A guide in six pages

Keeping the cost of funerals down

Plain words on what a funeral director’s price list must show, what a simple cremation includes, the help that can pay part of the bill, and what happens when no one can pay. A guide published by Dotto from the official sources linked on each page.

General information, not legal or financial advice. The rules belong to each state and territory. Each page names the official body to check with where you live.

Inside the card

Six pages

  1. Reading a funeral price listWhere the list is, what each line means, and which lines tend to add up.
  2. What a simple cremation is, and what it leaves outThe parts the law asks for, and the parts that are choices.
  3. Help with the cost of a funeralSchemes that can pay part of the bill, and paying over time.
  4. When no one can pay for a funeralWhat each state does, and what to know before signing anything.
  5. Doing some of it yourselfThe parts of a funeral a family can take on.
  6. Your rights when you buy funeral servicesConsumer guarantees, quotes, commissions and receipts.
A branch of long, curved eucalyptus leaves lit by the sun, with tree trunks and blue sky behind.
Eucalyptus leaves in afternoon sun. Photo by abeldomi on Pixabay
Three things worth knowing first

What the official guides say

A funeral is not compulsory

Services Australia says it is not a legal requirement in Australia to have a funeral. In NSW, a burial or cremation is still needed: if there is no service, the NSW Government says you will still need to organise a ‘no service, no attendance’ burial or cremation.

A funeral director is not compulsory either

In NSW, “there is no legal requirement to use a funeral director”, in the words of the NSW Government’s guide. Most people in NSW still use one, and a family can share the work with one: doing some of it yourself sets out how.

Prices have to be on show

Funeral directors in NSW, Victoria and Queensland must display itemised prices, and their least expensive package where they offer packages. Reading a funeral price list walks through one.

If money is short

Before anything is signed

Legal Aid NSW explains that the person who organises a funeral is legally responsible for paying for it, and that you should not make funeral arrangements if you can’t afford to pay or there is not enough money in the estate. In Queensland, an application for the state’s funeral assistance is automatically declined if a contract for funeral services has already been signed with a funeral company.

So if there may be no money for a funeral, the order matters. When no one can pay describes what each state does, and help with the cost of a funeral lists the schemes that may pay part of the bill.