Funeral Expenses Paid by Wrongful Death Claims

What is recoverable

The standard is reasonableness. A defendant is entitled to argue that a particular expense was excessive, and occasionally that argument succeeds. It succeeds far less often than carriers imply.

• Funeral home professional services and facilities
• Casket, urn, or alternative container
• Cremation or burial
• Cemetery plot, opening and closing, and the marker or headstone
• Transportation of remains, including repatriation where the death occurred away from home
• Death certificates and related fees
• Reasonable costs of a memorial service

Getting them paid now rather than later

The conventional answer is that expenses are reimbursed at the end of the case, which may be two or three years away. That answer is not always correct and should not be accepted automatically.

On your behalf we make a formal written demand on the responsible parties and their insurers that funeral expenses be paid immediately. Where liability is clear and coverage is adequate, carriers do sometimes advance them, and the written demand itself becomes part of the record of how the carrier behaved, which has value later.

Other sources that come first

• Life insurance, including employer-provided coverage families often forget
• Accidental death and dismemberment coverage, which frequently applies to exactly these deaths
• Medical payments coverage under an auto policy, which can apply regardless of fault
• Workers compensation burial benefits where the death arose out of employment
• The California Victim Compensation Board, where the death resulted from a crime
• Veterans burial benefits

On pricing

Prices for identical services vary widely within the same county. Under the federal Funeral Rule you are entitled to an itemized general price list before you buy anything, you are entitled to decline packages, and you may not be required to buy a casket from the provider handling the service.

Nobody negotiates well in the worst week of their life. That is why we give an independent read on whether a quote is reasonable. It takes a phone call, and it regularly saves thousands.

Funeral assistance is available in every California county. Call (951) 354-5700.