Deceased Mom had burial plan, but funeral home wants more money

[Subjection]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? IL

My Mom passed away a few weeks ago and there was a funeral and now the financial stuff is starting. I'm 600 miles away and hadn't seen my mom but once over the last 32 years, so we obviously were not close. However, my brother saw her every day and lived nearby to her and handled everything.

My Mom had an $8,000 burial plan with the funeral home there. That was supposed to cover everything. Now, my brother is telling me that the burial vault and obituaries weren't covered, so they say they're owed $1700. Then they said they'll cover half of that and charge my brother the other $850. So my brother wants me to pay half of that. Then my brother said an uncle told him that we're not legally liable. When I google the subject, it appears we are liable http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2013/07/who-pays-funeral-costs-after-a-relatives-death.html

So, any advice on what to do here? My Mom didn't have a lot of money or possessions. Lived in an apartment, didn't have a car. Is this something that could be just written off somehow? It seems that the $8,000 burial plan should have covered everything since that's what it was for. I don't know how they could say the burial vault isn't covered. That seems like a very basic thing.

 

[justalayman]

Her estate is primarily liable but if there are not enough assets to cover the costs, whomever signs the contract is liable. You have no liability simply becaus she was your mother

 

[FlyingRon]

You'll have to dig up the contract. Generally obituaries are not covered. They're advertisements as far as the paper is concerned.
You'll have to check the issue on the vault.

Whoever authorized the funeral home to act after her death may have inadvertantly signed on to be liable.

 

[Dandy Don]

Pay nothing until you have looked at the contract and at the itemized bill that the funeral home should be providing you a copy of.
I was wondering approximately what year did your mother purchase this burial plan?
You and your brother can ask the funeral home any questions you have after you have reviewed those documents.

Since it appears that your mother did not have much in the way of assets, then there will be no probated estate to pay for the bill, and it would be the honorable thing for you and your brother to take care of this matter yourselves, if you can afford to do that.

 

[Subjection]

Her estate is primarily liable but if there are not enough assets to cover the costs, whomever signs the contract is liable. You have no liability simply becaus she was your mother

I wasn't aware there was a contract that was signed. My brother, guided by family friend there, took care of everything. He said that he and this friend are going back to the funeral home Monday to get more information.

Her estate is primarily liable but if there are not enough assets to cover the costs, whomever signs the contract is liable. You have no liability simply becaus she was your mother

It appears that there is nothing left of hers to pay for the costs. So if my brother signed a contract, then he created liability for himself. But by extension, he created it for me too, unless I want to be at odds with him the rest of our lives.

Pay nothing until you have looked at the contract and at the itemized bill that the funeral home should be providing you a copy of.
I was wondering approximately what year did your mother purchase this burial plan?
You and your brother can ask the funeral home any questions you have after you have reviewed those documents.

Since it appears that your mother did not have much in the way of assets, then there will be no probated estate to pay for the bill, and it would be the honorable thing for you and your brother to take care of this matter yourselves, if you can afford to do that.

My brother and his friend will supposedly be getting that itemized bill from the funeral home in a few days. As for the year she got the burial plan, I'm not really sure, but I vaguely remember her telling me around 20 years ago about something she said would be split in half between me and my brother that would be around $6,000. I wasn't familiar with it at the time. But now my brother tells me that it was the remainder of the burial costs, and it was $8,000 that was supposed to be split between us. So not only did the $8,000 not have anything left over, it has left us with money to pay out.

This leaves me with another question to ask: Isn't a burial plan much like a home mortgage? It gets paid on little at time until paid off, and with interest, apparently. My brother looked into a burial plan for himself and was told for a $5,000 plan he'd be paying $77 a month for 10 years. But wait a minute! That comes out to over $9,000 in payments for only $5,000 in coverage! I can only imagine what my Mom paid out for her $8,000 plan, and now the funeral home wants even MORE??? Something seems fishy about this. If my Mom actually paid much more for her $8,000 plan--maybe as much as $14,000--then shouldn't the funeral home just be happy with what they already have?

 

[Dandy Don]

If the plan/contract was arranged years ago, it would not be unreasonable for prices to have increased since then, and so the funeral home just MIGHT be justified in asking for an additional amount.

 

[Subjection]

If the plan/contract was arranged years ago, it would not be unreasonable for prices to have increased since then, and so the funeral home just MIGHT be justified in asking for an additional amount.

Would they need to ask for the executor of the estate to sign something agreeing to the price increase first? What I'm thinking is that in order to get a burial plan, a person would have to go to a funeral home and pick out a certain casket, burial plot, vault, and other things in order to come up with an agreed upon price for the burial plan. All these things would have prices at the time, right?

 

[Dandy Don]

Funeral home employees are only human, also. They could have forgotten to mention or explain the need for the burial vault.

 

[ShyCat]

It's also possible that a vault was not previously required but is now due to a legislative or regulatory change.

 

[Subjection]

It's also possible that a vault was not previously required but is now due to a legislative or regulatory change.

They should have mentioned that at some point. It was through the funeral home that she had the burial plan. If a new expense was added, she should have been notified, rather than waiting til she dies, and then surprising the family with an added expense.
Also, her headstone was paid for seperately, so that wasn't even part of the funeral expenses.

 

[ShyCat]

They should have mentioned that at some point. It was through the funeral home that she had the burial plan. If a new expense was added, she should have been notified, rather than waiting til she dies, and then surprising the family with an added expense.

Sorry, I'm not aware of any law that requires the funeral home to notify the policy holder of legislative/regulatory changes that might mean incurring additional expenses. If you think there should be one, feel free to lobby for such.

 

[Silverplum]

Funeral home employees are only human, also. They could have forgotten to mention or explain the need for the burial vault.

There's a whole big form, with initials required all over the place. Every price, every item is initialled and tallied.