Preplanning Funding Options

When the funeral pre-arrangements are funded in advance, the Fred C. Dames Funeral Home will ensure that the funeral costs selected today will be guaranteed regardless of rising inflation, service or merchandise costs.  This booklet also provides detailed information regarding the advantages and benefits of funding your funeral arrangements in advance.

When a person makes a pre-paid funeral arrangement, the funeral home opens a memorial account in your name which takes care of all the details and freezes your funeral costs at a price you select today regardless of any future price increases.  This account is always yours and cannot be accessed by anyone other than you until the time it is needed for funeral expenses.

The Memorial Account is opened in your name, relieves the burden of the funeral expenses from your family, and freezes the cost at today’s prices.

Your Memorial Account is fully guaranteed by the Fred C. Dames Funeral Homes, which is licensed by the State of Illinois to accept burial funds, bonded and insured.

Your Memorial Account is an inflation-proof, pre-funeral trust account.  Payment plans can also be used to fund a funeral prearrangement.

Guaranteed Inflation Proof Pre-Funeral Trust Account

A funeral trust account is established to provide inflation proof monies for a pre-arranged funeral.  The monies deposited into a trust account guarantee, through the interest earned on the account, that these monies including interest will be available to pay the funeral bill at the time of need.  There are two options in selecting a trust account.  The first option is when the funeral bill has been totaled; the monies in the same amount are deposited into the trust account.  The second option is a person can make payments to the trust account in any amount they choose, and when the total is reached, there will be no further payments made and the funeral would be guaranteed to be paid in full at the time of need.

                Your funds are protected by a bond required by the Illinois State Controllers Office and each individual trust account is insured and reviewed annually by that office.  All funds must remain in the trust account until they are needed to pay for the pre-arranged funeral.  If you move or simply change you mind, all funds with accumulated interest are released to you, because the funds are always yours and never the funeral homes.

                There are many benefits to a trust.  The money deposited into the trust account is yours. If at any time a crisis should arise, or if you change your mind regarding the type of service you would prefer, those funds can be depleted or added too at any time.  The Fred C. Dames Funeral Home also guarantees their trusts.  Even if the current inflation out paced the interest accrued on the trust account, we guarantee there would be no additional charge to our families.  It there is a positive balance after the funeral bill is paid, those monies would be refunded to the estate of the deceased.

Insurance Plans

                Insurance plans are designed for those families looking to the future.  They offer the opportunity to fully fund the guaranteed present and future cost of a selected funeral service with a number of payment options.  This is accomplished through the use of a specially designed life insurance policy that, by its guaranteed inflation adjustments, protects effectively the insured costs from the results of inflation.

 

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