Pre-Payment Information

Pre-Payment Information

Many families express interest in pre-paying for their loved one's future funeral or cremation services. At our funeral home, we give the option of opening a pre-need trust through FUTURA Funeral Trust or life insurance through Homesteaders Life Company.

Trust vs. Life Insurance

What exactly is the difference between opening a trust and applying for life insurance? A trust is based in investments and has a higher chance at growth over the years, despite some fluctuation. This may be beneficial as it could cover the increase of costs in the future, however the final payout is based on the earnings or loss at the time. Life insurance, in comparison, may have some growth but not as much. Also, there may be a cap on how much you could earn. The benefit to life insurance is that it would be more stable at final payout than a trust.



Another question many families ask is "what happens to our account if your funeral home closes?" For both trusts and insurance, they can be transferred or used at any funeral home in the country. If you decided you no longer want an account open or not to use our funeral home in the future, you do have options for cancelling or transferring if necessary. While trusts are more likely to be fully refunded in order to transfer, life insurance may not be unless cancelled within the first month of applying. 

To get more information on how each specific company works, feel free to contact FUTURA Trust or Homesteaders Life with any questions.

Our Trust Process

When you come in to meet with one of our Pre-Need professionals after expressing an interest in pre-funding, we will help you step by step to open a trust for your services.

Opening a trust is a very simple process. First, we will take you through the normal pre-arrangements process to determine what kind of service you would like funded. Once that is completed, we provide a funeral home contract reflecting all current costs for what was chosen.

To open the trust, we need signed both a Guaranteed and Non-Guaranteed trust contract along with a check for the full amount on the funeral home contract. The Guaranteed contract will reflect the services provided directly from the funeral home, such as the use of staff, facilities, and any merchandise for services. The Non-Guaranteed contract is based on any outside charges that have a higher chance of changing in the future, such as death certificates, church fees, newspaper notices, or any other cash advance items and tax. You are given a copy of everything to keep for your records. We will submit our copies to the trust company. You will then receive a statement from FUTURA once the trust has been opened.

If you are interested in pre-paying for your funeral services, call us to make an appointment at (847) 699-9003. Any of our staff are available to assist you.