Funeral Service Cost

[starlight express]

Hi, does anyone know how much has to be paid to someone other than the Minister for conducting a funeral, and is the money kept by the person or has it to be donated to the Church.

[Kodiak]

If you go to a good Funeral Director then you only have to pay them as they organise everything and make all necessary payments. So in the end you have only one bill and that is to the Funeral Director.

This is what I did for members of my Family.

[sids]

You have to pay what they ask, or else find someone else.

If the person is not a minister, why would they give the money to a church?

[unicorn]

In the Catholic church I paid money to the organist as they take time off work for services, I did not have to but it was only fair.

[brandy]

when we buried tom the church didn't cost anything, but we went with clare harper, and he arranged everything, including the news paper announcement and plots and we just then paid him. its a very hard time and stressful time and my condolences on any loss.. but i know usually the funeral director will arrange everything with the church as well, so any costs would prob. just go back to the funeral director i assume.

[Hoida]

As far as I know the church does not make any charge, at least our church doesn't but very often the family make a donation to the church which is very acceptable. But if they choose not to we are not going to make a charge. Churches are in the community and should be available to all as and when needed. The Gospel is free.

[The Happy Humanist]

Hi
I'm not sure why you are asking but thought this may be of interest to you and others.
The Humanist Society of Scotland has a recommended fee for funeral ceremonies conducted by a celebrant and a proportion of this goes to the society, to help cover public liability insurances, training and so on. Being fairly large organisations, churches have income from investments, property and other things so can pay their employees a salary. Unlike members of the clergy, celebrants are not paid employees and the remainder of the fee paid goes to them and covers their costs. Usually the celebrant is paid by the funeral director some of whom itemize their bill, some do not.
No charge is made by any celebrant of the Humanist Society for the funeral of children and individual family circumstances may also be taken into account by celebrants, if people have no insurances, low incomes etc. Some celebrants who feel they have a reasonable standard of living through other employment and pensions often choose to donate the whole of their fee to the Society or other charitable organisations, in accordance with their own principles and those of humanism.
People should be aware though that anyone can call themselves a 'humanist celebrant'. However, only those registered and trained by the Humanist Society may represent that organisation. Funeral directors have contact numbers of registered celebrants or they can be found on the Humanist Society website.
I hope that you find out the info you were looking for in some of these answers, if not you could post again with more details and someone may be able to offer more information. It is a very difficult time dealing with a loss, your funeral director will be able to help.
Kind regards
Kate

[starlight express]

Thank you for all your replies, it has been really helpful.