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denise55 Asked November 2010

If we have no burial insurance, how am I going to be able to bury my mom when the time comes?

I dont know what happened, my mother has always insisted on insurance for her children or grandchildren, now since I have been caring for her, I have found no insurance policies and have seen no statements for insurance bills. How am I going to be able to bury my mom when the time comes?

EXPERT Carol Bradley Bursack, CDSGF Dec 2010
If you cannotfind life insurance policiesl, and she has no savings or other assets, you may want to talk to an estate attorney to see what to do. If she has any assets, set aside money now. You can look into pre-payment with a funeral home, but be sure to find out if the money is put in a safe fund where you can transfer it at will. Your state laws may come into effect here. You don't want to be stuck if the funeral home goes out of business.
take care,
Carol

takeitez Jan 2011
Dee, and anyone else that may be faced with this situation, MedCure assisted our family in a respectful and dignified manner. Yes, some family members did not agree with the decision, however, my mother was a supporter of St. Jude's Children's hospital and was able to request that the "gift" of my father's body go to St. Jude's Medical research. There is no guarantee where they will go. We did not ask to be notified where his remains went. Even if his remains did not go to St. Jude's, my mother was comfortable with the fact that my father just may be helping someone find a cure for another person. My father's driver's license stated he was an organ donor. This also made Mom feel better about our decision and helped us when dealing with the family members who did not agree with the decision. They accepted the fact that he wanted to help someone else in the event of his death. The cost of a funeral and burial would have been a burden on the family. The last thing my parents wanted, was to be a burden to their children. My father was in Hospice care and was not able to make this decision on his own, however, we believe he would have supported our decision as they were living on Social Security income only. Talk to your Mom's health care provider to help you become more comfortable in your decision making. When my father did pass, everything went smoothly and his remains were sent back to us in a box that could be buried and gave us beautiful flowers in Mom's yard. After working with MedCure, my husband and I both have decided to gift our bodies for medical research. Mom has also decided she would like to gift her body too. We would like to help those in the medical field learn and grow. You can research this at Medcure or you can look at other organizations out there. Respectfully submitted, Holly

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deloresds Dec 2010
If she believes in cremation, and If she would like to help with research, try MedCure. My husband & I have signed up for that, no cost, and cremanes will be returned to family
We've always been for helping with research. Dee

JonathninOregon Dec 2010
Believe it or not, you can buy burial insurance as long as your loved one is not dead yet. Buy what you need, and pay the premiums until death comes. Talk to an insurance agent. My Farmers Agent told me this right after my mother-in-law died. We had her cremated for $600, thus avoiding huge burial expenses. BTW, I'm not qualified to sell insurance or give legal advice, so take this information as anecdotal and call an insurance agent. Good Luck, and God Bless You.

denise55 Dec 2010
Thankyou Dee, I checked out the website. I understand the importance of research and when reading about Medcure it just seemed so.... I dont know, cant explain it. Guess just never believed in cremation. But the bottom line is I almost have no other choice. And at least its all covered and I would have no financial worries, especially since I have given up my job and have no money anyway. I know my 2 sisters will complain, but what the heck they not even helping me now. Thankyou again, I guess this is one of the main reasons for belonging to this site, the advice you can get and knowing you are going through nothing alone, someone somwhere has an answer

dragonflower Dec 2010
It's possible your mother may have an old policy that was paid up years ago and will provide a small lump-sum death benefit.....but if you don't know where those papers are, it could be hard to locate.

I'm sure she receives social security each month. Start setting aside a part of it each month in a savings account earmarked as "funeral account" so when the time comes, there will be money in it. You can actually open this type of account at any bank branch....they can call the account "Mary Jones Funeral Account" with you as the trustee. Since your sisters are NOT helping you, don't even involve them in setting up this account.

Keep the funeral simple.....you don't need to spend $10K to have a tasteful funeral. An immediate burial in a simple box (or cremation) followed by a tasteful memorial service is an inexpensive way to honor your mother.

LME Dec 2010
Some states have (had( special state funds thru the county Welfare Department. The funeral home contacts the county. Please check with your local county welfare department to see if it has any such funding.

arianne777 Jul 2016
Thanks, all who mentioned MedCure. I hadn't heard of it, and will look into it. I am 85, and borrowed money to have my husband's body cremated. I'm currently paying monthly installments for my own cremation. I will see what MedCure offers as an alternative for me.

1003mom Aug 2012
My mother is 91 and in good health phy. but is showing signs of mental, memory loss.
She lives on 900.50 month no house, rents, no car. We are going to get her signed up for Medicade, in Michigan. She has three small insurance policies
we thought they would be okay to keep if she went on Medicade, but we called each one and she has built up equity in each policy. So we have a cash out valvue of 7,356.00. So can we keep these or will Medicade take the money when she goes on Medicade? If they take the money who is going to bury her?

Angelkw Jul 2016
It is true that Massachusetts does bury the indigent for free...but please note that there is a big difference between a free burial and a free funeral. There is no free funeral.

When MA buries the indigent for free, it happens when they deem it will happen (often weeks or months after the death) and where it will happen (any cemetery). There is NO wake, NO funeral mass, NO flowers, NO bells and whistles...so no, you don't get a free funeral...you get a free simple casket and a plot (which is more than most states do, but is NOT a free funeral)

Angel

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