No, you don’t need to have a funeral. It is not a legal requirement.
And yet . . . it may be helpful for you and your family to explore the reasons that don’t you want one.
If you would like a funeral, but you’re worried about cost or wasting money, then come and talk to us and we can go through what affordable options are available to you and the different ways you can pay for a funeral.
If you would like a funeral, but you’re worried about it being stressful for your family, then come and talk to us so we can map it out in advance and you can take that pressure off. We can help you to set up a fund to pay for your funeral, or you can just spend some time with us to plan it all out. Either is fine, and neither locks you into using us when the time comes.
If you don’t want a funeral because you don’t want a fuss or it’s not important to you… have you discussed this with your family? While you may think a funeral is not important to you, it may be important to your family and friends. They may really want to do something because ritual and connection at times of sadness are important for many people. It helps us to recover from a death and move on. Your family may really want to spend time with your body after you’ve died, quietly remember you while being with family and friends, or hold a rip-snorter of a party for you. If a family is told “Don’t make a fuss. I don’t want a funeral.” then they can find themselves in a tricky spot if they really feel the need to do something, So we recommend saying to your family something like “When it comes to a funeral, I don’t mind if you don’t do anything at all. Do what feels right to you. But please know I don’t expect you to spend any money on anything you don’t want to. I’m happy with a cardboard coffin, a direct cremation and then people can choose to raise a glass to me after if they want to.“
If you don’t want a funeral and your family doesn’t mind either, the simplest and cheapest option is a direct cremation. That’s when a funeral director or cremation service collects your body directly from where you’ve died, whether that’s home, a hospital or a residential aged care home, and takes your body to be cremated, then delivers the ashes back to your executor, who can then decide what to do with it. There is no family involvement, no service and no memorial, although the family can always arrange a memorial later.
