Funeral Insurance

[flemishdude]

A question for the Isaan expats.

A friend of mine told me that in many Isaan villages it is possible for the locals to get somekind of funeral insurance so if somebody dies most costs for the funeral should be covered by this .

Can somebody tell me how this is done,costs etc......

Thanks in advance.

[Thai Chi]

Not living in a village, I dont know.

But in town, there is funeral insurance available through the Government hospital. Well the office is in the hospital building so I am assuming its related.

I am sure this would be available for all comers.

The monthly fee is dependant on how many people have died. It seems to range from 180 bht up to 360 bht / person.

There appears to be a complicated formula for working out the amount payable on death. I think time in the scheme (amongst other things) has something to do with it.

My wife has been paying into this scheme for about 5 years. She assures me that when the oldies pass on, ALL will be covered (lets hope so)

The figure quoted in their case is around 45 to 50 K baht each.

[llso]

From what I know about this from my wifes village is that it is sort of a vilage based scheme.Run by someone trusted in the vilage. The way I've seen it work is every family wil pay somewhere around a hundred baht when someone dies. In our vilage there are about 300 families,possibly more now. The money collected is given to the family where someone has died. If about 60-70 % of people participate this brings in around 20,000 Baht. Enough to offset of a village funeral cost with the food,party, donation to temple. Temple provides tents ,speakers , tables ,chairs etc. Also people can donate something either in food, pigs,chickens, beer,money, etc. to the funeral party. When I have been in the village for a funeral I usually gave in an envelope somewhere around a few hundred baht. depending on how close to house,family ties and such. I didn't mind doing this because I was plied with food and beer for the duration and our family as well. I would imagine there was an informal record of kept of which families participated or not to be able to recieve the benefits. In my wifes vilage probaly 75% are related through mother's side,father's side or by marriage.

LL

[Chaimai]

If about 60-70 % of people participate this brings in around 20,000 Baht. Enough to offset of a village funeral cost with the food,party, donation to temple.

I don't think so !

That might cover the beer and some food for one day but there are a lot of other costs to consider - please see seperate topic which evidences some funeral costs at 200,000 Baht.

A good example of making sure that you happy with the level of cover required for any funeral policies.

[llso]

If about 60-70 % of people participate this brings in around 20,000 Baht. Enough to offset of a village funeral cost with the food,party, donation to temple.

I don't think so !

That might cover the beer and some food for one day but there are a lot of other costs to consider - please see seperate topic which evidences some funeral costs at 200,000 Baht.

A good example of making sure that you happy with the level of cover required for any funeral policies.

I can assure you no one in our village is paying anywhere near 200,000 Baht for a funeral. Close to 30-40,000,bit more on high end. The funerals last usually 3 days or less depending on budget. 3 days is the minimum something to do with ghosts or something.

I don't want to mislead anyone . I have seen some elaborate funerals here that lasted for a week or more with elaborate coffins and flowers, the sky is the limit. that wil surely be expensive.

LL

[Chaimai]

I can assure you no one in our village is paying anywhere near 200,000 Baht for a funeral. Close to 30-40,000,bit more on high end. The funerals last usually 3 days or less depending on budget. 3 days is the minimum something to do with ghosts or something.

I don't want to mislead anyone . I have seen some elaborate funerals here that lasted for a week or more with elaborate coffins and flowers, the sky is the limit. that wil surely be expensive.

LL

Try this one from the Isaan forum:-

I have recently carried out my Thai wife's funeral and all in all it cost me about 150,000 baht. 1 year earlier I had attended my father-in-laws funeral, which again cost around the same amount. I could have done things cheaper but I wanted to do things as traditional as possible and as similar to her fathers funeral.

