# How do poor people pay for funerals? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2009, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007 "2009-04-04T23:09:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Asylum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@Asylum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asylum)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/1 "2009-04-04T23:09:45Z")
It seems to me that even if you go cheap you’re going to be paying close to $10,000. How do you people without any insurance or other resources pay for it, especially since the funeral homes and cemeteries want money up front? ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/2 "2009-04-04T23:19:28Z")
It probably depends on the city, but if you have a dead guy with no next of kin, the city is going to get rid of it. In my town, they cremate him and bury the ashes on the border of two family plots. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/3 "2009-04-05T00:03:27Z")
[Potter’s fields](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potters_field) ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/4 "2009-04-05T01:11:30Z")
A funeral doesn’t have to cost thousands. A direct cremation can cost less than $1500, sometimes less than $1000.00. You don’t have to buy a casket, you don’t have to have a service in a funeral home. Of course, even that’s out of the reach of a very poor person. A really inexpensive alternative is to donate the body to a medical school. There is one in NJ, the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, that only requires the body be delivered to the facility. After using it for medical study, there is a modest service, the remains are cremated, and the ashed returned to the family. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/5 "2009-04-05T02:15:40Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > [Potter’s fields](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potters_field) The largest in the US being on [Hart Island](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart_Island_(New_York)) in the Bronx, New York: > [@](#): > > Those interred on Hart Island are not necessarily homeless or indigent, as hearsay has it, but people who could either not afford the expenses of private funerals or who were unclaimed by relatives who are frequently not notified within a two week period. ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/6 "2009-04-05T04:52:00Z")
Apparently, [some have sliding scale pricing.](http://www.google.com/search?q=funeral+homes+sliding+scale&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a) I guess with their huge markups they can afford to take people at cost as a social service. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/7 "2009-04-05T04:57:23Z")
[Here’s](http://www.montrealmirror.com/ARCHIVES/2003/091803/news1.html) a rather depressing article about where the indigent and unclaimed dead of Montreal are buried (answer: Laval) and what it involves. > [@](#): > > The coroner’s office supervised and paid for the burial of 45 bodies in Montreal last year and 38 the year before. They do try to contact the relatives of the dead through the media, and maybe 30 per cent of the bodies eventually end up claimed. “We’re not required to do so by law, but we feel it is a humanitarian gesture,” says Houle. > > As for the Ministry of Health and Social Services, the procedure is similar: if someone dies a natural death, in a hospital or home, the institution contacts the police to track down any living relation. If the body is unclaimed after 30 days, it’s sent to a funeral home of the institution’s choice, which arranges for the burial. The home then bills the Ministry. A Ministry representative says there were 248 unclaimed bodies in 2002. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/8 "2009-04-05T06:22:03Z")
Is a conventional funeral arranged by a mortician legally necessary in the US? For instance, could an indigent family organize a funeral themselves and bury the body in their backyard? (Having complied with any legal requirements for autopsy, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/9 "2009-04-05T09:31:35Z")
If the family is poor but really good at construction and drywall finishing, they might strike an agreement with the funeral home director to fix up his water damage in exchange for a free service. This is how my poor uncles paid for their brother’s service and cremation. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/10 "2009-04-05T09:46:05Z")
Asylum writes: \> It seems to me that even if you go cheap you’re going to be paying close to \> $10,000. Who have you been talking to that you think that $10,000 is cheap for a funeral? The average cost of a funeral in the U.S. is currently about $7,000. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/11 "2009-04-05T13:34:44Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Asylum writes: > > \> It seems to me that even if you go cheap you’re going to be paying close to > \> $10,000. > > Who have you been talking to that you think that $10,000 is cheap for a funeral? The average cost of a funeral in the U.S. is currently about $7,000. We paid about $7K last year for my father in law’s funeral. (That didn’t include the plot, which he’d bought himself before he died.) That was with the cheapest casket they had, which was about $4K, IIRC. I’m not sure how you could get the cost down much below 5K, at least if you insist on an actual burial. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/12 "2009-04-05T13:49:05Z")
In the UK you can apply for government assistance to help with funeral costs if you’re a very close family member and you can’t afford to pay for the funeral of your loved one. That money can come in the form of loans or grants. Credit unions also have funeral plans that people can pay into, which work out a lot cheaper than just saving the money up. I’d bet that the US has some charities (some through churches) that offer the same. Our nearest funeral home also has a funeral fund, that people can apply to, to cover the cost of the funeral. But then, average funeral costs here are £2000 for a burial and £1,215 for a cremation (which is more common). Maybe ours are cheaper because we don’t tend to have open-casket viewngs at the funeral home. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/13 "2009-04-05T13:50:44Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Is a conventional funeral arranged by a mortician legally necessary in the US? For instance, could an indigent family organize a funeral themselves and bury the body in their backyard? (Having complied with any legal requirements for autopsy, etc.) Doubtful. Considering the worries about groundwater, disease, flooding turning bodies up, etc., I suspect that’s not allowable. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/14 "2009-04-05T14:10:41Z")
