Irrevocable burial contract; how to transfer to funeral home?

Because it is irrevocable, they may not have to agree to a transfer. Read the contract very carefully. Show the contract to a lawyer.

WAIT ! don't give up hope based on possible misinformation, Although well intentioned I'm sure. There are two kinds of prepaid funeral contracts: revocable and irrevocable. Revocable means you may cancel the contract and get most of your money back. Irrevocable means you cannot cancel the contract, but you may transfer it to another funeral home if you want to.
ctlawhelp/prepaid-funeral-contracts-burial-plots#

Also you might be able to sell or transfer the contract along with the lots. Good advice to read it carefully. No disrespect intended but Are you sure it's privately owned and not part of a large outfit like Service Corp. International? ( they fever skit keep the name that the community trusts). Are you sure you are dealing with the decision maker? The person who sold you the contract might not have the authority to honor your request. What have others done with your funeral home who are in this same situation? You might ask. They might have the right not to return the funds but what would they be willing to do? Be very reasonable. If they are truly private they have the ability to do what makes good business sense in the community. National Cemeteries are beautiful and well tended. Regardless of how this turns out your parents made a good choice.

I made arrangements for two irrevocable burial trusts for my parents. They already had a family plot so the cost was for the funeral home and any fees the cemetery would require to open the graves,. My dad passed away in 2011 in Mass. Where they lived. Everything was handled by the funeral director. I was very happy. In 2012 I moved my mom to Ca. And inquired about transferring to a funeral home in Ca. I knew I would have to purchase a new grave for my mom. I also needed to find a funeral home that would accept the terms of the trust. After making some changes concerning things we no longer wanted to do. Viewing, family car they accepted the transfer from the other funeral home. In Mass. Any money paid for a prepaid funeral goes into a trust so only when the funeral home makes the request with proof they did the services will it be paid out. I hear from the trust every year with a small amount of interest on the $ amount I paid along with notification of a small fee they charge to manage the trust. Not all states do this but a few year ago Mass. Had a number of places close and take the money with them. I hope this helps. The added expense for the new cometary was high but still less expensive than having my mom brought back to Mass. I would have done it but my mom requested to be buried where she now considers home. Read the contact and see if it is in a trust or was private pay to the funeral home or in your case Cemetary. I do not know if the Cemetary has to return the money if the plots were purchased separate from the Irrevocable Burial Trust.

Can you sell their plots? that's what my parents ended up doing; something about somebody else died unexpectedly and they wanted to be buried right where their was, since I think they were close to where somebody was buried they wanted to be buried close to and they already had their marker there as well, so moving it was made a condition of the sale as well

Yes I can, debdaughter. But that's an issue for the future. I may deed the plots to another family member.

Lol. Usually keep the name. ( auto correct got me).

ok, just thought that might be an option - was it here somebody talked about inheritance loans? will go back and check

I live in NJ. When my cousin tried to sell his parents the cemetary wanted $300 for each of the 4 plots to transfer the deeds. He sold then for the transfer fees. My Uncle paid $800 for the 4 plots years ago.

wow, well, really, in my parents case, they just transferred from one set of plots to another and made the people that wanted theirs pay any associated costs.