1. Pre-Arrangement
   
   Pre-arranging a funeral means giving instructions to the funeral home about the type of funeral you want, so that there is less decision-making for the family to do at the time of death.
   
   Pre-arranging does not involve any form of payment in advance, so none of the financial benefits such as a guaranteed price are available if you pre-arrange without pre-paying.
   
   
2. Pre-Payment: Trusting
   
   Pre-paying through trusting involves selecting the funeral services and goods that you want in advance and paying the full amount to the funeral home. 100% of your payment is placed in trust (with a bank) in a Guaranteed Investment Certificate in your name. A copy of the certificate will be returned to you. The trust funds are highly regulated, reported on, and inspected by the provincial Board of Funeral Services. A provincially administered industry compensation fund is in place to further protect you. The deposit with the trustee is also protected by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation.
   
   The principal amount of your payment, which represents the cost of the selected funeral at the time of pre-paying, plus the accumulated interest is credited towards the funeral at the time of death. We guarantee that the funeral you selected will be provided, regardless of whether enough interest has accumulated in your trust fund, at no extra cost to you or your family. And if there are funds left over after the funeral is paid for, the excess is credited to the estate of the deceased.
   
   
3. Pre-Payment: Insurance Funding
   
   A third pre-planning option is to pre-pay the funeral through a specialized insurance plan such as the Purple Shield Plan, offered by the Familyside Division of the Fortis Life Insurance Company. In this plan, you choose the funeral services and goods you want, and the funeral home makes a record of those. The funeral director tells you the cost of these at current prices. Then you meet with a local Familyside representative, who is licensed under the Insurance Act of Ontario, and a policy for that amount is issued. One of the benefits of this plan, is that the younger you are when you pre-pay, the more the one-time premium is discounted below the cost of the funeral. So, for example, if a healthy sixty year old female is choosing a $6,000 funeral, the one-time premium may be as much as 10% below the cost of the funeral selected. There are also opportunities to pay the premium over a period of up to 10 years.

People of all ages are considering pre-planning funeral expenses. For information or an appointment with one of our staff, please call us at Chapel Ridge. Unlike many funeral companies, none of our staff are on commission, so they have no incentive to sell you anything you don't want or don't need. Call us. We think you'll notice the difference.