We are privileged to assist your family with the preparation and organising of a farewell ceremony.  At Harbour City Funeral Home our reputation is important to us, so you can be assured that we always want to do our best for your family. 

We acknowledge this is a stressful time for most people and making decisions while under stress requires all those involved to be sensitive as well as transparent about costs that are being incurred.

While we do not wish to make the time of arranging a funeral all about cost, we believe that we must be as transparent as possible and to disclose with as much clarity as possible, the financial impacts of your decisions. 

A detailed written estimate will be provided to you at the completion of the funeral arrangement meeting.

Funeral Arrangement Form and Financial Authority

Our company Funeral Arrangement Form and Financial Authority provides the following:

• A representative of the family gives our company the legal authority to carry out the funeral arrangements.
• It outlines the financial conditions on which we agree to provide our services.
• It acknowledges the person as guarantor of the funeral debt should there be insufficient funds in the estate, or there is no estate to pay for the funeral.
• It authorises us to obtain a credit check.

Please read the Funeral Arrangement Form and Financial Authority carefully and if you have any questions or concerns please raise them with your funeral director as soon as possible.

Who can sign the Funeral Arrangement Form and Financial Authority

We are obliged to ensure that the person going guarantor is fully aware of the financial commitment they are making, and that they have the financial means available to pay for the funeral that has been arranged.

With this in mind, our company requires the person signing the Funeral Arrangement Form and Financial Authority to meet the following criteria:

• Must be over 25 years of age
• Must be in full time employment
• Retired spouse or relative can sign only if the funeral account will be settled in full 6 weeks from the date of death or the account is going to a lawyer or public trustee and they confirm there are sufficient funds in the estate to cover the funeral costs.
• Must be living in New Zealand and have a clean Credit history.

The funeral account is posted out generally within 10 days of the person’s death. It is sent to the person who authorised the funeral or to the solicitor handling the estate. The original certified death certificate is included with the account.

The funeral account is due for full payment six weeks from the date of death. The funeral account is made up of our fees, the casket, and any other charges that we have paid out on your behalf.

If the funeral account is not paid by the due date an Account Finance Charge of $575.00 will be added.

It is our expectation that the funeral account will be paid on time. If payment is a problem, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can suggest ways to help.

If required, extended credit may sometimes be arranged. However, you need to discuss this option with the funeral director while arranging the funeral as you need to fill in credit application forms prior to the funeral service.

A detailed written estimate of the cost of the funeral will be left with you after you have made the funeral arrangements with the funeral director.

We accept payment by cash, direct credit, eftpos or credit card (credit card fees of 2.3% apply).

Financial Assistance

The two most common grants available to families are the Work and Income funeral grant and the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) funeral grant.

Work and Income Funeral grants provide some assistance and help towards the payment of the funeral. We have the Work and income Funeral Grant forms available for you and will assist you in the completion of this form. One completed the grant may be approved within 2 weeks. 

If the person has died as the result of an accident we will provide you with the Accident Compensation Corporation funeral grant form. We will assist you with filling in this form and will arrange for it to be lodged with ACC on your behalf.

For more information about financial assistance please view the following:

• ACC
• Work and Income

Compassionate Airfares

Some airlines operating in New Zealand offer compassionate airfares to immediate family members travelling to a funeral. You should check with the airline you are travelling on whether the ticket you are travelling on is able to be discounted in this way.

If a discount is possible, we will provide you with the form that needs to be completed and returned to the airline, along with a supporting letter from our company.

To write our supporting letter we need the following:

• the full name of the person on the ticket
• the traveller’s relationship to the person who has died.
• the ticket reference number