This section of the New York Time’s funeral planning article attempts to address two separate issues.  The issue of what happens when the consumer moves away is one of portability and whether the preneed contract can be transferred to a new funeral home.  As we discussed in our first post on the Times article, certain issues control how portable the contract will be.  The funeral director quotes are misleading.  Portability and cancellation are two different issues.  Cancellation of a contract often comes with penalties.  Portability is an issue to be discussed with the funeral director before the contract is purchased.

If death occurs away from home, there will be additional costs to transferring the body back home, or to have the cremation performed at a different location.  Some national funeral home companies offer repatriation services as part of a preneed contract, but at an additional cost.  If a consumer has a concern about such costs, another option could be travel insurance that includes repatriation services.