This included 6 days of mourning where Monks visited the home each evening, food for guests that came each evening, flowers and photos on show at the temple, the cost of the cremation including 30+ monks, a brass band (don't quite know what that was all about) hire of boat to scatter my wife's ashes in the Mekong river, and a party including morlam at the family home. As I mentioned, her family said that not all of it was neccesary, but I wanted to do this for my wife and they were happy to accept whatever I wanted to do. My sister-in-law also kept a very detailed book with all running costs breaking things down to show me where money was being spent. We also received money from guests totalling about 50,000 baht

[torrenova]

Chuck me out with the garbage when I go. Just check for money in the pockets first.

[Dave the Dude]

Chuck me out with the garbage when I go. Just check for money in the pockets first.

Consider it done,Andy (especially the pockets bit)

[Rdrokit]

I can assure you no one in our village is paying anywhere near 200,000 Baht for a funeral. Close to 30-40,000,bit more on high end. The funerals last usually 3 days or less depending on budget. 3 days is the minimum something to do with ghosts or something.

I don't want to mislead anyone . I have seen some elaborate funerals here that lasted for a week or more with elaborate coffins and flowers, the sky is the limit. that wil surely be expensive.

LL

Try this one from the Isaan forum:-

I have recently carried out my Thai wife's funeral and all in all it cost me about 150,000 baht. 1 year earlier I had attended my father-in-laws funeral, which again cost around the same amount. I could have done things cheaper but I wanted to do things as traditional as possible and as similar to her fathers funeral.

This included 6 days of mourning where Monks visited the home each evening, food for guests that came each evening, flowers and photos on show at the temple, the cost of the cremation including 30+ monks, a brass band (don't quite know what that was all about) hire of boat to scatter my wife's ashes in the Mekong river, and a party including morlam at the family home. As I mentioned, her family said that not all of it was neccesary, but I wanted to do this for my wife and they were happy to accept whatever I wanted to do. My sister-in-law also kept a very detailed book with all running costs breaking things down to show me where money was being spent. We also received money from guests totalling about 50,000 baht

That would be the farang price. My wife's family lives in Non Sung and a funeral for a poor family runs about 50,000 baht. Her aunt died a few months ago and the funeral was about 100,000 baht (she was not poor). Of course they did not know there is now a farang in the family. If they know you have money it could cost 200,000 up. They will buy the best coffin, best booze, best food and so on.

[dmax]

I can assure you no one in our village is paying anywhere near 200,000 Baht for a funeral. Close to 30-40,000,bit more on high end. The funerals last usually 3 days or less depending on budget. 3 days is the minimum something to do with ghosts or something.

I don't want to mislead anyone . I have seen some elaborate funerals here that lasted for a week or more with elaborate coffins and flowers, the sky is the limit. that wil surely be expensive.

LL

Try this one from the Isaan forum:-

I have recently carried out my Thai wife's funeral and all in all it cost me about 150,000 baht. 1 year earlier I had attended my father-in-laws funeral, which again cost around the same amount. I could have done things cheaper but I wanted to do things as traditional as possible and as similar to her fathers funeral.

This included 6 days of mourning where Monks visited the home each evening, food for guests that came each evening, flowers and photos on show at the temple, the cost of the cremation including 30+ monks, a brass band (don't quite know what that was all about) hire of boat to scatter my wife's ashes in the Mekong river, and a party including morlam at the family home. As I mentioned, her family said that not all of it was neccesary, but I wanted to do this for my wife and they were happy to accept whatever I wanted to do. My sister-in-law also kept a very detailed book with all running costs breaking things down to show me where money was being spent. We also received money from guests totalling about 50,000 baht

That would be the farang price. My wife's family lives in Non Sung and a funeral for a poor family runs about 50,000 baht. Her aunt died a few months ago and the funeral was about 100,000 baht (she was not poor). Of course they did not know there is now a farang in the family. If they know you have money it could cost 200,000 up. They will buy the best coffin, best booze, best food and so on.

well my wife told me its nowhere near 50-00 baht so i think ur mistaken about that,,when i die they can take me to the sky for free she says,,no problem,,maybe a party would coct money 50-000 u are talking about????