GrapeEater

OK, lets have long overdue about funeral care in Spain. After a recent passing the inevitable has entered my head... what will happen to us and how will I pay for it here in Spain.

I guess quite a few of you will ALREADY HAVE SOME SORT FUNERAL PLAN or have 1st/2nd hand experience. So do share any issues, recommendations or pitfalls.

We are researching - locally the choice is not great - two names keep cropping up "AVALON" & "GOLDEN LEAVES" - but these are English based services and seem to be a glorified savings / trust fund to the cost of about €4000 pp.

Any help or debate will be useful to me and lots of others I guess.

lynnxa

my life insurance has a funeral element to it, which is released immediately

whatever plan you go for, make sure it isn't a 'pre-paid funeral' , but rather insurance which pays out quickly regardless of where you die

my dad had a pre-paid plan - which meant that he had paid for his funeral in the UK - he died in Spain..........

eventually they paid out - by which time many months had passed & it was actually the very last part of his estate to be settled - & that included selling his house!!

Rosemary

I totally agree with Lynnxa regarding prepaid funerals but for a different reason. My MIL had paid for her funeral, or so she thought but in actual fact she had only paid for certain services, although she had a basic small funeral we found that the cost was twice what she had paid, she would have been so angry if she had known because she thought that she was doing he right thing by paying in advance. Although this was in the UK it is not the sort of experience that people want to have.

My husband died here in Spain and his funeral was held the following afternoon by which time I needed to have been to the bank and paid for the funeral so that I could take the payment slip to the cremetorium before the process began. Incidently his funeral cost 2000 which also included the provision of 4 Spanish death certificates and 2 International death certificates and a high quality urn for the ashes.

My friends father was not cremated but is in the town cemetery and his funeral cost 4500 in 2009 with ongoing cemetery costs.

Hope that some of this may help you.

Rosemary

flotsum

We have what the spanish call the seguro universal decesos, which is a family death plan. The insurance company take over from the time of death they arrange all paperwork, movement of the body to the tanatoria, arrangements for viewing including a bus to get family members from the town to view the body, one floral tribute per body, the service, help with repatriating the body to spain should we die abroad, our cremation, preperation of the coffin. For a family of 4 it costs us 260 euros a year. When you go into take out the insurance they talk you through all the different levels and you specify what you want, then they tell you the cost.

GrapeEater

Flotsum.... sounds interesting! - Importantly do you know anyone / comments from anyone who has made the claim.

Also I assume you keep paying for this annually for "ever" ?

I guess if we say funeral €4000 / 260 = about 15 years worth of cover fro 4 people !! Sounds too good to be true. :-)

Dxf

Hi

When a friends mother died, the hospital put a lot of pressure to use a funeral director "of their choice". The cost about 5,500€! Obviously they were getting a rake off. The actual funeral was about 2,500€ because another (non commission paying) funeral director was chosen.

Davexf

flotsum

All our family have similar insurance recommended by the spanish side of the family most major insurance companies do it. Yes it is annually and it like most insurances does go up, our children are young so they do not have such a high premium as their parents. The last death in the family did not have the insurance. I know when we told people we did not have it they were shocked and everyone nagged us to get it!

snikpoh

When a friend of ours died in Spain, we organised the cremation, cars, service, etc. all for just 2000 euros.

If it was me, and I was at all concerned about having the funds to pay for it, I would put the money away myself and not pay someone else to keep my money.

[But then that is what I would do.]

jackytoo

Absolutely. Some of the companies schemes sound a bit of a rip off.

Rosemary

My husband thought in the same way as you and made sure that I was able to pay for his funeral without any hassle.

Rosemary

Lynn R

I agree. If you want only a very basic funeral (which I would, they could put me in a black plastic sack along with the basura for all I care), then if you live for a good few years after starting to pay for funeral insurance, surely you would end up paying out far in excess of what it would cost? I can understand it if people can afford a few euros a month but don't have the full funeral cost to put aside, but if you have then I think that's by far the better option. It's most definitely a good idea for everyone living here to make sure they are clued up about the way things work, though, and the information that forum members like Rosemary and others have been kind enough to provide is invaluable in that respect. An acquaintance of ours has terminal cancer and she and her husband have been very sensible, had their wills checked and made contact with a funeral director who was recommended to them. It may seem a bit cold-blooded, but far better than sticking your head in the sand and finding yourself clueless when the worst eventually happens.

Rosemary

I do not think that it is cold blooded at all but common sense. Unfortunately a lot of people will not talk about death, will avoid thinking about what to do and will almost pretend that it will never happen to them. As you say head in the sand attitude. My mother managed to never go to a funeral during her lifetime even though she lost her mother and father and other members of the family, I was evil and told her that she would not be able to avoid her own. She had a real fear of talking to people who had been bereaved too, heaven knows what she would have thought if I had become a bereavement counsellor whilst she was alive!!!!!

When Graham died the guy who had to talk to me in order to fill out all of the hospital forms was amazed at how organised my papers were and the information that he had to ask for was all written down clearly for him. I have all of the same information written down in my name too, it is something that we did long before he became ill. If people did this sort of thing when they are healthy then it is not painful and of course they are also able to think clearly and not emotionally.

Rosemary

Domino

Lynn, whilst you may have no feelings on the matter after death, surely you would want your remains to be treated with some consideration.?

Whilst you have no control over it (unless you have already written things into your will - which could be ignored), the funeral is there for those you have left behind to show their respects and to reconcile their loss.

My father was always the one with more medical problems, some left over from WWII service in Burma, but he outlived mother by 20 years whilst she became ill and had died inside 6months. Dad always believed he would be the first to go and could never understand how it worked out the way it did.

As we get older the more such matters come to mind, wanting to ensure the best possible situation for those left behind, both in the short as well as long term.
Alternatively we could take the attitude that we won't be the first to go.
And be proved wrong.

But that is then the time when partners suddenly admit that it had never been discussed and they have no idea how the departed actually wanted to be treated.

my partner says she wants a full wake, with music and laughing. will I be there to see it and join in ??

`

Lynn R

No, honestly, I don't want any form of ceremony whatsoever and my OH feels the same way. I have always hated any kind of "fuss" and when I got married there were just 4 of us at the registry office, with a lunch for immediate family only (parents and siblings) afterwards. Even that was more than I would ideally have liked, I would have preferred to just turn up and sign a piece of paper in my lunch hour and then go back to work! Each to their own, but I think the amount of money that gets spent on elaborate weddings and funerals is a shocking waste. One of my OH's nieces got married one August in a very elaborate "do" with all the trimmings, must have cost an absolute fortune, and by December the couple had split up. Just goes to show how much all the public display counts for.

When my Dad died we did organise a "proper" funeral for him because he was very much one for having things done in the "right" way and it was what he would have wanted. So there was some comfort in thinking we were following his wishes. The rugby club he was involved with for most of his life provided a "guard of honour" of past and present players, all in their club blazers and ties, and asked us to hold the reception there free of charge, which was so kind. But when my turn comes, not for me, thanks!

Rosemary

Graham and I always said the same as you Lynn. When I was organising his funeral I told my friend that he did not want any fuss, wanted it to be basic etc, she asked if I wanted to be alone at his funeral or wanted support and that was the first time that I had really thought about the effect of our plans on the one that is left behind. I asked her to come with me as I did not want to be totally alone, in the end 14 of my closest Spanish friends were there for us because they wanted to be. However, the funeral remained very personal and how Graham wanted it.

Rosemary