In 2017 the life expectancy for the total Canadian population is projected to be 79 years for men and 83 years for women. Of course, some people will die younger and others will live into their 90s and beyond. However long you live, eventually your funeral expenses and other debts must be paid for before your executor can distribute your estate to beneficiaries. 

How much does a funeral cost?
Canadian Funerals Online (CFO) notes that historically the funeral industry has not openly disclosed funeral prices, and many funeral home websites do not even publish a price list. However, these days you can find more funeral homes providing open disclosure of the cost of various funeral packages. Nevertheless, the cost of a funeral can still vary significantly depending on where you live and which funeral services provider you use.

There are two corporate funeral companies operating in Canada – Service Corporation International [Branded as Dignity Memorial] and Arbor Memorial.  Although not a rule, CFO reports that typically corporate funeral homes can be more expensive than family-owned funeral homes and that in the funeral industry, economies of scale do not always operate in favour of consumers.

Therefore, it is highly recommended that you investigate prices from more than one funeral home. Of course, this may not be practical or possible in the stressful period following the death of a loved one.

In a recent article on lowestrates.ca, Rebecca Lee discussed how much it costs to die in Canada. She reported that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for the dozens of after-death decisions you’ll have to make. There’s also no one-size-fits-all price tag.

In an interview with Lee, Founder and CEO of Basic Funerals, Eric Vandermeersch, said that after-death costs can be as low as $1,500 or as high as $20,000. And while he pegged the average overall cost at $8,500, he admitted that the number varies wildly based on each person’s preferences, values, and culture.

“It’s like saying I want to buy a car, what should I budget for.” Vandermeersch explained. “There are a lot of options. There are people looking for just the basics and there are people looking for more traditional ceremonies.”

Lee enumerated some of the after-death arrangements you or your family will have to decide on. Some are required and others are mandatory. All costs are approximate and will vary based on city, province, and personal preference.

1. Death certificate ($15-$22) and registration (about $55).
2. Transfer services ($100+).
3. Shroud, casket, or urn ($0-$3,000+).
4. Body preparation ($125-$525)..
5. Formal ceremonies (visitation, memorial, funeral) plus staffing fees ($2,000 and beyond).
6. Burial plots and niches ($1,000 and beyond).
7. Burial or cremation services ($1,000 and beyond).

Burial vs. Cremation
According to CFO, as a very general guide a cremation is likely to cost a quarter of the cost of a burial.  A simple, direct cremation in Canada can start at around $600, whereas a cremation with a service, and extra disbursements (obituary notice, viewing, funeral flowers, etc), may cost in the region of $4,500.  As mentioned above, cremation service costs will vary depending upon your province and area. The cremation rate in Canada is at 65% making cremation by far the popular choice for families today.

Direct cremation is becoming more popular.  A direct cremation is when the deceased is simply collected from the place of death and transferred to the funeral home or crematory for an immediate cremation.  No service is conducted prior to the cremation [although sometimes a brief family viewing is conducted].

The cremated remains are returned to the family within a few days in a basic urn.  This is the least expensive means by which to conduct a funeral.  It can even be arranged online today, without the need to visit a funeral home.  Family can then arrange their own memorial at a later date at a place that suit the family.  This also puts the family in control of the memorial process, instead of paying a funeral home for this service.

CPP Death Benefit
The Canada Pension Plan death benefit is a one-time, lump-sum payment to your estate that can help to pay for funeral costs. The amount of the death benefit depends on how much and for how long you contributed to the CPP.  In January 2016, the average death benefit paid was $2,296.85 and the maximum was $2,500.

To calculate the amount of the death benefit, Service Canada first calculates the amount that the CPP retirement pension is or would have been if the deceased was age 65 at the time of death. The death benefit is equal to six months’ worth of this calculated retirement pension up to a maximum of $2,500.

If an estate exists, the executor named in the will or the administrator named by the Court to administer the estate applies for the death benefit. The executor should apply for the benefit within 60 days of the date of death.

If no estate exists or if the executor has not applied for the death benefit, payment may be made to other persons who apply for the benefit in the following order of priority:

• The person or institution that has paid for or that is responsible for paying for the funeral expenses of the deceased.
• The surviving spouse or common-law partner of the deceased.
• The next-of-kin of the deceased.

The death benefit is equal to six months’ worth of this calculated retirement pension up to a maximum of $2,500.

Also see:
Saskatchewan Funeral Costs Guide
The Prepaid Funeral: Advantages & Disadvantages

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Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

Written by Sheryl Smolkin
	Sheryl Smolkin LLB., LLM is a retired pension lawyer and President of Sheryl Smolkin & Associates Ltd. For over a decade, she has enjoyed a successful encore career as a freelance writer specializing in retirement, employee benefits and workplace issues. Sheryl and her husband Joel are empty-nesters, residing in Toronto with their cockapoo Rufus.

