DYING SET TO COST YOUR FAMILY MORE.

With the ever increasing costs of funerals in Spain, many people began to panic and worry about the costs of their own funeral arrangements and purchased Funeral Plans that are the fad in Spain at this time. This meant that people who could barely afford to survive on their meagre pensions had to fork out up to €6,000 if they wanted a policy. Payments were available in instalments, but if you were to die before the full policy premium was paid, then the likelyhood was that your family had to find the rest of the premium to bury you. 

All very well if you can afford one. If you can afford one there is no point in buying one as you already have the money available for your funeral. 

Ah but?  

If you die in Spain :-

1. In the event of your sudden death in Spain, or if the Spanish authorities discover you have died, your bank account will be frozen and your family will not have access to any funds to pay for anything. 

2. Your Estate and inheritance matters will have to be cleared by the Spanish authorities before they will release any of your family funds. 

and the list goes on....

What else can you do?

You can make your own private arrangements with the funeral parlour of your choice and leave specific instructions as to what you want to happen and pay up front for it. All sorted and your family wont need to worry, as the Funeral parlour or crematorium will collect your body and carry out your requests.

life insurance :-

A small or big life insurance, processed correctly, and by that I mean that if you want life insurance on yourself, your spouse or a person that is likely to survive you, needs to be the beneficiary. This ensures that they are paid out quickly and the payout does not form part of your Estate and become taxable by the Spanish government. Secondly, a life insurance cover for €20,000, which could mean that you could afford to invite and pay for all your UK family and friends to come over to Spain to say their last goodbyes, have a good party and sendoff, and maybe have some change left over, would not cost you anything like €6,000. 

Thats the benefits, but what´s the downside?

In Spain they like to bury or cremate you quickly. That choice is yours to make, and someone will have to take care of all the arrangements. This is where the Funeral Plans tend to sway your decision towards them. All the fancy brochures persuade you that everything is taken care of, as you would expect. This reduces the worry of your surviving family having to make all of those arrangements such as which type of coffin you want, what type of burial or cremation, where, when and how. All sorted - at a price. The chances are that the Funeral Plan companies have a standard arrangement with the funeral parlours or crematoriums so that they can hand over almost immediately to them. So if that is the case, just do the same. 

It´s not difficult.

Most funeral parlours or crematoriums in Spain are excellent and provide a personal service. Once notified of the death, they will arrange everything for you. Your family can select and decide what they want to do, if you didn´t make that decision, or if your death was sudden and unexpected. They will arrange for the collection of the body from the hospital and sort it all out. Most, if not all Crematoriums, have English speakers or will find you a translator if required.