Cost of Cremation

[REWahoo]

She always tried to shelter us from anything she felt would upset us. Didn’t even consider us in making the arrangements, just had it done. Yes, it was her wish, but funerals aren’t for the deceased, they’re for the family.

I understand. Unfortunate that she didn't include her family in her planning.

Since we're planning on using the Neptune Society, I wanted to clarify what they did to upset you, thinking they might have violated a wish or not followed instructions left by the deceased. Sounds like that wasn't the case.

 

[Spock]

Mom and Dad signed up with Science Care thinking they were donating their bodies to science. It's a for-profit tissue harvesting company that sells parts (Dad got really PO'd when I called it a chop shop).


When Mom died in hospice, a call to Science Care and a (1) guy shows up a couple hours later at the hospice to haul the body away. There is a checkbox on the form if you want cremains back. An envelope arrived with a couple of death certs. A couple of weeks later I got a cardboard box labeled "cremains" in the mail. $0 cost except for whatever I paid the church for a memorial service (food from Costco, tips for the music, etc.).

Who knows if they cremated her alone and if the box contained just her cremains or sand from the parking lot. "At this point what difference does it make?".

 

[SecondCor521]

My Mom died in 2016. She was cremated and interred in a wall columbarium at the local veterans' cemetery as my Dad is retired USAF. My parents chose the least expensive plan from the local cremation society. As I recall the cost was about $800.

Here is the pricing for the place that did her cremation:

https://dazl12ygp0r17.cloudfront.ne...o/files/CSI_GPL_March_24__2022.pdf?1648135314

It looks like the plan that my parents used now costs $895.

They also charged a reasonable cost the five (?) death certificates which we ordered through them. We only ended up needing two or three. I think around here one can order death certificates directly from the county or state, perhaps more cheaply if done that way.

That price doesn't seem to include an urn now. I don't know what we did for an urn for her. Perhaps her cremains are in a plastic free thing - she probably would be happy with that. On urns, I know we were once able to provide our own urn for a family member who died and the place handling that cremation put the ashes in it and sealed it for us. In that case it was a Depression Era sugar bowl with lid.

The interment and wall marker were free courtesy of Uncle Sam IIRC. You didn't ask about this, but I believe my parents pre-registered with the veterans' cemetery somehow and I think the main thing there is that you need to, of course, provide proof of military service (which may be as simple as a DD-214). I think that probably made things go more smoothly when she passed away.

We separately chose to hold a celebration of life at their retirement home; there was an honorarium of perhaps $200 for the pastor, and there was a similar charge to reserve the room I think.

My Dad plans to be cremated by the same place, same plan, and be interred with my Mom. He doesn't care if we do a celebration of life thing. The veterans' cemetery said they will update the marker for free.

 

[Beldar]

3 yrs ago we had MIL & BIL (who died 3 days apart in the same home) cremated for approx $1100 each. The price was inflated by the fact we had to fill out paperwork remotely and the daily cost for refrigeration added up. We received 2 plastic bags of ashes in cardboard boxes. Still sitting on the floor in our foyer.

The crematory had all sorts of urns to offer but they advised us to purchase something on amazon or Ebay to save money.

_B

 

[Morgan22]

If it was $10k total cost it most likely included embalming and a wake and/or funeral ceremony.

A direct cremation, that doesn't include any of the above, should be less than $2k.

DM got a quote for herself in San Diego, CA and the current cost is only $1,400. She just wants all of her kids to take her on a final party boat cruise and put her ashes in the ocean.

*She was able to get a quote from tulipcremation.com. I'm not sure if they only serve southern California or not.

 

[ivinsfan]

Do you think a town of 20K would have a facility to cremate bodies or do some larger funeral homes contain crematoriums....in my friends case (the 10K bill) there might have been a body transport fee to the site...which probably is 50 to 100 miles one way.



