What Should I Know about Burial Insurance?
Burial insurance—also called end-of-life insurance, final expense, or funeral insurance—is a whole life insurance policy that’s designed to pay for the costs of your burial. These costs may include a memorial service, cremation costs, a headstone for your grave or other expenses associated with end-of-life arrangements.
Bankrate’s recent article entitled “Burial insurance” explains that if you have your affairs in order, your family already knows what will happen when you die. You may have given instructions for how you’d like your body to be treated, as well as ideas for your memorial service or what you want written on a tombstone.
However, all of these things cost money. If you don’t want your family to be stuck paying those costs, you may want to consider a burial policy.
Because the payout for burial insurance is small compared to many regular life insurance policies, the premiums can also be quite affordable. The policies are easy to purchase and don’t require a medical exam. However, there may be a waiting period and the policy may offer only limited benefits in the first two years.
Burial insurance policies cover all the normal costs incurred by someone’s death, such as:
- Embalming
- A casket
- Flowers
- Cremation costs
- A burial plot
- The cost of transporting the body and/or remains
- A headstone; and
- Payment to clergy.
One type of burial policy, called a guaranteed issue life insurance policy, is available without any medical or health questions. It’s designed for those who are seriously ill and can’t get a policy any other way. Additionally, a burial policy is an exempt asset for purposes of Medicaid long term care. In other words, the policy would not be counted as an “available resource” for Medicaid purposes.
If all the appropriate arrangements have been made, the process of filing a burial insurance claim should be fairly smooth.
BOOK A CALL with me, Ted Vicknair, Louisiana Board Certified Estate Planning and Administration Specialist, Louisiana Board Certified Tax Law Specialist, and Louisiana CPA to learn more about estate planning in Louisiana, incapacity planning, and Louisiana asset protection.
If you liked this article, “What Should I Know about Burial Insurance?” read also these additional articles: Does Potential IRS Change Have an Impact on Estate Plan? and Understanding the Issues of Elder Law and What are the Advantages of a Business Trust? and What Is the Best Asset Protection?
Reference: Bankrate (March 5, 2021) “Burial insurance”
