Funeral planning can often be an emotional and expensive function, especially in the time of grief of friends and relatives. Funerals can cost more than what many people think, and the increased budget can huge financial burden for the grieving family. In common cases, the family bears the expenses of the funeral ceremony and therefore, the budget is largely unknown until the time actually comes to arrange for such a ceremony. One of the ways to get an idea of actual expenses that will be incurred in arranging a funeral service is to obtain a pre-paid funeral plan. This plan is purchased from a specific funeral home upon agreeing on the requirements of the funeral service by the purchaser. The purchaser can be the family members or the person who expects his or her demise after a certain time. However, the key aspect is that the pre-paid funeral will be valid even after the death of the person and the funeral home which is the counterparty will honour its commitment of providing the agreed service.

In case if the life of the individual exceeds far more than the expected period after setting up the pre-paid plans, the costs of the funeral service may rise. This becomes important and therefore, the purchaser of the pre-paid funeral shall carefully examine the contents of the service offered by the funeral home. One way of ascertaining this is by carefully examining and agreeing to the guaranteed and non-guaranteed services. Another way of securing the funeral expenses is by purchasing a funeral expense policy from a life insurance policy. In this case, the insurance payouts include the death benefits which can be used for paying the expenses of the funeral service such as funeral services, unpaid medical bills, and other related activities carried out during the funeral.