Her Dh had expressed his wish to be cremated and I'm pretty there would not have been a fancy casket, why you buy a casket for a cremation?

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

+1 Absolutely. I agree.

Now I'm wondering, what does local government do if some homeless person dies and nobody claims the body? I have no idea (none!) but who knows, maybe they'd cremate the body and bury the ashes in some sort of mass paupers' grave. For $0.00 .

Retired local government-health and human services
We have a program that pays for people who have no family and no assets to be cremated.
Efforts are made to contact the family but not finding them or them not wanting to take responsibility happens quite frequently.
And family members are not responsible.

 

[ivinsfan]

If it was $10k total cost it most likely included embalming and a wake and/or funeral ceremony.

A direct cremation, that doesn't include any of the above, should be less than $2k.

DM got a quote for herself in San Diego, CA and the current cost is only $1,400. She just wants all of her kids to take her on a final party boat cruise and put her ashes in the ocean.

*She was able to get a quote from tulipcremation.com. I'm not sure if they only serve southern California or not.

I thought cremation means you don't have to be embalmed I don't want to be embalmed I think it's creepy.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Direct cremation here cost 500 in 2016. You call the crematorium yourself and they pick up the body. I told my kids to do that. Once you start involving the funeral home the costs add up. I looked into the Neptune society and it was expensive but they will take care of you no matter if you die in another country. I bought a urn plot at a local cemetery for 3k. When I was married I did the paperwork for a place in the veteran’s cemetery which is a great option for veterans.

 

[Gumby]

I would expect that if you want to have a viewing followed by cremation, then embalming would be required, but I don't know for sure. I want what my dad had - direct cremation, then inurnment at the national cemetery (in my case, the USNA columbarium). After the national cemetery, I, my siblings and their children went to my sister's house, stopping on the way home to get some food platters and booze from the supermarket. I doubt my young wife will want to have any sort of memorial service and I obviously won't know or care. So it should be relatively inexpensive.

 

[athena53]

DH was cremated in the Kansas City area in 2016 and it was $1,000. I took the standard plastic box and my brother built a nicer one out of wood. No embalming, no casket. Funeral expenses were separate. I know I got HIS ashes back because they included a dental implant! I'm about to deposit his ashes in the 17h country (Bosnia) tomorrow. Ljublana to follow.

DDIL's father died this past year and they "rented" a perfectly nice casket for the viewing and then had him cremated. Very practical.

 

[Morgan22]

I thought cremation means you don't have to be embalmed I don't want to be embalmed I think it's creepy.

Embalming usually is not required. Unfortunately, many funeral homes will suggest that it is. Especially if there is to be a viewing.

 

[Scrapr]

Well it sound ghoulish but I guess I need to figure out if there is anyway to get cremated without involving the local funeral home. They will definitely do an internment honoring type ceremony at the VA cemetery I'm have attended them myself. So my DH can think about if he wants something local in addition to that.

There are private cremation companies that will do that. My wife passed 3 years ago. We weren't sure if she was going to die in one of 2 cities. So I researched both. In the bigger city the private company would do it for about $1100 or so. In the smaller one a small funeral home nearby charge (I think) $1200. No service at either one. We had a Celebration of Life at a winery. Ashes came back in a cardboard box. I bought an urn on etsy.

MIL prepaid hers (along with late FIL) at a big cemetery. When FIL passed we went in and went over everything. They were not too pushy on add ons. IDK if they prepaid for a deluxe package but it was pretty easy

*edit: I originally wrote Celebration of Like....LOL

 

[friar1610]

I would expect that if you want to have a viewing followed by cremation, then embalming would be required, but I don't know for sure. I want what my dad had - direct cremation, then inurnment at the national cemetery (in my case, the USNA columbarium). After the national cemetery, I, my siblings and their children went to my sister's house, stopping on the way home to get some food platters and booze from the supermarket. I doubt my young wife will want to have any sort of memorial service and I obviously won't know or care. So it should be relatively inexpensive.

