End of Life Issues - Funeral Director
The second session on the End of Life issues was held on Sunday 8 November 2009.
Joe Camby
Talking with his priest, they came up with a Christian burial service. In the commercial funeral homes, it is a business. To Mr. Camby it is a ministry. He used to operate independently until the State changed the law. They supply caskets a what it costs them from the caskets distributors. It is his job to guide yo through the process, hopefully before you need the process. The time to do it is when you are not upset. Funerals are for the living, not for the dead. They try to make things right. Go home and sit down with your children and talk about it. Most people will not sit down and request a fancy funeral. As much as possible they try to have the funeral in church to involve the whole church community. They can rent funeral homes if that is what you want to do. It is a ministry for him.
Who are the best people for markers? They know who gives the best deals.
Pre-arrange your funeral when possible. Do you want a vault or liner? They can supply Orthodox caskets. Most places don’t offer it. They can give coffins. A casket is square and a coffin is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom.
A prepaid funeral policy protects your assets from the State. The State can’t touch a pre-arranged funeral. The policy advances in value. They recently had a funeral when the people got $500 back.
Joe will come and sit down in your house with you.
There is no law in the State of Maryland that requires you to be embalmed. If the body will be in the church two or three days, we need to do something. Zoning regulations covers being buried in the back yard. You just need 18 inches of dirt. The vault and liners rules come from the cemetery. He even had caskets that the family made themselves. An Episcopal priest had his casket under his bed. It just had to be assembled. Wal-Mart has 27 caskets and they start around $900, which is several dollars more than the minimum cost.
They have had full Orthodox services in the funeral home. They would take the equipment with them if the funeral home doesn’t have it. Tell them what you want and it is their job to make it happen. They don’t control the cost.
Do you want visitation or no visitation? We can have visitation and the funeral at the chapel. The least expensive way to do it is to have it at the chapel.
Mr. Camby does not have a license to discuss pre-arrangement. Mike does.
Mike Marzullo of Marzullo Funeral Chapel
Today funerals are over $6,000. His service fee is $4,000. Depending on how old you are, you can select up to ten pay. You also get an irrevocable trust. If you have to go into a nursing home, the State at your death can’t touch this money. The money in your insurance policy to bury you is not touchable.
We started this in the State of Maryland in 2001. Put money in the bank you will pay tax every year. With this insurance policy, it is basically tax free. He pays the taxes, not you.
In a ten-year policy, after two years and one day, it is fully paid by the insurance company. Some funeral homes still use trust funds and banks and you will pay the taxes. If you take the policy and move, you can transfer the policy to your new location. If he goes out of business, some other funeral company will take over. It is an insurance policy through Guardian. The insurance company is an AAA, which is the highest. Twenty-five percent of their business is burial insurance. The Maryland State Board of Funeral Directors has a fund in case anything happens. The funeral home pays into this. There is $1,000,000 right there.
It can be an advantage to you at the cemetery. Garden of Faith is $2,000 to open a grave. The opening and closing is not a guarantee of the contract. It grows at about three percent a year. Mike has never seen the rate going below three percent.
They do Orthodox funerals here and at Holy Cross. They cannot solicit a church but they can come if invited in. They started out with Holy Cross because the priest knows him and they did every funeral out of Holy Cross. They try to understand the Orthodox tradition.
If you have a question about dealing with a cemetery, call them. They know them all. The most expensive people to deal with in selling caskets are the people at the cemetery who are commissioned sales people. We at Holy Trinity are so lucky in having our own cemetery.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|