What I find most interesting about budgets are the provisions that are often buried in the fine print and don’t make the front page of the newspaper. You will find links below to some widely-reported features of the 2018 Federal Budget and others you may not yet be aware of.

The graphic above illustrates how the new EI parental-sharing benefit will operate. The Investment Executive reports that in an initiative that was widely-anticipated in the lead-up to the February 27th budget, the Liberal government introduced a new Employment Insurance (EI) parental sharing benefit that will provide extended EI parental benefits when both parents agree to share parental leave. The proposed “use-it-or-lose-it” benefit will increase the duration of EI parental leave by up to five weeks for parents who share a standard 12-month parental leave, or up to eight weeks for parents who share an extended 18-month leave. This incentive is expected to be available starting June 2019.

And while details are sketchy, MPs may finally be entitled to long over-due maternity and parental leave. According to the Budget Papers (p.52):

“The Government is supportive of, and will work with Parliament on, the recommendations put forward in the report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs entitled Support for Members of Parliament with Young Children. This includes…improving work-life balance, providing access to child care and designated spaces for the use of Members with infants and children, and a change to the Standing Orders of the House of Commons to allow an infant being cared for by a Member of Parliament to be present on the floor of the House of Commons. The Government will also bring forward amendments to the Parliament of Canada Act to make it possible for Parliamentarians to take maternity and parental leave.”

The government has backtracked on key tax measures for small businesses. Mark Burgess at advisor.ca explains how the federal government will tie the passive income threshold to the small business deduction. He notes that the plan put forward in Tuesday’s federal budget takes a different approach to the one the government proposed last summer that received considerable blowback from business owners.

If a corporation earns more than $50,000 of passive investment income in a year, the amount of income eligible for the small business tax rate is reduced and more of the company’s active income is taxed at the general corporate rate. The $50,000 threshold originally announced in changes the government made to its proposals while under pressure from business groups in October is equivalent to $1 million in passive investment assets at a 5% return.

Julie Cazzen at Maclean’s lists 15 ways Budget 2018 will affect your wallet.  Here are a few of the interesting budget provisions she highlights:

• The Canadian Child Benefit will be indexed to inflation starting July 2018.
• You will be able to open an RESP and claim the $500 Canada Learning Bond grant at the same time that you apply for a birth certificate for your child. This will automatically enroll children born into low-income families for the grant.
• Canada Student Grants and Loans has expanded eligibility for part time students, as well as full and part time students with children, and introduced a three-year pilot project that will provide adults returning to school on a full-time basis after several years in the workforce with an additional $1,600 in grant money starting Aug 1, 2018.
• A new Apprenticeship Incentive Grant for Women will give women in male-dominated trades fields $3,000 per year of training (or up to $6,000 over two years). Almost all Red Seal trades are eligible.
• The CPP death benefit is now $2,500 for all eligible contributors (whereas before it was pro-rated.)

Rob Carrick in the Globe and Mail discusses seven changes that could affect your finances. For example, following up on public consultations in 2016, the federal government is poised to announce improvements to Canada Deposit Insurance Corp. The consultations looked at adding registered disability savings plans (RDSPs) and registered education savings plans (RESPs) to the list of registered accounts that are covered and adding foreign currency deposits to covered products.

This would benefit snowbirds keeping large deposits in U.S.-dollar accounts. Other reforms could add coverage for guaranteed investment certificates of longer than five-year terms. Increasing the current $100,000 coverage limit for eligible deposits does not appear to be in the government’s plans.

Some other lesser known and unexpected Budget proposals reported by the Financial Post are:

• The government will create an advisory council to begin “a national dialogue” on a national pharmacare program.
• The government is moving to provide more support for Canadians suffering from mental health issues – including veterans – by helping them with the cost of psychiatric service dogs. Specifically, starting this year, the Medical Expense Tax Credit will be expanded to cover costs associated with the animals.

The federal government also announced in the budget that it will eventually move away from its problem-plagued Phoenix pay system – which has overpaid, underpaid or completely failed to pay tens of thousands of public servants – and invest $16-million over two years to develop a new pay system.

You can see the full document tabled in the House of Commons here.

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Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

Written by Sheryl Smolkin
	Sheryl Smolkin LLB., LLM is a retired pension lawyer and President of Sheryl Smolkin & Associates Ltd. For over a decade, she has enjoyed a successful encore career as a freelance writer specializing in retirement, employee benefits and workplace issues. Sheryl and her husband Joel are empty-nesters, residing in Toronto with their cockapoo Rufus.