Pre-Arrangements

Your pre-need arrangements may be paid for using existing life insurance, by creating a bank trust, purchasing burial insurance, or a combination of all three.

Some life insurance policies have a face value with no growth, while pre-need insurance and bank trusts have a face value and continuous growth. Therefore, your life insurance policies that have no growth will need to be attached to a new policy that has growth (your pre-need counselor will further explain all of this.) Furthermore, some policies require that you pay every month, quarter, and year until the time of death (these are known as whole life policies).

Pre-need insurance usually has the following terms:

Single pay is when the funeral is paid in full so it will have enough growth to keep up with tomorrow's costs. 

Payment installments are for three, five, seven, or ten years with growth that keeps up with costs. However, most require a minimum of two years payment before death occurs to pay face value. 

When using existing insurance, whether it has a growth option or not, the policy is generally attached to a bank trust or pre-need insurance.

Under these circumstances, your funeral bill is paid. 

However, when using a bank trust, the funeral amount will only be paid when the face value of the trust account has reached the face value of the contract amount.

Under North Carolina law, all pre-needs must be registered with the

North Carolina Board of Funeral Service, for which there is a filing fee of $20.00, per the Board. After receiving the contract, you will receive a confirmation letter from the Board, indicating that they have received and filed the contract.

The state of North Carolina guarantees that this contract will be honored, regardless of the status of the funeral home, whether or not they are still in business.

Yes. There are items that a funeral homes obtains for a family at the time of need, such as death certificates, opening and closing of the grave, North Carolina sales tax, special music, hair dresser, obituaries, flowers, meals, etc. that the family may request. These items are listed in your contract as non-guaranteed cash advance items.

Yes. You may use a bank trust or an insurance policy to cover the cost of these specific needs, attaching that policy to your existing policy.

A pre-need may be established for any person between one day and 85 years old, with a choice of payment options. However, after age 85, only a single pay policy may be issued. One must be age 18 years of age or older to sign a pre-need contract in the state of North Carolina. 

A revocable pre-need is one in which you are in-charge, and may manipulate the funds. An irrevocable pre-need is one in which you are not in-charge, and is not an asset that would count against your receiving assistance of any kind. 

Social Security pays only when there is a surviving spouse, or when there is a dependent child.

Yes. If you have received an honorable discharge from any branch of the United States Armed Forces, you are entitled to the following: a flag that is draped on your casket and presented to your next of kin, a grave plot in a veterans' cemetery, complimentary opening and closing of the grave in the veterans' cemetery, a minimum cemetery receptacle (grave liner or burial vault,) interment rites for you, your spouse, and a dependent child in a veterans' cemetery, a grave marker, and military honors.