Funeral planning

If you are over 50 years of age, regardless of your health condition, you should seriously think about what your loved ones would need to do at the time of your death. It is simple; but you need to be aware of what is involved. Let’s start with what will happen from the time of your death.

·        Someone must prove that you’re dead.

·        Someone must look after your funeral entirely until your burial or cremation.

·        Someone must remove your body and bring it to a funeral home.

·        Your body will be kept temporarily in a shelter before embalming or simple bathing.

·        Your body must be put in a casket before burial or cremation.

·     Your loved ones must select the type of casket with their criteria (e.g. practical, good quality, reasonable cost …).

·        Here are a few things that they must arrange with the funeral home:

o   Open or closed casket,

o   Announcing your death on newspaper, and/or social media?,

o   Accepting donation?

o   Providing guest book online and/or in funeral home, 

o   Allowing visitation? if so, how many?

o   Performing religious rituals (in funeral home, church, at burial site…)?

o   Providing refreshments in funeral home? if so, by a caterer?

o   Having police escort from funeral home to burial site? if so, be aware that the escort service cost increases whenever the procession crosses the boundary of police jurisdiction.

o   Inviting guests to a post-funeral celebration (in a restaurant or own residence)?

·        Someone must arrange with a cemetery for your burial; or arrange with a crematorium for your cremation.

·        Your casket must be transported to the cemetery, or the crematorium.

·        Someone must complete the burial or cremation.

·        Someone must prove that your body is completely and legally disposed.

All of the above involve staffing, services and materials that your loved ones must pay for. Of course, the more elaborate the funeral, the more expensive it will be. Also, the more visitors, the higher the cost (for larger lounge and/or more catering). You and your loved ones should discuss your funeral plan while you’re still alive and you’d better make sure you will not place a burden on your loved ones at the time of need. If you do not have a pre-paid funeral, then the funeral home would ask for 50% of the cost to be paid upfront and the rest will be paid upon completion of the funeral.

You can research funeral homes in your area to educate yourself about their services, price lists, package deals and group discounts. Most of them will be more than happy to provide you with the needed information and welcome you to a face-to-face meeting. It’s always better to have the funeral plan finalized before your death! Take your time to figure out what you really want.

Once you have finalized your funeral plan, you might want to prepay your funeral because its price is based on the price at the time of purchase, thus beating inflation. In addition, if you are under 85 you can buy insurance for the plan which will be ongoing till your death; the payments for the plan + insurance will be spread over a number of years of your choice (1, 3, 5 10, 20…). If you die before the end of the insurance term, the insurance company will pick up the tab and you won’t need to pay the rest. If you’re over 85, you cannot buy such insurance.

You do not have to take the funeral home offers, particularly on casket and urn. Their offers simply make life easier for you (i.e. one-stop shop) and they often lure you into some deal by offering 10% discount. Actually, their price is jacked up quite a bit; for example, a casket bought at a funeral home for $4500 can also be bought elsewhere for $1800. You might want to look at https://casketoutlet.ca/en/wood-caskets. There is a catch though, the funeral home often requires a 2-day wait after they receive the casket that is bought elsewhere, and they are not responsible for any damage that comes with the casket.

For cremation, you might want to rent a reasonably good looking casket at a reasonable price (for viewing purposes) and another casket for the actual cremation. The other option is to buy a cheap and reasonably good looking casket. So, discuss this option with the funeral home.

For the same token, you can buy a keepsake urn in advance. There are many stores in the GTA where you can buy them, for example the store at 966 Pantera Dr. Unit 24-27 Mississauga ON. L4W2S1 (https://casketoutlet.ca/ ) carries lots of varieties, starting from $39 picked up at the store, or with additional $30 shipping if ordered online). 

Note that the funeral home cannot:

- Refuse to accept a casket or related funeral merchandise, that are purchased elsewhere.

- Charge additional fees for receiving caskets.

- Increase any service fee, that is itemized on their written price list.

- Treat you or your family any different than if you had purchased a casket from their funeral home.

If you are really interested in matters related to funerals in Ontario, you can visit A Guide to Death Care in Ontario and Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act, 2002.

Documentation

Funeral home often offers documentation for a fee. Typically, they can provide the following documents:

·       Death certificate (or Medical Certificate of Death). The number of copies varies with funeral homes (limited or unlimited). 

·        Coroner’s Cremation Certificate (typically for $75).

·        Registration of the death (always done by funeral home).

·        Burial permit (not required for cremains burial).

·        Estate settlement documents (not all funeral homes offer this service).

Check the documentation offered by the funeral home before you sign your agreement with them.

Services

The following “traditional” services are often offered by many (but not all) funeral homes:

·        Professional Funeral Director, Coordinating Activities Rites & Ceremonies.      

·        Staff Services for Visitation.

·        Staffing for Service at funeral home .              

·        Staffing for Initial Transfer.

·        Staffing for Graveside service.                

·        Documentation.                           

·        Embalming                             

o   Alternate Care       (Bathing)  - if embalming is not done              

·        Transfer Vehicle from place of death to funeral home              

·        Funeral Coach      (i.e. Transfer Vehicle from funeral home to cemetery/crematorium)                

·        Administration/Lead Vehicle   

o   Police escort (optional)

o   Flower Vehicle/General Use (additional charge)

·        Facilities for Ceremony (cost varies with room size, with or without audio/video equipment and catering services)              

·        Facilities for preparation /embalming/shelter

·        Facilities for Visitation (cost increases with the number of visitations)              

You should consult with your funeral home for the details of the above services and associated costs. Because of the complexity and hidden information in funeral packages, you’d better enquire the above as part of your funeral pre-planning.

