Planning ahead and prearranging your own funeral, burial or cremation services may not only offer relief to your family in a time of mourning, but may also help in preserving assets while determining eligibility for government assistance to help pay for your care.
In this Elder Law Minute, Wes Coulson, Illinois Elder Law Attorney, discusses the benefits of having pre-planned, prepaid funeral and burial arrangements.
Prepaid Funeral Arrangements: The Benefits of Pre-Planning
Transcript:
Hi, I’m Wes Coulson and this is your Elder Law Minute. I’m a big fan of pre-need funeral and burial, or as case may be, cremation plans. Let me tell you some important reasons why.
First, we help a lot of people in applying for various forms of government assistance to help pay for care. For that, prepaid funeral or cremation arrangements are not counted as part of your assets in determining eligibility. So, it’s a good way of spending money for that. Also, I think you’re doing your family a favor by sparing them from the time-consuming and emotional process, right after you’ve died, of having to go through and make all of those arrangements. And finally, I don’t know this for a fact but I really believe it, I think the people who prearrange their own funerals, with less emotion in the process than if you’re doing it for someone who has just died, tend to spend a little bit less money on the process and still arrange themselves a very nice funeral or cremation. Thanks.
For more on Medicaid, visit these articles:
- The Basics of Medicaid: What You Can and Cannot Keep
- Understanding the Medicaid “Look-Back” and “Transfer Penalty” Rules
Dent-Coulson Elder Law is dedicated to providing families in the St. Louis area with their Elder Law needs. Our practice areas include Asset Preservation Planning, Veterans Benefits, Medicaid Eligibility, Alzheimer’s Planning, Special Needs Planning, Estate Planning and more. We understand the financial challenges you may face as you and your loved ones grow older. At Dent-Coulson Elder Law, our clients’ well-being is our number one priority. For immediate help, call (877)995-6876 or Contact Us and we will get in touch as soon as possible.