The option of a Pre-paid Funeral Plan or Bond gives your family peace of mind by protecting them from the distress of having to find substantial funds at relatively short notice, as well as ensuring your exact wishes are made known and carried out.
• A Pre-Paid Funeral allows you to arrange all the details for your funeral and lock in the cost at today’s prices.
• A Funeral Bond is like a savings plan and is an option when the cost of pre-paying a funeral outright is prohibitive.
For Centrelink or Veterans’ Affairs pension recipients, both the Pre-Paid Funeral Plan and Bond may enable you to maximize your pension entitlement and the money spent is not subject to the income and assets test or deemed earnings rules (according to legislation as of March 2008).
To help with funeral planning, we have prepared a free Personal Profile Record. This short document will help you express your preferences about your funeral plan and help ease the burden on your family.
The process of creating a prepaid funeral plan is quick and simple, with no health checks required or excessive paperwork. Our friendly, professional team members are there to walk you through each step and answer any questions so that your funeral is planned exactly how you want it and fits your budget. Just give us a call on (07) 3341 4111to get started.
A great way to start planning your prepaid funeral is by downloading our free Personal Profile Record. This easy to fill out form will guide you through pre-planning your own life celebration. It will also prove extremely useful to your family and Logan Funerals when it comes time to arrange a funeral. It will cover information to help with:
No, the process of creating a prepaid funeral plan is quick and simple, with no excessive paperwork or health checks required. To get started, simply visit one of our beautiful funeral homes located around Brisbane or give us a call on (07) 3341 4111.
To help with your planning, simply download and complete our free Personal Profile Record. You can simply store this in a safe place, or speak to a member of our friendly team at Logan Funerals to finalise your prepaid funeral plan with us.
Yes, there is. At Logan Funerals, our friendly and professional team members are there to walk you through each step of the process and answer any questions so that your funeral is planned exactly how you want it and fits your budget.
You can pay for your funeral in one lump sum payment, or, take advantage of our payment plan options and pay for your funeral in easy to manage instalments. Payment can be made by direct bank transfer, cheque or credit card.
Yes, the cost of your funeral will be fixed at today’s prices, protecting you against any future price increase. So, depending on how long before your funeral is held, this could save you thousands of dollars as the average cost of funerals has risen steadily over the last decade.
To see how much you could potentially save by pre-paying your funeral today, try our easy to use Pre-Paid Funeral Calculator. It lets you quickly compare the costs of paying for a funeral today with what you could potentially pay for a similar funeral in the future.
This is unlikely. Because all the essential funeral arrangements will be paid for in advance, your family is protected against any large financial burdens from the cost of the funeral.
Once you’ve prepaid for your funeral service with Logan Funerals, you can relax knowing all the details of your funeral are taken care of and that you’ve really helped your family prepare for a special celebration with all your personal touches.
Yes, you are. Unlike with some other funeral planning products, anyone can purchase a prepaid funeral plan, regardless of their age or health.
We transfer all money you pay to us for your prepaid funeral into an authorised and independent deposit taking institute (such as a friendly society or investment manager). This usually happens within seven days of us receiving your payments.
Once the funds are received by the independent institution, we’ll notify you in writing with exactly how much money has been deposited. If this doesn’t match what you’ve paid to us or you believe there’s been an error, please don’t hesitate to contact us so we can sort out any differences together.
We’ve been helping thousands of families feel secure and cared for during their time of loss for over 35 years, so while extremely unlikely, if we were to go out of business, your money is protected and will not be lost.
Because your money is held in an independent deposit taking institution, you would be able to simply transfer your prepaid funeral plan to another funeral director of your choice.
Yes, you can pay for your prepaid funeral in a few easy to manage instalments. We can arrange for a regular payment to be debited directly from a bank account of your choice.
Your prepaid funeral can absolutely be customised and personalised as if you were planning a funeral for someone today.
Generally speaking, you’re well protected under Australian laws for prepaid funerals. For that extra peace of mind, you also have additional protection under state laws specific to Queensland. For more information, see the Queensland State Government website below.
