An elderly acquaintance has posed a question which I cannot answer.

The elderly gent lives with his (almost) as elderly Thai wife.

I understand they live on his monthly pension income and I am led to believe there are no savings or major assets.

He is worried about the cost of his funeral. The gent comes from the UK but I am told he has outlived all of his relatives.

There is a possibility that the wife can claim a one time "death" benefit from the UK government of approx £1000 (approx. 50,000 Bht)

The pension income, I am told, ceases with the old mans death

Can anyone tell me what costs are involved for the funeral and perhaps, any source of assistance for the funeral costs and future support of the wife ?

He has to die before the 6th of april to claim from UK government.

That benefit ends on the 5th of april.

we all pay into a village fund, by day section, for every funeral. so it's paid into as it's used up. doesn't matter I'm a farlang, it's by household. why does your area not have this? maybe it does but you just don't know about? and also, of course, a lot of the arrangements from dressing and washing to burning are a very different deal here than at home for sure. so it's more than covered, including the food and drinking. is it really so different where you are? where is that?

Funeral and cremation costs vary greatly depending in how elaborate. Burial is not common in Thailand and likely costs more, also assuming wife is Thai she may have a strong preference for cremation.

See this recent thread re costs and other issues http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/902613-non-religious-cremation-facilities-in-khon-kaen-area/

While it is possible to get a bare bones (no pun intended) cremation pretty cheaply, it goes very much against Thai culture and would entail a loss of face for the wife. As other poster said, villagers generally help each other out on this. Common for people to bring envelopes with donations of money to the funeral (similiar to wedding custom) which helps defray the costs.

His pension will certainly end with his death and his wife will likely not get anything but to be sure, post a specific inquery on that in the "Home Country" forum. Also indicate if the man is a veteran as in some countries that provides special benefits (I don't know re the UK).

I would really not worry so much re the cremation and funeral as his wife will know how to handle this, what she can afford, and the community will help her. She may run into some glitches in terms of getting the body released since he is a foreigner, he should register with his embassy if he hasn't already and clearly indicate his wife as next of kin to help expedite that.

His wife's support after he is gone, assuming she has been until now supported by him, is a greater worry. She may have to rely on whatever family she has.

Depending on how old he is, might be worth looking into whether he can take out any kind of life insurance now. (Obviously, should have been done long ago).

He could donate his body to a training hospital ,which I believe is

free.

regards Worgeordie

Above is correct but I doubt wife would go along with it. Cremations with attendant funeral service are very important in Thai culture.

To all those who have responded -------Many Thanks

A woman from my wife's village was killed in a traffic accident two weeks ago, the whole village donated what they could to cover the cost of the cremation and anything left over went towards the food and drink.

Some answers here but nobody puts a number on it. So an average low cost cremation of a foreigner with no family here costs how much ? 5000 THB ? 20.000 THB ?

Pleade see the link given. This is discussed in that thread.

BTW OP does have family here.

Pleade see the link given. This is discussed in that thread.

BTW OP does have family here.

I am not sure about the existence of family. The old man claims to have no living relatives(other than his wife) and the couple have never mentioned any Thai family members.

I was referring to his wife. She certainly counts as family and her existance affects costs in that she will quite likely feel the need for a ceremony.

The MIL died last month - she was held in high regard by the locals so had to have a good send off and the cost of everything (including the parties, food but not booze) was 150k Baht