows do their thing, thanks very much.

Yeah if the people you are leaving behind wouldn’t want to go to a funeral then I agree don’t have 4k wasted on it, I tried to find the bill for the funeral but I think my mum has it now so I couldn’t check out the actual cremation costs and body collection costs. I don’t think they were particularly high though.

Donate your body to science. You can arrange via your GP and solicitor.

When DH help MIL to arrange FIL's funeral, cardboard was more expensive than wood laminate. BIL wanted to be environmentally friendly but not willing to contribute to the costs. FIL was going to be cremated - they chose the wood laminate coffin!

There’s guarantee about you being accepted however

If people's bodies were allowed to just be disposed of at a local landfill how would they ensure that the person wasn't murdered and being disposed there by the person who murdered them? Wouldn't they have to hire somebody to do some kind of check-in system or something?

Just a tip for anyone wanting to leave their body to medical science- it must be arranged and the forms completed in life. I worked in the bereavement office of an hospital and not infrequently a relative would say the deceased wanted to donate the body to science. Unless it’s confirmed in life it can’t be done. This is to make sure the person did want to do it, it was felt the service could be misused by people not wanting to pay for a relatives funeral. So if you do want that- sort the paperwork!

Taxpayers end up paying. It's about £12-1400. But they'll take it from your estate or failing that hound any living relatives first. It's never "free".

Mum donated her body to science as a pp has mentioned. This was in Australia. We got her ashes back about a year later.