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How to leave money for your funeral

Written by Ines Pena

Making a plan to pay for your own funeral can give you the peace of mind that your family won't be caught out by unexpected funeral expenses.

There are several ways to make sure money is ready to be used if needed. The list includes Over 50s life insurance, like our Over 50s Life Cover.

Our Over 50s Life Cover is designed to help with funeral costs specifically.

It includes Funeral Funding as standard, which means the payout goes directly to a funeral director (plus an extra £300 if you don't choose a direct-to-cremation funeral) so your family don't need to wait for inheritance to become available before giving you the send-off you deserve.

Why you should plan to leave your funeral covered

It can be difficult to think about what will happen when you pass away, but planning for your own funeral and leaving money behind to cover it means there’s one less thing for your family to deal with at an already difficult time.

No matter how small you’d like your funeral to be, it will need paying for. And it will likely need to take place within a few days or weeks from when you pass away. If you don’t leave readily available money behind to cover it, the person organising your funeral will most likely have to pay.
If you leave any debt behind when you die those debts will have to be paid off before your family get any inheritance. If they do need to cover the costs of your funeral, it could be months before they’re reimbursed through their inheritance.
Planning your own funeral means you can have the send-off you wanted, without your family having to guess what you wanted.

How to leave money for your funeral

There are different ways you can plan to leave your funeral paid for when you die.

Over 50s life insurance

Over 50s life insurance could pay for all, or some, of your funeral expenses.

Our Over 50s Life Cover policy has guaranteed acceptance, meaning if you're aged between 50 and 80 and a UK resident, we will be able to offer you cover.

The policy is designed to help with funeral costs specifically, with Funeral Funding included as standard. As long as you've kept up your regular payments, when you die the payout will go straight to a funeral director so the money is available to pay for your funeral even before your will is sorted out.

What's more, with our over 50s life insurance, the funeral director will contribute a further £300 towards the cost of your funeral (not applicable if you choose a direct-to-cremation funeral).

Once you turn 90, you won't need to pay any more premiums but you’ll continue to be covered for life.

Our policy also covers you in the case of a terminal illness diagnosis, with 100% of the policy being paid out if you're diagnosed with a condition that means you're expected to live less than 12 months (diagnosis must be at least two years after you started the policy).

Over 50s life insurance can be a good way to spread the cost of your funeral, but it’s worth noting that the payout may not be enough cover the full cost, depending on the arrangements and the payout amount.

Savings accounts

Leaving money in a savings account to pay for your funeral may seem like a good idea but, unless it’s a joint account, it can take a long time until your relatives can access that money. This means they might not be able to use that money to pay for your funeral.

Some banks and building societies release funds quickly, but others will freeze an account until probate is granted – which can take weeks. Probate is the legal authority to wind up the affairs of someone who has died.

Find out more about probate here: What is probate?

Funeral plans

If you have a funeral plan, the cost of your funeral is covered, even if prices go up between the day you set up your plan and the day you die.

With a funeral plan, you pay a set amount in and those funds are paid out, quickly and in full, directly to the funeral home when you die. You can pay into a funeral plan through either a lump sum or regular instalments.

It’s worth keeping in mind that some funeral costs won’t be covered by a plan, such as a burial plot or flowers.