How Can Families Save Money With Home Funerals?

Today SevenPonds concludes our conversation with Shawnte Hardin, a funeral guide based in Akron, Ohio. Through his company, Celebration of Life Memorial Chapels, he helps families save money throughout the funeral process. From the initial handling of their loved one’s body, to selecting a final resting place, Shawnte advises families about anything related to a home funeral, e.g., a funeral without the help of a traditional funeral home. 

Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Lucas Morgan: Do you go to peoples’ homes before a home funeral to check out the space, see if they have enough room, etc.?

Shawnte Hardin: Yes I will. A lot of times their loved one will die in a hospital or directly in the home. Families will then call me, and I will meet with them immediately if they’re in the area, if not that same day, then the next morning. I will help and consult with them on how to begin to prepare for their loved one’s cremation or burial service.

Lucas: I know that cremations are on the rise throughout the country. Would you agree with that?

Shawnte: I would absolutely agree with that. Cremations are definitely on the rise, and it’s become kind of a new way of doing things. And I’d say that roughly 75 to 80 percent of cremations are done because people cannot afford the cemeteries and cannot afford the services the funeral homes are offering them.

Shawnte Hardin Credit: Shawnte Hardin

Lucas: Do people reach out to you specifically for home funerals? Or do they initially come to you for a traditional funeral, and then you let them know about home funerals, what your company does, etc?

Shawnte: Some people do come to me for traditional services. Many times I will get a call from someone who says, “We need a funeral home for mom,” or whomever. And I will have to let them know that we are not a traditional funeral home, but that we are a home funeral agency that can show families how to do funerals on their own, or at least certain aspects on their own, for much cheaper.

Lucas: You’ve mentioned some of this before, but what kinds of services do you offer?

Shawnte: There are many ways we can offer support for families. We will help them with caskets. We only offer them caskets at the price we would pay for them; we don’t make a profit from selling caskets. Sometimes we will broker with funeral homes to get the prices for everything way down. We can let a funeral home know that this is a home funeral situation and that we are going to help this family with a certain part, whether it be embalming, paperwork, etc. People will hear about me in the home funeral sense, but sometimes I will just help families throughout the “traditional” process to help keep their costs down.

We also help with transporting the body. A family can arrange for us to transport the body from the hospital or hospice center back to a family member’s home. Sometimes we’ll transport the body to a church; the family has the absolute right to have their loved one  wherever they want to have them. We just suggest making sure the place is sanitary, and no one can have access to the body.

Lucas: Do you ever work with elderly or terminally ill people to help pre-plan their funerals?

Shawnte: I don’t typically pre-plan. I have had people call and ask me, “Can I make my arrangements beforehand?” From there I’ll tell them that we do have funeral directors who work with us, so I will refer them over to a licensed agent who can make those arrangements for them. If [the families] want to use the home funeral aspect to help keep prices low, then I will show them how. But I don’t typically make pre-arrangements with families.

Lucas: So you partner with numerous organizations then?

Shawnte: Yes, we partner with many organizations.

Lucas: How can you customize a home funeral to make it feel more personalized?

Shawnte: I also deal with the service aspect. That’s where “Celebration of Life Memorial Chapels” comes in. Because we are talking about planning the celebration part and making the event come to life for the families. I do it by listening to families, by paying attention to every detail and all the things they want, and we make it happen. Whether they want the funeral in a hall, at their church or in a park. I’m not just worried about getting their loved ones in a casket or cremated.

Lucas: Do you ever attend the funerals you’ve helped to organize?

Shawnte: Yes, as many as I can. Because you want to make sure that things are running smoothly. You want to be able to help the families cope with grief. If something is going on with the body, particularly if it has not been embalmed, you want to be able to show the families how to handle it and get the body back to the best shape possible. So I am on-hand for families all the time and attend services with them.

Credit: kinkaraco.com

Lucas: When, after their loved one has died, do families reach out to you? Then how long do you generally work with the family for the funeral itself?

Shawnte: I’ve had families reach out to me before and after their loved one has died. It always comes down to word of mouth. People will have a loved one pass away and they’ll go to a funeral home and realize, “Wow, we can’t afford this.” And somehow, they will find my information from someone and they’ll call me.

Regarding how long I work with families, it depends on how “experienced” the family is. If need be I will work with a family from beginning to end. More experienced families may only need my help for one day. Others, I’ll be with them for the entire process whether it be three days, four, a week, etc. Some families will have family members coming in from out of town. In these instances, we may suggest that the body is embalmed at a funeral home if it will be many days before burial or cremation.

Lucas: What is the legality of home funerals? Obviously it’s legal in Ohio, but what about throughout the country?

Shawnte: Home funerals are totally legal in 40 states. The other 10 states require a funeral director to sign off on paperwork, among other things.

Lucas: Do you work with people from across the country? If so, how do they find out about you?

Shawnte: Since I’m listed on the Home Funeral Alliance website, I have worked with people from Colorado, Florida, Mississippi, New York; all sorts of places. I also have a Facebook page dedicated to home funerals. I’ve just kind of become known. I have people that call me every day from all over the country asking how they can pursue the disposition of their family members at a low cost.

I act essentially as a consultant. I will explain to them how to get the disposition processed. Sometimes I will get the paperwork from a different state and show the family how to fill it out. I can also assist in finalizing the disposition of their loved one. The ability to consult with someone face-to-face via telephone and computer makes the process relatively simple.

Credit: homefuneralnetwork.org.uk

Lucas: I’d heard that you were involved in a court case regarding your business, home funerals, etc. What was that all about?

Shawnte: It all began when I started to introduce the idea of home funerals to my community, and people became aware that they could save money by avoiding costly funeral home services. There were changes that needed to be made, and still need to be made, regarding regulations, laws and rules for families so they can better handle the disposition of their loved ones.

One day at work a couple families called me saying they needed help handling funeral services at a much lower rate than they were being offered by a funeral home. Within an hour and a half I received three phone calls from three separate families, all phoning from the same funeral home. It was a total coincidence; the families did not know each other. I told them I could help and, long story short, the funeral director there tried to sue me. He tried to say that I was running a renegade funeral home business. But in no way, shape or form is it illegal. He was unaware of the disposition laws in Ohio himself. It backfired on him, and he lost in court.

Lucas: Do you have any advice or tips for somebody who has recently lost a loved one?

Shawnte: In terms of the funeral service side, I encourage them to shop around before they make a final decision about where they want their loved one to go. I encourage them to think about taking care of their loved one themselves before they make the absolute decision about having to use a funeral home. I suggest using a website or a person in their area to help them through the process. Check out the things you can do for yourself.

Some people have a lot of money and they don’t mind spending a lot of money on funeral home services, and that’s OK. But there are a lot of families who just don’t have the resources and need as much help as they can get. That’s where myself and people like me come in to play.

Lucas: Thank you so much Shawnte for taking the time out to talk with me! I’ve learned a lot regarding the home funeral world; I didn’t really know much before our conversation.

Shawnte: Thank you so much, I appreciate everything! It was great talking with you.

In case you missed it, you can find part one of our interview with Shawnte Hardin here.