Complete Guide to Cremation Insurance - myburialinsuranceplan.com

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I have seen first hand what happens to a family when the main breadwinner dies without any coverage. My intentions will always be to put your needs first so that I can deliver solutions that will accommodate your circumstances and your budget.

What is cremation insurance?

Cremation insurance is also known as final expense insurance, which sounds very technical, so let’s break it down.

“Final expense” involves costs that a person incurs after death. “Insurance policy” involves paying some money to the insurer that will use proceeds from that amount if and when some event happens. In the case of a final expense cremation insurance policy, the proceeds from the policy go to pay for cremation expenses when death happens.

Cremation insurance plans provide a bit of extra coverage and financial protection for the grieving family in the case of sudden death.

A cremation insurance policy lasts for your the whole life, meaning the terms remain the same:

Fast payout after sudden death
No qualifying medical examination
Coverage remains the same
Premiums remain the same
Policy does not expire

Cremation policies differ from other forms of insurance

A cremation insurance policy is designed to serve a highly specific purpose – covering final expenses related to your burial, cremation, and funeral. As such, it differs from other forms of insurance in two major ways:

Relaxed underwriting

A medical condition that would get you disqualified for most other insurance policies is irrelevant for a cremation policy.

In fact, cremation insurance plans boast some of the most lenient underwriting in the industry, with the purpose being precisely to guarantee some peace of mind for the insured who has a medical condition.

If that’s still not enough, cremation insurance can be done under what’s known as “guaranteed issue plans”, where there’s no underwriting and you’ll be accepted no matter what.

Broad coverage options

Some insurance carriers will provide a cremation insurance policy with as little as $1,500 in coverage. On the other hand, you can get as much as $50,000 with many companies.

Unlike with other forms of insurance, the coverage options are extremely broad and flexible, giving you the freedom to customize your cremation insurance plans.

Other forms of insurance might require that you take on $30,000-50,000 in coverage but that’s not the case with cremation insurance.

How cremation insurance works

All cremation insurance plans work the same way – a tax-free amount is paid out upon the insured person’s death to one or more beneficiaries specified in the policy.

There are no restrictions regarding how the money has to be used by the beneficiary. It’s as simple as that.

Funeral homes and crematories in the U.S. will generally accept cash, meaning the payout is immediate, discreet, and confidential.

In theory, the beneficiary could head to Las Vegas with the cash payout and drown sorrows in cheap thrills.

This isn’t to say that’s what the beneficiary should or would do but simply that nobody has the legal power to stop the beneficiary from doing so.

Therefore, it’s important to choose a level-headed, responsible beneficiary who will know what to do with the cash payout.

What happens to leftover money?

Similar to payouts from other insurance policies involving seniors, there is often some leftover money after all the final expenses have been taken care of. Any leftover money remains with the beneficiary to use at his or her own discretion.

Other names for cremation insurance

Cremation insurance plans are also known as:

Ultimately, all of these are synonyms for the exact same insurance policy.

How much cremation coverage do I need and how much does a cremation cost?

Planning for your final expenses involves jotting down all the details you’d want to have taken care of. Since we’re discussing a cremation insurance policy, we can start off by presuming you’d like a cremation.

Before buying cremation insurance, take some time to estimate the cremation costs and any additional services.

This will let you figure out how much money it takes to cover the base costs and how much it would cost for any of the extra features you might want, while also giving you a ballpark figure of how much money will be leftover.

Direct cremation: $600–$1,200

This is the most essential cremation coverage plan.

No events or services are involved with this plan except the following:

transport of the body
cremation of the body
placing the ashes in a basic urn

Each funeral home or crematory will have different costs of direct cremation but you’ll find they most often range between $600 and $1,200.

Direct cremation with a viewing: $1,400–$2,000

A viewing allows the family members to say their final farewells before the cremation.

The preparation of the body for viewing and use of the space are included in the price.

The service package now involves:

transport of the body
preparation for the viewing
viewing itself
cremation of the body
placing the ashes in a basic urn

Minimal preparation is done for the viewing but you can customize the duration, which increases the total cost. If the deceased was processed by a pathologist or was in an autopsy, the preparation will likely cost extra.

The total cost of the viewing is typically between $700 and $1,500, which is added to the cremation cost for the grand total of $1,400–$2,000.

Complete funeral service with cremation in place of burial: $4,000-$6,000

A cremation doesn’t mean that there can’t be a complete funeral service; it’s actually quite common to have a traditional funeral, minus the burial when the deceased has decided to be cremated.

If you have trouble imagining this kind of funeral service, picture a traditional burial service but there’s an urn with the person’s ashes instead of a casket. Everything else in the service is identical.

The funeral procession still goes to the final resting spot, with family and friends saying their eulogies. From start to finish, everything that’s normally included in a burial service is also included in the cremation burial.

This is a fancier type of cremation and the price reflects it—you’ll be charged anywhere from $4,000 to $6,000 for a complete funeral service with cremation in place of burial.