Here is some (limited) contact info for funeral homes in the GTA:

	Chapel Ridge Funeral Home	The CremationCare Center	Highland Funeral Home Markham Chapel	Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries
Point of Contact	Eric C. Tappenden	Graeme H. Hogle	Francis Chu	Brian Lui
Phone #	(905) 305-8490	(844) 592-4125	(905)  887-8600	(416) 990-6519
Email	eric@chapelridgefh.com	graeme@hogle.ca	fchu@arbormemorial.com	blui@mountpleasantgroup.com
Address	8911 Woodbine Avenue  Markham ON   L3R 5G1	63 Mimico Ave  Toronto ON  M8V 1R2	10 Cachet Woods Court,  Markham ON  L6C 3G1	1591 Elgin Mills Road,  Richmond Hill ON  L4S 1M9

Funeral service packages

In what follows, we focus on cremations only.

·        Same Day Direct Service without visitation, without food catering, without burial (not including urn)

   - You can visit https://thecremationcarecentre.funeraltechweb.com/Forms/Plan-A-Cremation-Private-Farewell-Care/391/index.html#form-start; the total cost with HST can be under $2000.

   - A similar service offered by Chapel Ridge Funeral Home costs approximately $4300 including HST. 

   - Similarly, Highland Funeral Home Markham Chapel offers a Direct Service for $4400 including HST.

·        Service with 1 day visitation, without food catering, without burial (not including urn).

Chapel Ridge Funeral Home: the total cost will be $6594. I

Highland Funeral Home Markham Chapel: the total cost will be $6853.

·        Service with 1 day visitation, without food catering, with burial (including urn vault) 

Food catering is optional. The cost varies with the caterer (often administered by the funeral home) and the number of visitors.

Cemetery plot

Cemetery plots are more expensive in Toronto than in the suburbs. You may want to see https://www.mountpleasantgroup.com/en-CA/Price%20Lists.aspx for price lists and services provided by different cemetery owners. They are by no means cheap!

Here are some typical figures (not including HST):

·        Interment of cremains                             $545

·        Surcharge for interment on Sunday         $295

·        Scattering of cremains                             $400

·        Cremation lot                                from $1995

·        Cremation grave                                     $1500

Select the type of grave that suits your needs. If you prepaid for the plot but have not used it and if you change your mind, you can resell its ownership. Only the purchaser of the plot can do so.

Things to do post-funeral

Ash from the cremation is normally available for pick up 24 hours following the cremation. The funeral home might or might not charge a small fee for collecting the ash and fill the urn (normally $50). They can also deliver the urn to your residence for a small fee ($50 to $100, depending on the distance between your residence and the crematorium). Your loved ones CANNOT refuse taking the ash!

 

Below is a list of to-do things that your beloved ones MUST do after your funeral:

1.     Notify your banks, car/home insurance companies, utility companies, city hall (for property tax contact info), Ministry of Transportation (to cancel your driver license and car ownership, if applicable), Ministry of Health (to cancel your health card), family doctor’s office, dentist office.

·        Bank accounts should be updated (e.g. joint account should be updated to sole account under the survivor’s name; if no survivor,  the account should be closed): chequing accounts, GICs, investment accounts, credit card accounts, loans, mortgage, safety deposit box…

·        Car ownership must be changed within 14 days after the date of death.

2.     Notify your life insurance company, if applicable. Enquire about how and when the payment will be made to the beneficiary. The payment is taxable.

3.     If you have a private pension plan, notify the plan administrator. Find out how and when the last payment will be made to beneficiary. 

4.     Notify CPP and find out how and when the last payment will be made to the beneficiary. There is a potential death benefit of $2500.

5.     Notify OAS and find out how and when the last payment will be made to the beneficiary. If your spouse is between 60 and 64, (s)he is entitled for Allowance for the Survivor

6.     Notify CRA to close your Social Insurance account. Go to any Human Resource Canada location and drop off SIN card.

7.     Cancel your (valid) passport by mailing to Passport Program, Gatineau QC K1A 0G3.

All of the above require Proof of Death (of which, you’d need approximately 20 copies; Funeral homes normally charge extra if you ask for copies after 1 year).

They must do the following as well:

a)     Adjust the survivor‘s will if needed.

b)    Donate or discard your belongings (e.g. clothes, shoes, books, musical instruments…).

c)     If your urn is buried, your loved ones must buy a plot with or without tombstone.

d)    Finally, in April of the following year, prepare your final income tax return. If the death occurs between January 1 and October 31, the deadline for filing is April 30^th of the following year. Otherwise, the deadline is six months after the date of death.

Things that you might not be aware of

·        10 Things You Don’t Know About Cremains

·        Funeral home is required to provide you with their price list and explain the details to you. Make sure their price list is up to date. Services can be split into different items and scattered under different categories. Make sure you understand what you see. The word “affordable” in “Affordable Burials and Cremations Inc.” simple means affordable, but not “cheap”!

·        After signing a contract for funeral, cemetery or crematorium supplies or services, you have 30 days to change your mind and get a full refund.

·        As of July 1, 2012, prepaid contracts are guaranteed. Service provider must supply everything specified in your contract without additional charges, even if prices have gone up.

·        You may request a burial or disinterment of cremains, or place a decoration, marker, monument, or inscription on the monument, as long as you follow the cemetery’s bylaws.
·        You may scatter cremains in a designated place within the cemetery, or on private property with the written consent of the land owner, or on unoccupied Crown lands and Crown lands covered by water so long as there are no signs prohibiting scattering.