Funeral help (cost)

[SadAndHappy]

Quite a difficult one. My father passed away completely unexpectedly last week and we are all completely broken 💔 It's been a difficult time but are finally in a place where we can (and need) to sort his final send off. My question though, how do we pay if we haven't got the money?

My sister and I are both on benefits, although I work part time. We are not sure if there is moneyh in my fathers bank account but he wasn't one for saving. On the off chance there is any money in there, is there a limit to how much is in ther before we get no help whatsoever?

As horrible as this sounds, and weird as it is to talk about money in a time like this, how do we get access to any money he possibly has? As he wasn't married my sister an I are next of kin and planning this.

We are going for a direct cremation, mainly because it's what he wanted, but also because of the cost. It's a hard one to get my head around as I feel I don't know how I will say goodbye if we cannot attend a service.

Thank you

Find a funeral director and they will be a wonderful source of helpful information. Phone a few in his home town, explain the situation, and get costs from them. They will advise you how to go about it.

Sorry for your loss.
As a PP suggested, get in touch with Citizens Advice. The hospital likely has a patient advice team that can also help. Start to go through your father's papers looking for bank statements, old cheque books, bank cards, etc. and put together a list of Bank, Sort Code and Account Number.

The local council will pay for the funeral if there is no money and it sounds like you/he could well meet the criteria. I think CAB is a very good starting point for you.

ime the hospital contacted me to confirm a doctor had certified death and I could register the death. I telephoned the registrars office to make an appointment and they told me what documents I needed to take eg my mother’s marriage certificate. At the appointment they take the details and print death certificate for you, They also give you a code for the tell us once service which you can use to inform dwp, Hmrc, dvla etc which saves you contacting them all individually.
Additionally contact your dad’s bank and ask for the account to be frozen. You do t need the death certificate to do this. It will stop money being paid into the account and Could avoid overpayment of pensions/benefits etc.

We were given a booklet by the hospital with a number for a hospital bereavement service, I phoned them and they told me next steps, that the coroner would phone after the post mortem.

We had to wait for the coroner's call and eventually, we were given a temporary interim death certificate that we could use for the bank. I then went online with my mum's bank and uploaded the certificate and then any money in the account came into my account.

We did direct cremation, there are some companies that also allow a service with this, think one was called Simply Cremation, where unattended was £995 and with service was £1400 - both options are much cheaper than the funeral director version.

DWP funeral expenses go up to about £1950 I think and can either be paid direct to the funeral company, or into your account if you already had to pay yourself. Any money in the dead person's estate will be deducted from the £1950 the DWP will pay.

So for your next steps - the coroner will give you either a full death certificate or an interim death certificate and once you have this you can instruct the funeral company AND give it to the bank to get the money (if there is any). And once you have the funeral organised you can put in your claim with the DWP for the funeral expenses. Ask them to send you their printed form as it explains all the ins and outs.

I'm sorry for your loss.

QUAKER SOCIAL ACTION have an advice project called Down to Earth that explains how to cut the cost of funerals

https://www.gov.uk/when-someone-dies

OP, this might help. We used it when we lost our dad.

Sorry for your loss.

As your father was the primary carer for your stepmother it is important that you contact Adult Social Services and update them. Your stepmother will need an urgent review of her care needs.

Can his partner help?
Was you Dad in the forces? They have a benevolent fund.

You'll get an interim death certificate once the postmortem is done. Use that on tell us once on direct gov site. If the code doesn't work, contact the coroner and they'll set it up with the right one. That'll contact everyone apart from the bank. Do the bank last, ask to be put through to the bereavement team. Theyre very good and will have seen this a load of times.

If you're on benefits you'll be entitled to something. I don't know much about that part. Contact the undertaker and they'll take it from there. Independent undertakers are cheaper for direct cremation than the big companies. Ours charges about 1400 quid.

I'm sorry for your loss OP.

Speak to the council about a public health cremation. That means they pay for it, but you get no say on when it happens.

I work for the coroner OP - once the post-mortem is done and funeral directors are appointed, an interim death certificate will be provided which you can then take into the bank. As PP said, if there are funds to cover costs they will pay them directly to the funeral director for you. Alternatively, you can use the interim to apply for a funeral grant from the DWP which helps with costs and does not require repayment,

If the PM comes back with a natural cause of death, you will be able to register the death yourself and its the same process, just with the final certificate and not an interim one.

Please feel free to ask away if you have questions regarding coronial processes.

You can apply for a funeral expenses payment which is then paid back from his estate if there is any.

You will need an interim or full death certificate to apply. The payment can sometimes be made directly to the cremation company too.

Can his partner not pay ?