Potential other costs

Outside of the cremation costs, there can be potential other costs related to final expenses; these costs should be taken into consideration too. Make sure you have enough coverage for all your end-of-life needs and that you can afford everything you want.

Some items on the list of potential other costs include:

Remaining debts
Medical costs
Travel for funeral attendees
Body transportation costs if the resting place is distant
Income substitute
Other expenses for funeral attendees
Donating to a charity of your choice or bequeathing it to that special someone
Rise in costs due to inflation (2% a year in the U.S.)

Does Social Security Pay for Cremation?

We get this question a lot. Regretfully, after you’ve paid into Social Security for many years (with some people many decades), Social Security will pay $255 as a death benefit.

Even more regretful is that a family member will have to file the claim and in most cases, not very many people do. This means that the whopping $255 death claim is rarely paid by Social Security.

Finding the best cremation policy for you so your loved ones won’t have to pay your cremation costs.

It’s critical that you figure out how much cremation coverage you’d like to have before signing anything.

Don’t worry about having it down exactly. Just jot down a ballpark figure that feels good to you and start from there. If you still can’t decide what you want your cremation to include, start again from the top of this article and take your time.

You can choose as little or as much coverage you want, but keep in mind that it shouldn’t break your bank. If you have to choose between paying the bills and your cremation coverage, then you’ve opted for too much coverage.

It’s possible that you’ll want to take on more cremation coverage than you can comfortably afford. Now what?

Try to choose the amount of coverage you can afford without breaking your bank and keep in mind that any excess will go to a beneficiary of your choice after your passing.

Once you’ve settled on the core set of features, there are two basic choices when shopping for a cremation insurance policy:

You certainly have the freedom to negotiate on your own behalf and contract as you see fit.

But, keep in mind that funeral homes and crematories, though staffed by sensible, down-to-earth people, still speak in legalese.

We’d all like to avoid the legal jargon, but it’s simply unavoidable in the insurance business.

If you’re not well-versed in legalese, you run the risk of tripping up if you ignore the fine print. Guess what happens when you receive an offer through the post or over the phone—you’re never told the fine print. There’s no mischief in that.

It’s simply that the insurer can never account for every possible circumstance—meaning the offer has to be general and broad but also made enticing.

So it’s presented in such a way that you can’t get the full picture until you are invested in a plan .

These general cremation insurance plans offered through post or over the phone are typically the “guaranteed issue plans” mentioned above, except that they have two drawbacks:

2-year wait before payout. Because the insurer doesn’t know your circumstances, these offers often include a 2-year wait clause, during which no death benefit will be paid. Instead, all the premiums will be refunded plus a 10-20% interest. All guaranteed issue cremation policies have this clause and there’s no way to avoid this clause.
Considerable cost increase. The insurer knows nothing about health or circumstances, which means they have to take on additional risk if you, resulting in a 40-300% cost increase.

When presented as an elevator pitch and with these two drawbacks omitted, a cremation insurance plan really does sound amazing. But you’ll pay an arm and a leg if you just blindly contract with these insurers. Instead, you should take some time to comb through the offer and analyze the fine print with a magnifying glass.

If you don’t have the time to play Sherlock Holmes, you can use the services of a cremation insurance agent to do it for you while you spend your precious time enjoying life.

This brings us to option #2:

Now let’s analyze this typical guaranteed issue plan sent through post or presented over the phone using my expertise as an insurance agent.

99% of people have no need for a guaranteed issue plan, and this probably also includes you.

Instead, these 99% qualify for a policy that costs much less and isn’t hampered by the wait clause.

Since the insurance agent is an independent entity that works with several insurers and can give you an initial evaluation of what would suit you best, you’ve already got your shortlist without paying anything or spending any time besides what took you to contact the agent.

By shopping for offers through the insurance agent, you’ve got all the benefits of having an expert on your side without committing to anything or showing interest.

If you ever get an insurance offer through post or over the phone and show any interest, you’ll be pestered with insurance offers for months and years after.

However, if you contact the insurance agent, you’ve got anonymity and an extra layer of protection against pestering while having the full freedom to explore cremation insurance plans.

You can also research cremation insurance on your own through the internet, but you run the risk of believing outdated or unclear sources.

Again, with an insurance agent, you get all the up-to-date information and can ask any questions to clarify the situation.

A reputable insurance agent won’t be making any choices for you or have an affinity for any particular insurer. Instead, the insurance agent will explain your options in down-to-earth terms and connect you with the insurer you choose.

Here’s a few more perks you gain by shopping through an insurance agent:

You avoid presenting yourself as a naive client.

If you simply stroll into a funeral home or crematory and ask for a cremation insurance policy, you’ll likely appear as a naive client that isn’t going to be picky.

On the other hand, shopping through an insurance agent gives you an unprecedented peek into the world of cremation insurance.