Your expectations (regarding the requirement for cremation) are similar to mine although I’ve never checked. I want to be cremated and inured at the local National Cemetery. Although I don’t want a big deal public viewing, I’d like my immediate family to have the opportunity for a small private one if they are so inclined. I’d also like a small, private church funeral prior to inurement and typically the “box” with the remains is present. So I imagine a funeral home would find a way to make this pretty expensive, ‘eh? Embalming, use of a viewing room, sale of a “box”, etc. An Irish pub will likely figure into the post-inurement plans. Maybe I need to revisit my plans (except for the pub part).

 

[ncbill]

My stepfather was cremated following an elaborate ceremony... Overall cost was close to 10K and that was over 20 years ago. They said that the casket itself was also burnt... Funny we didn't get the ornate handle and hardware back with his ashes... got a strange look when i asked about them.
MIL prearranged her funeral and burial... spent over 20K about 6 years ago, not including the plot. Funeral Homes seem to try and squeeze any penny they can out. We have looked into prearrange cremation services and cost was $1400- $3500 between the local providers... Thats just pick up the body, cardboard box and go pick up the ashes in a plastic bag. No service or even an obituary.
About 7 years ago, A good camping friend of ours passed without any family. We stepped in to do what we could, and found a cremation for $900. But as a Vet we got the VA to take and bury him in a VA cemetery at $0 cost.
I would check in with the VA and see about making arrangements
We have agreed that we dont want any big service.. We want a weekend long cookout/party here at the house, camping available, and folks to drop by, hang out, tell stories and celebrate...

Ugh, dad bought the mahogany casket (@ $15,000 alone) twenty years ago for his mom...we pallbearers struggled to lift it.

But just a couple of years ago got my relative cremated, with church & graveside service for ~$4,000.

Included $2,500 for the funeral home's fixed overhead fee, $50/day for refrigeration (their kid had to come ID them the next day per the funeral home's policy), & $400 to pick up the body.

I guess I could have dropped them off at the funeral home & saved that $400 since their ALF called me in the wee hours after they died & wanted me to come & sit with the body until picked up by the funeral home literally only a couple of miles away.

Maybe the ALF staff had binge-watched too many episodes of The Walking Dead?

 

[38Chevy454]

Retired local government-health and human services
We have a program that pays for people who have no family and no assets to be cremated.
Efforts are made to contact the family but not finding them or them not wanting to take responsibility happens quite frequently.
And family members are not responsible.

Pretty much my experience with my aunt that died homeless and no assets. The state Oregon paid for cremation, i think the reimbursement was like $250 about 6-7 years ago. A funeral home contacted me as closest relative, but I was 1500 miles away. I didn't do any estate probate or pay anything to funeral home. They did ask what to do with ashes and I let them scatter in the ocean which was the default for homeless.

I was only in occasional contact with my aunt, and knew enough that no assets were in her estate. Only asset i was aware of was her VW van vehicle, which was at one of her friend's house when she went to hospital and then a rehab place where she died. All under state Medicaid Medicare facilities. She lived in her VW van before becoming too sick and going into hospital.

So a long answer of my direct experience with the govt process when a homeless person with no assets dies.

 

[ncbill]

Mom and Dad signed up with Science Care thinking they were donating their bodies to science. It's a for-profit tissue harvesting company that sells parts (Dad got really PO'd when I called it a chop shop).


When Mom died in hospice, a call to Science Care and a (1) guy shows up a couple hours later at the hospice to haul the body away. There is a checkbox on the form if you want cremains back. An envelope arrived with a couple of death certs. A couple of weeks later I got a cardboard box labeled "cremains" in the mail. $0 cost except for whatever I paid the church for a memorial service (food from Costco, tips for the music, etc.).

Who knows if they cremated her alone and if the box contained just her cremains or sand from the parking lot. "At this point what difference does it make?".

