Laying funeral cost fears to rest
A decision made last week in a Queensland Magistrates court may set a major precedent and help allay any fears of people who believed that their funeral costs had already been taken care of.
The decision was handed down last week by Beenleigh Magistrate Joan White in Queensland, after Gold Coast couple, Gavin and Fiona Turner, refused to pay a bill for $7,195 for a 2012 funeral for Mr Turner's mother Beryl.
Seniors lobby group, National Seniors Australia, believes people need the reassurance that their loved ones will not face extra costs – which can amount to thousands of dollars – at a time when they are coping with the stress of bereavement.
“If funeral companies issue funeral bonds which people are paying into in good faith, then the companies will have to honour them. This decision will come as a relief to thousands of older Australians and their families,” says Michael O'Neill, National Seniors Australia chief executive.
The Turners claimed the cost of the funeral had already been covered through a prepaid agreement Beryl which started with a funeral company in 1948.
The company sued Mr and Mrs Turner on the grounds that the money paid to the company between 1948 and 1980 was not enough for even the most basic of funeral services today.
The funeral company offered the family a $390 discount but Beenleigh Magistrate Joan White found the decades old agreement should be honoured.
Mr O’Neill says about 19,000 other Queenslanders had reportedly signed up to the same agreement and they would rightly expect their funeral bonds would be honoured or if they had already paid for a funeral, that they may receive some recompense.
“People have a right to expect they will get what a funeral company has been promoting,” he says.
“The issue has been around for some years now, so perhaps it is time for the corporate watchdog ASIC to take a closer look at regulations governing the funeral industry and the products.”