If you move to another State or Territory and you can find another funeral director who is happy to perform your funeral as planned, we can simply transfer your plan to them. If not, there is no need to worry that your money is lost. You still own the prepaid funds and they will be refunded to your estate.
Because we take the time to walk you through all the options at the time of creating your prepaid funeral plan, we’ve found that most of our customers are happy with their final choices.
However, we understand that later down the track, you may have a change of mind about some of your choices, like the chapel location or the music to be played at your service. So, to give you that extra peace of mind when planning your funeral, we will happily update your plan with any reasonable changes to the details agreed on in your finalised plan.
For some, planning and pre-paying a funeral can be a very difficult subject. If you would like to plan for your funeral without having to think about all the details, or perhaps you are looking to help protect your family against a large financial burden when the time comes, then, a funeral bond is a great option to consider.
If you need some help deciding which option is best for you, our friendly team at Logan Funerals is here to help.
With prepaid funerals, you know the exact cost of the funeral service, in today’s prices, with no extra charges to your family if certain services increase in price in the future.
A funeral bond does not lock in the price of the funeral, it instead earns interest over the life of the deposit. If there are enough funds to cover all funeral costs when the time comes to plan the funeral, any money from the investment that is not needed cover the costs will be returned to your estate.
Both a funeral bond or a prepaid funeral plan may also help you to maximise any Centrelink benefits. The amount you pay for a prepaid funeral, which is assigned to a funeral director, will not count as an assessable asset in any means testing. You only need to tell Centrelink about any prepaid funeral funds if you hold a funeral bond as well (as at April’20). This is so the correct amount of your bond that will be exempt in the income or assets tests can be assessed.
With funeral insurance, you pay either fixed or increasing premiums for as long as you wish to be covered for the costs of your funeral. Because you need to continue to pay to be covered, it’s possible you may end up paying more in premiums than the value of the funeral itself.
If it’s expected you will live for another 3 years or more, then yes, a prepaid funeral is generally a cheaper option than funeral insurance.
Funeral bonds are managed investments that earn interest. The purpose of a funeral bond is to help cover funeral expenses as the money can only be withdrawn after your death to pay for your funeral.
When the time comes, if the bond is worth more than the cost of your funeral, the extra money will be transferred back to your estate. If on the other hand, your bond is not enough to pay for your funeral, your family will have to cover the extra costs.
A key difference compared to prepaid funerals, is that it’s not guaranteed the full cost of your funeral will be covered. However, funeral bonds can help pay for a large portion of your funeral costs which can protect your family from the distress of having to produce a lot of money at relatively short notice.
Centrelink will generally not count any money paid into a funeral bond for up to $13,250 (as at April’20) towards the assets and incomes test for pensioner payments. This can allow you to maximise any Centrelink benefits. Please check with the Department of Human Services to confirm the latest information and your eligibility for a benefit.
If death occurs while you’re outside the service area of your selected funeral director, we can arrange for your body to be transported back to a Logan funeral home. However, this will incur additional transport fees.
If you are travelling overseas and have taken out travel insurance, you may have, ‘repatriation of the body of the deceased’ coverage. If so, this can normally be used to help pay for any transport costs. If this is something you are worried about but travel insurance isn’t right for you, we also offer the option to add, ‘repatriation of your body within Australia’ coverage as part of your funeral plan. This offer is available to add up to six months after your plan has been finalised.
In the event, your funeral will occur interstate or overseas, instead of at your chosen funeral home, the money in your prepaid funeral plan will be paid directly to your estate.
All our prepaid funeral plans include a cooling off period of 4 weeks from the date the contract is signed. During this time, you can apply for a full refund of the money paid if you change your mind or are not satisfied.
After the cooling off period, you are generally not able to withdraw any money paid towards your funeral, and any money already paid can only be used to pay for the plan set out in your prepaid funeral contract.
Our friendly team is there to answer your questions and help you with your funeral planning and preparation needs.