Funeral costs overwhelming for some

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - A grandmother is preparing to bury her grandson - it's against the natural order of things.

"I didn't want to give no funeral for my grandkids," Daneen Chandler said. "I wanted them to outlive me. It's supposed to be them burying me, not me burying them."

Although many people face an overwhelming cost of living, many don't consider the cost of dying. Some West Michigan families are grappling not only with loss, but with the cost of a funeral.

Chandler recently lost grandson Ja'Marion Jalon Williams, who died of natural causes.

"And he was just 7 months old -- he didn't get a chance to live his life," she said.

She and her family are struggling to pay for his funeral on Friday.

"Unfortunately, we didn't have no insurance for him, and pretty much, we didn't have any money to be able to bury him," Chandler said.

More families are facing that problem every day.

From 2006 to 2007, about 6,548 families in Michigan used the indigent burial, where the state pays funeral directors the cost of the funeral, according to the Michigan Funeral Director's Association.

From 2007 to 2008, around 6,858 people used the program. In 2009, dating only until July, about 7,642 people have done the same - a dramatic increase.

"We've seen an increase in families that need that assistance as well," said Brooke Mitchell, of Gillespie Moody Memorial Chapel, in Grand Rapids.

The statistics are not surprising to Mitchell.

"I would say about 60 percent of our families need assistance from the state," Mitchell said. "So, that's a pretty large number."

The best advice? Be prepared and talk to family members.

"If you don't have a life insurance policy, the best thing to do would be to try and find one, with low premiums, or an insurance company that can work with you and try to accommodate your financial situation," Mitchell said.

From donations, Chandler and her family raised about $200 for a basic funeral to pay for the costs at the cemetary. But for Chandler, it wasn't enough.

"A casket ... I feel like, it's pretty much like a disgrace," Chandler said. "It's not even ... a child shouldn't even be buried in it. You know? But that's a free one. And unfortunately, that's what we have to take because we can't afford it.

"He didn't get a chance to walk yet, you know, he just learned to crawl. And it's just hard on us. Hard - because that's a part of us that's gone."

If you know which funeral home you want to take care of your final wishes, a lot of times you can contact them and work out a financial payment plan, Mitchell said.