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My Brother just passed away on Monday without any life insurance. He was on SS Disability. His family doesn't have the finances to pay for a Direct Cremation that would only include the transportation from the hospital to the Crematory, the actual cremation, filing fees for the Death Certificate and return of his ashes in a plastic or cardboard container plus sales tax. Does anyone know where I can call for some assistance? Please, we need help ASAP. Thank you, Nancy

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I am sorry for your loss. The cremation should be around $1800 to $2000. Depending where you are.  Call the crematory, you can deal direct. A funeral home will tack on more or twice as much just for handling. You can call around, it may be worth it to call 3. As for the container, you can put him in any container, No need to buy from the FH or the crematory, we bought our SILs online shipped in 2 days. For the most part if you have to use a credit card use it, the FH or crematory fees and interest will be more. Ask tho, they may have a payment plan. AS for the death certificate, Get one. If you need more you can go back later but again ask before anything is done how much the costs are between $10 and $25 per death cert. You may need 3 at the most unless there is for probate. Some local banks may help you out with a low interest loan for an emergency. As for a service you can use a church or anyplace. You do not have to have a wake at a funeral home. My sister in laws was in the cafeteria at the college she worked at for many years. It was nice, we did a video, had flowers, had people to speak and they provided the lunch. You can be creative and not cost a lot. I deal with funerals quite a bit, and for every one there have been different ways to do them. Some a lot of cost some very little. Social Security will give you $200 towards funeral costs, takes a while and is not a lot but it may help.
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I do not know where you could get s loan.
Google Neptune cremations. They are the low cost company owned by SCI, which is the company that owns most cemeteries and many funeral homes. Same cremation. Way lower cost.
When you google it other lower cost outfits will pop up too. Hopefully some of those will be in your area.
Ask a funeral home THAT DOES NOT do cremations about the lowest cost one in the area. You might also call the Area Agency on Aging to see if they can advise. The City offices where he lived or County Offices might be able to help. Just tell them there are no funds. And can the county assist.
Where is his body? If he is in a hospital or nursing home tell them there are no funds. They have surely had this problem before.
About death certificates. They are generally a lot less if you order them at the time of death rather than later at the courthouse. It usually takes a couple of weeks before they are ready. Ask whichever facility you end up using how to get them.
Was your brother a veteran? They won’t pay for cremation but will provide a place for a service and to place his ashes.
I’m sorry for your loss.
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I had a nephew pass away and in the state of az if the family can not afford to pay for cremation the state will pay, however his sister said that the family would take care of it. I start getting phone calls that nobody has the money to do this, bad relationship with my brother stopped him from calling, so my husband and I offered to deal with the expense, I called like 15 different places, including small towns 100 miles away, explained that the family had not money what could we do. A small town charged me their cost of doing cremation, it was under 600.00 including 3 copies of his death certificate. Get people on the phone to every place you can find in a 100-150 radius and ask if they offer discounts for situations when the family has no money.
May God bless you and your family with grieving mercies and a crematorium that will offer a discount so no on has to go into debt for this loss.
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Nothing to add to 97's suggestions, except to say how sorry I am for your family's loss and that you have this additional distress. I hope you will find the official channels sensitive and helpful - they usually are at such times, so don't hesitate to contact them for advice.
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Was your brother on Medicaid? I think (?) they may contribute towards cremation. Also, EVERYTHING is negotiable. When my son in law was near the end, I accompanied my (foreign foster) daughter to a funeral home near her. I looked at the director and said, there is NO money please only give us the lowest cost options. Prior to that , we had called ALL of the cemeteries in her area. Cremation was not an option for them culturally. It really did turn out to be pretty affordable. Having said that, there are still items that have to be paid for, I a sending hugs to all.
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I found this online.

us-funerals.com/funeral-articles/indigent-burials-and-cremations.html#.Wo4HhR1MHYU
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Thank you all for you kind words and assistance. This will give me a few places to start. I am truly grateful for our help. - Nancy
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Try a local funeral home, they may help finance it, you will pay more but you can pay over time. They may also direct you to some assistance programs. Also check with his church if he belonged to one, maybe they have access to programs that may help.
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