Pre-Need

• Pre-financed Trust Plan: You may pay for your funeral in advance by setting up a trust fund in a bank or Savings and Loan for this purpose. Your funds are placed in trust in a federally insured financial institution and safeguarded by Massachusetts State laws. At death the funds are available at once and do not become part of your estate. The greatest advantage of this plan is that you are protected from inflation. The charges for the funeral home services and merchandise you select are frozen at today's prices. You therefore have eased another burden on your family at a time when financial security may be critical.
• Insurance funded Funeral Plan: We do not sell insurance. We have always felt that the commission earned on selling insurance de-values the the total value of the funeral trust. However, those with existing insurance policies, rather than take "cash out value" of an insurance policy, we can assist you in changing the ownership and beneficiary to fund your funeral prearrangement. Sometimes this must be done in order to qualify for federal programs like Medicaid.
• Basic No-Payment Plan: You record by letter or by filling out non-binding forms with us your specific requests regarding the type of service you want...where services will be held, the minister, the scripture readings, music, pallbearers, flowers, casket or urn, etc.

• Pre-paying freezes the charges at today's costs for the services and merchandise provided by the funeral home. Charges are guaranteed to never go up.
• You can leave your wishes known in writing alleviating your family of trying to guess the type of service you would like.
• Pre-paying funeral expenses removes the financial burden from your family. Your money is placed in a state-protected trust fund.
• Many decisions can be made after having time to discuss options with your family, rather than having to make on-the-spot decisions at the time of death.
• By planning now, you will enjoy peace of mind knowing your funeral plans are complete.
• Prepaying for your funeral will also help to protect your assets for Medicaid purposes.

The cost of a funeral varies with the type of services desired. Funeral expenses are typically broken down in the following categories (prices shown are those of Weir Funeral Home, effective March 1, 2015 and are subject to change without notice):

• Professional service charge for staff, facilities and motor vehicles. These charges vary depending on the type of service you select. Please Contact Us for current price information for traditional funeral services and cremation. Funeral home charges cremation services range from $2725 to $7630, depending on your selections. Funeral home charges for burial Services generally range from $3060 - 6100, and may be more depending on the final selection of services.
• Merchandise charges - Caskets range from $795 on up, outer burial containers for caskets range from $795.00 to $6000.00 Other merchandise such as burial garments, urns, keepsake jewelry, and prayer cards are also available.
• Cash advance items. These are services or merchandise provided by sources outside of the funeral home, but arranged for you by our staff. Following are examples of cash advance items and some of their costs: certified copies of the death certificate ($5-$20 each), honorariums for minister ($250) and musicians ($75-250), death notice charges ($50 - $300), flowers, cemetery charges such as the grave space ($2000 - $12000), opening and closing of the grave ($500 - $1800),. Essentially these cash dispersements eliminate the need for the family to write numerous checks at the time of need.
• Cemetery Charges. In Massachusetts, Funeral homes are not allowed to own or operate cemeteries. The charges for each cemetery vary, However, you may contact us or your local cemetery to find out what the exact charge is for the specified cemetery.