Funerals

Hope this information helps:

www.murciatoday.com/understanding-the-funeral-process-in-spain_824-a.html 

 www.avalonfuneralplans.com/european-funeral-plans/spain/

www.facebook.com/Theenglishfuneraldirector/

Be aware that there are funeral plan companies that rely on scare tactics and untruths to get you to sign up for expensive schemes, when there is no guarantee that the company will be in existence by the time you need them.

In our time in Spain we have sadly had to step in and arrange funerals for two friends. In neither case was there any pressure to get the ceremony done until things were ready - a lot longer than the 24/48 hours normal for a Spanish family. They nearly all have plans in place, and the churches are used to laying on a service within hours of death. The family will normally have a family niche in the local cemetery, and attitudes seem different for Catholics.

The most we paid was 3500 Euros for a simple cremation, with ashes spread in the garden of the deceased in both cases.

Just make sure you have around 4000 Euros put aside, and don't worry.

We have funeral Insurance at Liberty Seguros. We pay 27 euros per month and are both covered for 4600 euros.

Thanks to you all, gives us something to work on.

I could do better with my time but has to be done for peace of mind.

Wow, funeral insurance and plans loaded with expensibe commissions?

Look at Funeralsdirect website instead.

Many funeral plan companys have gone bust in the last 15 years in Spain taking peoples funeral money with them!

On my demise my Wife has written instructions to phone their helpline. 

Their cremation service is 1400€. 

You pay on your card during the phone call, they then take over dealing with Guardia and Coroner, collection of body, you have nothing to do. 

There are very reasonable add ons if wanted spelt out on their website. 

You have the option to pay up front for peace of mind but its not necessary. On the day will suffice.

I want my Wife to have the 3+4 grand I would wasted on commissiom based services from "funeral plans & insurances" 

Why should they get 7-8 grand of our hard earned money instead of our children.

Oh yes, for my probable critics our friend is an Area Manager for Avalon. Know their schemes well. 😊

Trust this information helps you Lucinda, we were so grateful when we were given these wise words.

Have a very long and happy life, best regards Al

I chose this solution because we don't have savlngs so for me that is peace of mind. 

Thanks for your advice Rascalmste, will definitely look into this.

Regards Chris

Glad to be of help my friend, regards Al

Let me explain to those who do not understand what dying in Spain means and to those people that think they have to splash out huge amounts of money from what they read in the press advertising to get cremated on their demise.

On the unfortunate demise of you or your partner you have to phone the Guardia Civil, that is the law.

If you do this and not phone Funerals Direct first, Funerals Direct can no longer help you.

By not phoning Funerals Direct first and calling the Guardia in such desperate unfortunate and emotional circumstances you allow the Guardia to take control.

Without a funeral plan in place (under such cover you would obviously phone the company first) the Guardia Civil will take over,  call the Coroner and more importantly assign you their preferred Funeral Director to earn themselves a LOT of commission at your expense and your bank account will be frozen !!!!!

A friend of mine lost his partner. I did not know for two days unfortunately.

The Guardia came in and he was signed up to a 3750€ funeral (their absolute basic) He had no money for such an expense so he had to sign a credit agreement of 100€ a month.

For gees sake he was living on a UK state pension that would be one sixth of his monthly income. 

His rent was 350€ per month. How was he supposed to live?

Nothing could be done afterwards he had signed.

Bloodsucking Funeral Directors during his extreme grief also signed him up for 39€ per month funeral insurance after convincing this vunerable man he needed it. What!

The guy lives on his own why does he need funeral coverage. On his demise let the Guardia and State bear the cost.

Fortunately for my friend I involved myself with the funeral insurance part and stopped it...... That was an interesting confrontation 😊

This is what can happen, its happening all the time. 

Its how funeral insurance cover plans are levied against expats.

If you prefer to keep your money without paying fat commissions to insurance company's, funeral plans and the like simply call Funerals Direct and decide on the options with their cheapest possible plan available in Spain.

They are hated by the peddlers of high cost Spanish funeral plans and Spanish funeral Directors alike because of the huge financial loss they suffer when someone instead deals with the English -Funerals Direct.

We prefer to keep the 6 or 7 thousand euros we saved by not splashing out huge amounts of our lifetime hard earned cash. 

Instead we decided to save this money on our demise and keep the cash either for my Wife if I go first or vice-versa or for our children instead of funding lavish lifestyles on those who prey on death with high commissioned based schemes.

As always it's your choice.

We made ours.

Kind regards Al