The UK has cold weathers and tepid summers, and as such, many people choose to move to Spain for retirement. This means more people die overseas, leaving families to navigate funeral planning abroad.
After a life of hard work, lots of Brits use their savings to move somewhere with a little more sunshine. This can cause headaches for their family if they die abroad without making provisions.
Prepaid Funeral Planning
One way to make foreign funeral planning a lot simpler and less expensive is to pay for it in advance. Expat prepaid funeral plans in Spain are available in different coverage levels for a funeral in the country or repatriation home.
They include advice on how to obtain the correct certification, regulation coffins for transportation to the UK, mortuary fees and undertaker fees in full. This ensures that when a death happens, all the family has to worry about is grieving.
After a Death
In Spain, police attend the residence of the person who died, and they contact the undertakers and a doctor. The undertaker selected may not be local, adding further transportation costs to the funeral.
The family of the deceased will also have to register the death within 24 hours at a civil registry office. The police will also issue a document confirming the death. This is a requirement in claiming life insurance and to authorise the funeral.
Funerals in Spain take place one or two days after death. If relatives wish to prolong it to two weeks, as is traditional in Britain, they might have to pay hundreds of euros a day just to store the body in a mortuary.
As it can take weeks to receive the benefit of any life insurance policy, it can’t cover funeral costs. Funeral director charges must be paid up-front with no deposit or instalments. This means that expats need sufficient savings to cover their funeral.
To prevent complications and debts after a death abroad, a pre-paid funeral means everything will be taken care of.