The advantages of planning ahead

Planning your funeral in advance is a sensible way of ensuring your wishes are adhered to, as well as sparing your family or loved ones unnecessary worry about arrangements in their time of grief.

The best time to plan is now. Planning leaves nothing to chance and gives you one less thing to worry about. It is also important to realise that once your plan is made you are not locked into it. Our funeral planning offers flexibility to make alterations to the arrangements as circumstances change.

At Golden Bay Motueka Funeral Services we are there to help with your questions and concerns.

Golden Bay Motueka Funeral Services has access to a number of well established and reputable prepaid plans, such as the Day’s Funeral Trust.

Two main options – Pre-planning or Prepaying

Pre-planned funerals:

You may like, at this stage, to pre-plan your funeral without paying for it. You can choose the type of service you want. You make your wishes known to us in confidence and we record them. There is no charge for this service.

Prepayment:

The next step after pre-planning is prepayment. At this stage you receive all the benefits of prepayment. These include limits from asset testing and the fact that your funds are safe, giving you peace of mind.

Prepaid funeral funds are lodged in a specific trust, independent of Golden Bay Motueka Funeral Services and are fully secured with the bank. Funds deposited in the Day’s Funeral Trust Fund are secure and can be released only by the presentation of a Death Certificate.

Guard against inflation

By fully paying for a funeral at today’s prices, regardless of when death occurs, your prepaid funeral as planned will not typically cost your estate any more than when you paid. Inflation increases are covered by the interest gained by the trust fund. Naturally if your family wants to make additions to what was planned that will be extra.

Help protect your pension or income

Prepaid funerals are now excluded from Government asset testing, up to $10,000, for long-term residential care, so the amount you pay towards the funeral plan does not get assessed as part of your total assets. This means that there is no financial penalty for your careful planning.

Reduce the burden on your family

Because you have made many of the major decisions in the pre-planning process and because you have prepaid for the funeral, the financial and emotional burden on your family and loved ones is reduced.

Choices

Prepayment ensures that your express wishes are carried out. You can choose the type of funeral service you want, including readings, funeral celebrant, music, casket, etc. You make these choices in your own time, free from the anxiety and stress that surrounds death.

Flexibility

We can help you carefully document your wishes and you will receive a copy of your plan. It is important to realise that you are free to change the arrangements at a later time if you wish. If the funeral is to be in another town we can arrange for the funeral to be carried out by another Funeral Director.

Payment options

We makes prepaying easy with a variety of payment options. Talk to us about your requirements.

Image courtesy of Gardens of the World.