This lets you get the full picture without being pressured into committing to anything. After that, you’ll no longer appear naive and the insurers will know you’re informed.

A wider selection of qualifying plans.

There are plenty of nuances when it comes to cremation plans you qualify for.

Unless you’re familiar with the world of cremation insurance, you’ll likely be unaware of all the nuances that benefit you in terms of cost and service quality, which feeds into the above point of appearing as a naive client.

However, if you have a chat with an insurance agent, you’ll get the nuances laid out for you, allowing you a much better and easier choice.

Help with the processing of your policy.

Paperwork is everywhere, and it’s become a necessary evil. We can’t avoid it, but we can do our best to minimize and organize it, in particular by working with people who handle paperwork every day.

You probably think you can handle the cremation insurance policy paperwork on your own, which is probably true, until a piece of paper goes missing and you spend days rummaging for it in your archives.

On the other hand, shopping through an insurance agent means you have your paperwork sorted out from the start—the insurance agent can organize and mail everything on your behalf.

How do I find the very best cremation insurance agent?

If you’re interested in finding the very best insurance agent, you should look for these qualities:

The agent works with many insurers.

The more insurers you get access to, the more choice you’ll ultimately have when it comes to your insurance policy.

If your insurance agent has limited access to the insurers, you’ll have to shop around for other insurance agents, which simply wastes your time without getting you closer to being an informed client that can pick and choose of his own accord.

The agent is specialized in final expense insurance.

Insurance agents typically specialize in one field, giving them an edge over insurance agents in other fields.

By choosing a specialist cremation insurance agent, you get someone who has nuanced knowledge of the field and can give you all the insight you need before committing to your purchase.

The agent has a good reputation.

Any insurance agent worth his salt should be swimming in positive reviews or at least not be mired in negative reviews. In addition, the agent should be licensed in as many U.S. states as possible, and must be licensed in your state.

The agent provides expert help without pressure.

The agent should provide you with expertise without expecting you to commit or invest.

On this website, you are provided all of the information you need to compare prices between many different insurance carriers without making an account. Take your time to think everything through and you’ll be sure to make all the right choices.

How come you won’t charge me for your services?

Our services are free because charging upfront for advice and consultation in a situation where it might take you months to decide on what to do is bad business. Instead, we get a commission from the insurer with whom you sign a cremation insurance policy, if and when you do so.

We provided comprehensive free advice in this article because we want to minimize confusion and complaints that arise from working with misinformed clients.

Also, by presenting all the facts to you and letting you make an informed choice, we can eliminate any conflict of interest.

Our goal is to help clients get the peace of mind in their trying times, and for that we don’t want to ask for any upfront payments. And, because our commission comes from the insurer, it doesn’t increase the premiums you will pay at all.

How do I apply for a cremation insurance policy?

Each insurer has a slight variation of the same application process. In our case, we can offer you three ways to apply:

1) Voice signature over the telephone

This means you have a conference call with the insurance agent and the insurer that will on average last around 15 minutes. You give all the required authorizations over the phone, get some disclosures read to you and answer some health questions.

If an insurer provides voice signature application, you will immediately be told if you’re eligible for the cremation insurance policy, and if so, it is effective immediately.

2) E-mail signature

This option isn’t as common as the voice signature one, but some insurance carriers still offer it. On your end, you should have a printer so that the necessary paperwork can be e-mailed to you.

You’ll still have to get the paperwork in your hands but with e-mail we skip sending it through post. In either case, you sign the papers and send them back. You’ll know if your application has been accepted within 4 business days of us submitting it.

In one word, yes. In more than one word, yes but you need their explicit agreement and what’s known as “insurable interest”.

It’s impossible to take out an insurance policy on someone without their explicit agreement because the insurer would need their, in this case, your parents’, medical information to approve the insurance policy, and that information can’t be released without their consent.

The “insurable interest” condition simply means that there needs to be some measurable financial loss for you in case the insured person dies. Luckily, the child-parent relationship satisfies that condition—all you must prove is that the insured is indeed your parent.

One big tip relating to policy payout taxes

You can designate yourself as the policy owner but did you know you can also designate yourself as the beneficiary?

If you’re just the owner, the payout to the beneficiary is considered a gift and is taxed accordingly. If you’re the owner and the beneficiary alongside someone else, a different set of rules applies and the payout isn’t taxed.

You can also just be the policy payer, which won’t cause you any tax issues.

Just because death and taxes are inevitable doesn’t mean they should be a burden. Contact us and we’ll help you deal with both.

If you’re looking for a cremation insurance agent that has all the above qualities, you’re in luck because one is available right here, on this page.

Cremation policy Costs

This section has sample premiums to give you a feel of how much it would cost a month.

The exact policy premiums depend on a couple of factors, such as:

Health
Tobacco use
Age
Policy face amount you choose
State where you reside

Your coverage cost may vary, just use the quote tool on this page, or give us a call at 844-528-8688.