My in-laws are doing this via the local medical school...he is an older transplant recipient so they want to study how that went.

He negotiated with the school to include his wife so their cremains will then be returned to the kids for free.

 

[powerplay]

My aunt and uncle had their cremations prearranged which was very nice for me. They used a local (Oregon) business which was family owned when my uncle passed (January 2010) and had been bought out by a large corp. by the time my aunt passed (October 2013). I believe each cremation was about $700 something and the only additional charge was for death certificates.
It looks like a basic cremation is available for $875 from the company.
https://autumn-funerals-cremation.com/simple-direct-cremation/

 

[SecondAttempt]

That is outrageous! It costs $1500-2K for cremation. But she may also have had a special urn and a memorial service at the facility.
When my wife passed away here on the West Coast, I called the cemetery back East where she had a family plot. I asked what the cost would be to inter her ashes with her parents.
By the time they added up the urn, the vault, digging the site and covering it, it was well over $2K! And that did not include the cost of me flying back there.

In all honesty, paying for guys and equipment to open a grave then close it, $1500-$2k does not seem unreasonable.

 

[SecondAttempt]

the only additional charge was for death certificates.

I've gotten death certificates for several relatives. There should be no charge except possibly to the state. Even then, $25 is a lot!

 

[Koolau]

3 copies may not be enough. It is cheaper to get them at the funeral than to request them later. Depending on how many accounts there are, you may need one for each account.

I've heard that 10 copies is a good number. We needed several for our parents (SS, insurance policies, bank accounts, property sales, etc.) Better 4 too many than one too few. YMMV

 

[Souschef]

In all honesty, paying for guys and equipment to open a grave then close it, $1500-$2k does not seem unreasonable.

I agree if you are digging down 6 feet to bury a casket, that may be reasonable. But to dig a 2 foot square hole two feet down is not.

 

[frank]

anyone signed on to be an organ donor? my wife and i are. I wonder how they handle that. I am 75 so I don't know if they will use any of my organs, but was just curious as to what happens in that situation. anyone know of any cremation services in northeast iowa?

 

[SecondCor521]

anyone signed on to be an organ donor? my wife and i are. I wonder how they handle that. I am 75 so I don't know if they will use any of my organs, but was just curious as to what happens in that situation. anyone know of any cremation services in northeast iowa?

I am an organ donor, whole body donor, and currently plan to be cremated.

In my state, one can indicate on one's driver's license that one is an organ donor. However, when the actual time comes for organ harvesting, I believe the decision for that is made by whomever is making the medical decisions for you. In an ideal case, this would be whomever is named in your medical POA, living will, etc.

Generally one cannot be both an organ donor and a whole body donor. The whole body places (typically medical schools) want the entire body for study, and organ donation messes with that (although cornea donation is allowed I think).

It's up to the individual to assess whether they might provide more value via organ donation or whole body donation. When I asked this question of the whole body people, they said age 75 was a good cutoff - below that age and your organs are probably good enough to be donated; over that age there might be health problems that would make organ donation not as useful but whole body would still be helpful.

So that's more or less what my detailed instructions to my executor say in my letter of instruction:

1. Organ donation if under age 75.
2. Whole body if 75 or over and possible given the circumstances of my death.
3. Cremate whatever's left.

I believe the whole body places will cremate your body - for free - after they're done using it. This would make sense in the case of a medical school or similar, as your body probably can't be put back into reasonable viewing shape. Also, there is a significant time lag - I think the cremains show up back to the family about two years after death.

I don't know of any cremation services in Iowa, but Google does:

https://www.google.com/search?q=cremation+services+in+northeast+iowa

 

[braumeister]

they said age 75 was a good cutoff - below that age and your organs are probably good enough to be donated

That's probably a general rule. My dad was an organ donor, and when he died I asked about donation and I was told "Oh, no, not at his age." He was 76.