FAQ
What do we do when death occurs away from home?
What is cremation, and how does it compare in cost to earth burial?
How are funeral directors regulated?
How can I make sure that my funeral arrangements are carried out according to my wishes?
How much do funerals really cost?
What about caskets and Internet Funeral products? Is it better to purchase merchandise through a retail funeral store, a cemetery, the Internet or a funeral director?
What happens when there are no funds available?
How do I shop around for the best value and services?
Do I have to use a vault?
Is embalming required by law?
What do we do when death occurs away from home?
When death occurs out of town and you want Phillips Funeral Home Inc. to handle the funeral services, contact us directly as soon as the death occurs. Don’t call a separate funeral home out-of-town. Calling Phillips Funeral Home first will enable us to coordinate all the details both in the city where the death occurs, and here in Corning, where the services will take place. This can save you and your family time, anxiety and it will lower overall expenses. You'll be able to make your decisions in more familiar surroundings and with people you know. You may want to consider the pre-arrangement of funeral services so that you will know exactly what will be happening when that difficult time occurs.
What is cremation, and how does it compare in cost to earth burial?
Cremation is an alternative mode of disposition to earth burial. It is the process of reducing the body to bone fragments through the application of intense heat for three to four hours in a cremation furnace. In our demographic area, approximately 25% of families that we serve choose cremation as disposition of choice.
Families who choose cremation can choose from a variety of opportunities that provide for meaningful services for the benefit of family and friends – both before and after cremation takes place. Among those options are; private or public visitation with the body present, followed by a funeral, before the body is taken to the crematory, private or public visitation without the body present followed by a funeral, or a memorial service of remembrance at the funeral home or place of worship.
When cremation is chosen as a substitute for a traditional funeral followed by an earth burial, the cost is considerably less.
How are funeral directors regulated?
The New York State Department of Health is responsible for the regulation of all funeral-directing activities in the state. The FTC also regulates funeral services. When areas of misunderstanding occur, the consumer should discuss problems with the funeral director first. If the dispute cannot be resolved, the consumer may wish to contact the Funeral Service Consumer Assistance Program.
FSCAP provides information, mediates disputes, provides arbitration, and maintains a consumer guarantee fund for reimbursement of services rendered.
(To contact FSCAP, call 708-827-6337 or 800-662-7666)
www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/consumer/patient/funeral.htm
How can I make sure that my funeral arrangements are carried out according to my wishes?
Pre-arranging a funeral is one of the more thoughtful decisions an individual can make for his or her survivors. It ensures that your funeral preferences and desires will be respected upon your death.
To make informed choices, you should know what you want, how much you can afford to pay, what guarantees are provided on merchandise and services, what happens if you move and want to change funeral homes, the tax consequence of the funding arrangements, if any, and if you are protected against inflation. Your selections and preferences will determine the cost. You may elect to pre-fund the cost through insurance or a special burial fund. Most funeral directors offer inflation-proof funding vehicles that allow you to arrange exactly the kind of service you desire, at today´s prices, so that you can be assured of adequate funds at the time of need.
For additional information visit our Pre-Planning Section.
How much do funerals really cost?
Funeral costs are determined by the services and merchandise requested by the consumer. Traditional funeral costs have increased no faster than the consumer price index for other consumer items. The typical traditional service cost at Phillips Funeral Home Inc. including; staff and facility fees for visitation and the funeral service, automotive equipment, a casket, and grave liner or vault is between $5500 and $7000. More economical immediate disposition services are also available in a variety of forms. When compared to other major life-cycle events, like births and weddings, funerals are not expensive. A wedding can cost three times as much. Since a wedding is a happy event, wedding costs are rarely criticized.
A funeral home is a 24-hour, labor-intensive business, with extensive facilities (viewing rooms, chapels, limousines, hearses, etc.). These expenses must be factored into the cost of a funeral. Moreover, the cost of a funeral includes not only merchandise, like caskets, but the services of a funeral director in; making arrangements, filing necessary legal forms, dealing with doctors, ministers, florists, newspapers and others, and seeing to all the necessary details. Casket costs on an average funeral service, represents about 26% of the total funeral costs.
What about caskets and Internet Funeral products? Is it better to purchase merchandise through a retail funeral store, a cemetery, the Internet or a funeral director?
Consumers can opt to purchase funeral merchandise through retail outlets, cemeteries, and even the Internet. Over-exaggerated claims about the savings one can achieve are prevalent, especially on the Internet.
Years ago, the entire cost of a funeral was included in the price of a casket. In the 1960´s the government enacted regulations requiring funeral directors to itemize their charges. Fearing competitive factors, in general, funeral directors kept their service fees lower than actual costs and casket prices higher to make up the differences. Over the years, further regulation mandated more stringent itemization such that today, most funeral directors recoup their operating expense via service charges resulting in lower casket costs.
A consumer should always get price quotes and make informed comparisons before purchasing any merchandise. Cemeteries and funeral retail outlets often maintain inferior quality products marked up higher than a funeral home simply because they need to recoup their operating costs from just the sale of those products. Before purchasing from a third party provider, always get a written quote describing in detail the merchandise, materials, and warranties included. The terms and conditions of delivery should be included. Compare these prices and items to that of your local funeral director. At Phillips Funeral Home and Cremation Service, Inc., we offer an extensive variety of caskets from under $500 to over $5,000 produced from wood, metal, and alternative materials.
What happens when there are no funds available?
Other than the family, there are veteran, union, and other organizational benefits to pay for funerals including, in certain instances, a lump-sum death payment from Social Security. In most states, some form of public aid allowances are available from either the state, county, city or a combination. Most funeral directors are aware of the various benefits and know how to obtain them for the indigent. However, funeral directors often absorb costs above and beyond what is provided by agencies to insure the deceased a respectable burial.
How do I shop around for the best value and services?
Most funeral directors encourage the public to visit their funeral homes. Getting to know the person you will be dealing with at a very stressful time is very important and ideally should happen before the death of a loved one occurs. After meeting with several funeral directors, you will most likely find one with whom you are comfortable - a person you experience to be patient and understanding, a good listener, an open-minded person you believe and trust, one who offers you choices consistent with your personal needs.
We invite you to stop by or call us at 607-936-9212 for a free, no-obligation folder of information that explains all the services we offer including costs of the services and merchandise we offer.
Do I have to use a vault?
There is no NY State law that requires the use of a burial vault. However, most cemeteries require the casket to be placed in a protective outer container suitable to keep the ground above it from sinking on it. Years ago, graves were dug by hand. Today, heavy earth moving equipment is used. That equipment may travel on top of many graves to reach the specific location. Vaults and concrete grave liners provide adequate strength to keep the earth from sinking. Earth burial is often selected by those who choose the cremation process. As is the case with a casket, the urn or urn vault is buried on the family gravesite.
Is embalming required by law?
In New York State embalming, in nearly all situations, is not required by law. As is the case in most states, however, embalming is required when a reportable contagious disease caused the death, or when the remains will to transported from one state to another by common carrier.
Embalming sanitizes and provides temporary preservation of the body, decelerates the decomposition process, and enhances the appearance of a body disfigured by traumatic death or illness.
Embalming makes it possible to lengthen the time between death and the final disposition, thus allowing family members time to arrange and participate in the type of service most meaningful to them.