What to do When Someone Dies

When death occurs contact a funeral home as soon as possible.  It is the funeral home's responsibility to pick up the body and to then prepare the body for interment/cremation.  More and more across America families are choosing cremation.  It is a much much lower cost option than traditional burial/entombment (above ground interment in a crypt/mausoleum).  It is very personal whatever choice you choose.  If you choose traditional you have the cost of the viewing, the casket, the grave at the cemetery, an outer burial container vault for the grave that the casket goes into, the memorial/memorialization (flat bronze marker/headstone/gravestone), the interment fee (opening and closing of the grave).   A traditional full body interment can run around $15,000 per person minimum for the cemetery portion of the burial in and around urban areas.  And it can cost much much more.  This does not include the funeral home side of things.  That can be an additional $6,000 - $18,000 and up per person.  The cemetery side of cremation inurnment ranges from about $1500 - $6000 per person and up.