PRE-PAYMENT

For many people funeral pre-planning has become an extension of the estate planning process. It is simply one more thing they choose to take care of as they plan for retirement and the next stage in their lives.

Choosing to pre-pay funeral arrangements is another way in which people can protect their families, and it can mean locking in the cost of the arrangements at current prices.

Should I Pre-Pay?

Each person's individual circumstances along with other factors will influence this decision, but there are a number of advantages to pre-payment that you should consider:

Guaranteed Services

Once you have fully funded your preplanned arrangements, we guarantee to deliver the selected services and merchandise regardless of price increases; this can help protect you and your family from the effects of inflation on funeral costs over time.

There are, however, related services - such as newspaper notices and other outside charges like cemetery expenses, for which we cannot guarantee because they are not provided by us directly.

Estate Planning

People often choose to pre-plan and prepay in the years leading up to their retirement. Typically, it is at this point in our lives that we are in our prime earning years and have the most expendable income. For many this is the easiest time to potentially remove an unpredictable future expense from their financial planning.

Budgeting

Our pre-planning program offers several payment plan options that allow you to pay the cost of selected services and merchandise over a period of time.

Pre-Payment Options

When you take the step to prearrange your funeral, the last thing you need is to worry about is whether your funds will be there when your family needs them.

New Hampshire law (RSA 325:46) requires all funeral providers to:

• Either deposit the money paid for preplanned funeral services in a New Hampshire bank; or put funds into a licensed insurance company, or bonded, registered brokerdealer, or trust company.
  
  
• Provide copies of the prepaid services agreement.
  
  
• The money may only be withdrawn either with written instructions from the person signing the contract or at the death of the person for whom the funeral or other services was arranged.

After careful research and consideration, the Cournoyer Funeral Home & Cremation Center has chosen to use only the safest options for investing prepaid funds into.

Depending on which method is best for your individual needs, we will place your funds in either an individual trust with Access Financial’ s Interment Trust Services; or in a pre-need life insurance policy. Currently, we are using Homesteaders Life Insurance Company. Both financial options earn interest which will offset the typical rates of inflation we face each year.

If we establish a new trust or insurance policy, the benefits from each will be Irrevocably Assigned to the funeral home, and therefore able to be excluded from your assets when qualifying for Medicaid assistance.

If you move away from your current area, the trust or insurance policy can be used to fund arrangements with a funeral home in your new home town.

If you have other insurance policies that are intended for specific purposes, such as education or living expenses, your family will not need to use them to pay for your funeral. The trust or insurance policy will pay our funeral home directly, so your family won't be faced with details such as finding the policy or completing forms at a time when they need to be taking care of each other.

• Typically an individual trust is established with a single payment, however they can also offer the most flexible, non-structured payment plans.
  
  
• Homesteaders Life Insurance offers pre-need life insurance policies with a single premium payment, or with easy, structured payment plans, spread over three, five, seven or ten years.

Can I Assign my own insurance policy over to a funeral home?

Yes.  Either before or after death, an insurance assignment is an agreement that directs all, or a portion of the life insurance benefits, to the Funeral Home. This may mean that no money is exchanged at the time of making the pre-arrangements. 

Loans against an insurance policy, or policies not ‘in force’ are not available for this purpose. Also, only Whole Life Insurance Policies, not Term Policies, may be assigned and costs of services, merchandise and third-party items are not able to be guaranteed due to the fixed benefit amount.

Typically, existing policies are not able to be excluded from your assets when applying for Medicaid unless an Irrevocable Assignment is allowed by the insurance carrier. We can assist you in determining all of the possibilities when considering this method of pre-payment. 

What if I can't find my insurance policy?

NH Lost Life Policy Locator Service

The New Hampshire Insurance Department and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) have developed a Life Insurance Policy Locator Service to assist Granite State residents.

This service is intended to assist family members, friends and legal representatives of deceased individuals, who may have purchased life insurance policies and annuity contracts in NH, locate policies with payable death benefits.

If you believe a deceased loved one owns or is insured by life insurance or an annuity and you are unable to locate the policy or contract, please click on the link below to access the NAIC's Life Insurance Policy Locator portal. If you have any questions, please call the Insurance Department's Consumer Services

Phone: (800) 852-3416
Email: consumerservices@ins.nh.gov
NAIC's Life Insurance Policy Locator Service portal