I suspect a large part of the bill could be paid by donations and/or loans from family and friends. One of my coworkers lost a nephew last year- young guy, shot and killed, maybe drugs involved. Word was that finances were extremely poor for this unexpected demise and many people from work gave her cash to pass along to her sister. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/15 "2009-04-05T14:23:45Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Doubtful. Considering the worries about groundwater, disease, flooding turning bodies up, etc., I suspect that’s not allowable. The movie Little Miss Sunshine lead me to believe that there are quite a lot of laws regarding dead bodies in the US (there probably are here, too). The internet is not helping me prove this, though. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/16 "2009-04-05T14:30:30Z")
If you are poor (or just frugal) cremation is the way to go. $1200-1700 fee for the cremation end of things. As in, they will pick up the body, provide what is in essence a cardboard coffin for use during transport (and the actual burning, I think), arrange for whatever official it is to view the body and give permission for its destruction, post the required death notice to the local newspaper of reference, actually cremate the body, and pack the ashes into a default container. The ones I’ve seen look like a sturdy plastic box, maybe 6" on side. For additional fees you can get all sorts of more elaborate/costly containers. For additional fees they will ship the remains to you and/or arrange for them to be scattered at sea or some such. You can hold a funeral or memorial service separately. With or without the remains there, close to the time of death or later, perhaps when the family can gather. This service can be expensive, but doesn’t need to be. For example, our church will hold funerals for its members, and close relatives of those members for free. As in, no charge for the use of the church, a light refreshments gathering in the fellowship hall afterwards provided by the Ladies’ Guild. If you hold it on a Sunday-Tuesday, the flowers from the church service should still be lovely. Pretty much, all it would ‘cost’ would be some sort of honorarium to the presiding pastor/priest and the organist. And those aren’t mandatory, but customary. For that matter, a memorial service can be held anywhere – your home, some outdoor location, whatever. Find someone to preside, prep him/her with the facts of the deceased’s life, and that’s really all you need. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/17 "2009-04-05T14:34:19Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > The movie Little Miss Sunshine lead me to believe that there are quite a lot of laws regarding dead bodies in the US (there probably are here, too). The internet is not helping me prove this, though. There are. In Minnesota you have to use an approved casket or urn that has to be purchased in the state (no buying your caskets from Costco for us Minnesotans). ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/18 "2009-04-05T14:36:09Z")
Renee writes: \> We paid about $7K last year for my father in law’s funeral. (That didn’t include \> the plot, which he’d bought himself before he died.) That’s nice, but the fact remains that the average American funeral, including the cost of the plot, is about $7,300 at the moment. That doesn’t include the cost of a plot and grave digging, but even counting those it’s well below $10,000: > **[Peabody Funeral Homes & Crematorium, Derry and Londonderry, NH -...](https://www.peabodyfuneralhome.com/FAQs.htm)** > > Frequently Asked Funeral Questions at Peabody Funeral Homes & Crematorium, Derry and Londonderry, NH Asylum claimed that even a cheap funeral will be about $10,000. That’s not true. That’s above the cost of an average funeral in the U.S., let alone a cheap one. Anyone who thinks that it’s impossible to have a funeral for less than $10,000 in the U.S. has been talking to some funeral director who tried to persuade him that funerals costing below $10,000 are just not proper. In funerals, as in everything else, you should shop around if you are getting high price estimates. ---
**Author:** ![sugar\_and\_spice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@sugar\_and\_spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugar_and_spice)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/19 "2009-04-05T14:55:13Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Is a conventional funeral arranged by a mortician legally necessary in the US? For instance, could an indigent family organize a funeral themselves and bury the body in their backyard? (Having complied with any legal requirements for autopsy, etc.) PBS did a show a while back about ‘home funerals’, ie families taking over various parts of the funeral process. I think this [is the link](http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2004/afamilyundertaking/about.html). It was very interesting. One of the stories was a ranching family in South Dakota that was preparing for the grandpa’s passing – they make his casket at home and he burns his own cattle brand into the wood. IIRC the show said that it laws vary by state. You can of course see why South Dakota would be a bit more liberal about the process. /aside ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007/20 "2009-04-05T15:45:30Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Doubtful. Considering the worries about groundwater, **disease** , flooding turning bodies up, etc., I suspect that’s not allowable. What diseases are caused by bodies buried in backyards? If the disease died of cholera and you tip the body into the reservoir I can see a problem, but if Myrtle dies of a heart attack or renal cancer, what diseases could her corpse cause? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-poor-people-pay-for-funerals/492007.md?page=2)