Cut price funeral??

[hughnique]

There seems to be a glut of corny adverts on afternoon TV, especially on what could be termed as secondary channels. From hammy actors giving their best performance to promote this or that life insurance, to the inevitable funeral plans. One of these funeral plans is on behalf of the COOP and features a brief precis in the life of a biker, and how he loved his motorbikes, quite a mountain of a man he is as well, The COOP, always ready to please, and the family of course, decide to give him a fitting send off and decide on a biker theme, however the hearse, for want of a better description is in the form of a motorbike and sidecar, with the deceased, in the coffin, having been placed in the sidecar. One thing that strikes me from this fitting tribute is that the coffin appears to be about 4 foot long, whereas deceased biker was a good 6 foot tall. Rigor mortis might well prevent the folding up of the corpse, so how the hell did they get him in a box suitable for a twelve year old.

[niemeyjt]

How did he die? It may be all that is left!

[Pathca]

That’s sick,but extremely funny

[hughnique]

How did he die? It may be all that is left!

Must have been malnutrition.

[Pathca]

Saving up to pay for the funeral

[hughnique]

When the FIL died a few years back he had one of those plans, as he was over here and was to be cremated here, the company would not pay out, albeit we did receive repayment of his contribution, less than £1200, whereas it cost over 4K€ here.

[Antonia]

There are French versions of these plans available if you feel so inclined. Normally your local funeral home will have the details. As an aside, if you are a French resident, perhaps now is the time to take a look at how any assets you might have in the UK ( that includes life insurance policies ) might be treated on your death. My OH died in 2019 so before the end of the Brexit transition but, even so, I couldn't find a single professional who would handle the UK probate and ended up doing it myself. It also took an age for the life insurance to pay out as the French death certificate doesn't list cause of death. I ended up having to get a copy of the hospital report translated and certified. When we moved to France we changed our marriage regime so, on the French side, it was seamless but the UK bits and pieces took over 18 months. I can only imagine that the further the UK diverges from the rest of Europe the more complicated things will get.

[Hotrodder]

There are French versions of these plans available if you feel so inclined. Normally your local funeral home will have the details.

How likely are they to offer you the cheapest (least profitable) service?
I have been wondering about this subject for a while. Hearing stories about bereavement costing thousands. What happens if you haven't got the money? Do they send the bailiffs or force you to sell your house?

[niemeyjt]

My OH died in 2019 so before the end of the Brexit transition but, even so, I couldn't find a single professional who would handle the UK probate and ended up doing it myself.

Well, I was in a similar position sorting out my father's estate in the UK. Probate is not always necessary - see https://www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate

Firstly, get a Multilingual Standard Form (MSF) with the death certificate - I sent one to all the banks, pension providers etc in the UK - it is in effect a translated death certificate.

Apart from Barclays (quelle surprise!), it was all sorted rapidly - unlike the French half where the Notaire is still sitting on part of the estate over three years later.

[hughnique]

I think we might have dodged a few bullets when the FIL died, as he had gifted a couple of largish sums to my sons, bought us a new car, so by the time that was catered for according to his bank, Barclays, it was below their threshold for probate. He had made a new will a couple of years previously making OH main beneficiary and executor, after his gold digging second wife pissed off. Fun started when he sold the former matrimonial house. All transactions regarding the will were carried out in the UK, I don't know if we had to notify anyone in France about anything.