Funeral costs average around 13,000 euros - tree burials are almost three times cheaper

Funerals can get really expensive.

It's important to keep track of the cost of cemetery fees, undertakers, and the funeral service.

Funerals are a topic that people are reluctant to talk about - especially when it might be your own.

If you don't take care of yourself, it's up to the relatives to take care of everything if the worst comes to the worst.

A situation that can overwhelm many families, especially during the time of mourning.

It is important to know who is speaking to whom, who will be in charge of the organization and, most importantly, how much the funeral will cost.

Funeral expenses - what is included?

A funeral in Germany costs around 13,000 euros on average.

However, the differences between the various burial options and their execution are very large.

According to the specialist magazine

, a cremation anonymously costs around 2,000 euros.

For a burial in a coffin in a cemetery, more than 30,000 euros can easily be paid.

The upper limits are open - more expensive is always possible.

Costs also depend on the type of funeral

How much you have to pay in the end also depends on your own wishes.

For example, how would you like to be buried?

Perhaps with a burial, cremation, tree or even sea burial?

The "where" also plays a role: a cemetery offers communal or individual graves, an urn niche or a row grave.

Of course, the offer can vary from cemetery to cemetery.

In general, funeral costs can be broken down into three major areas: the cemetery fees, the costs for the undertaker and everything to do with the funeral service.

Good to know: some amounts are tax deductible.

First cost: undertaker is essential for the funeral

Every state has a law that requires a dead body to be transported in a hearse.

Be it on the way to the cemetery or before that on the way to the undertaker.

However, an undertaker is not only a must - the company is also the contact person for questions and needs, often arranges other service providers such as florists and can also relieve the mourners of extra tasks - for an additional payment.

To find out what the price range for the funeral is, you can use the funeral planner from the “Bundesverband Deutscher undertaker” (Federal Association of German Undertakers).

Here you can choose between four types of burial and also between four price models, of which “standard” is the cheapest.

The costs are variable and it also depends on the coffin, for example.

took a look at the average undertaker costs:

The choice of undertaker: Always compare at least two offers

Important in advance: The profession of undertaker is not protected in Germany.

Basically, anyone can register a trade in this area - and without training.

The local undertakers have also had online competition, but you sometimes have to look very closely at them.

The Federal Association of German Undertakers also provides a good overview.

The association awards seals of quality that you can use as a guide.

In order to decide which provider you want to choose, you should compare at least two, better three or four offers from different undertakers.

You should definitely make sure that all services are broken down.

That way you won't be surprised at the end.

A reputable undertaker will even go an extra step and inform their customers about the costs for the cemetery and stonemason (for a possible gravestone).

Second cost: the cemetery fees

In addition to the costs for the undertaker, the cemetery fees are the second important and unavoidable cost item, because in Germany there is a burial obligation.

For this reason, municipalities and cities maintain cemeteries (Catholic, Protestant, Jewish).

So-called cemetery forests are usually managed privately.

Cemetery fees are fixed and non-negotiable.

These include a kind of basic fee (burial fee) and the grave use fee.

Caution: This is usually given as an annual fee, but it has to be paid for the entire time.

For example, ten to 35 years at a time – you can read exactly how long in the cemetery statutes.

The type of burial also differs in terms of costs: a cremation, for example, is cheaper than a burial.

The following table can provide a rough overview (database of

)

Tree burials are trending

Many people feel put off by the rules in a cemetery and prefer to visit their loved ones in the great outdoors.

Perhaps one would like to be buried in exactly such a place.

Cemetery forests, also known as rest or burial forests, are ideal for these people.

The rules are freer and visiting a grave here is more like a walk in the woods.

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To pause, miss and mourn as well as to go for a walk: burial forests are something special - and are trendy.

© Roland Hartig/Imago

In a tree burial, the body of the deceased is cremated and then buried in an urn on a tree trunk.

Maybe the tree just gets a number, maybe a plaque with a name - that depends on your own wishes.

The average total costs for an urn burial of this type are around 4,400 euros - including undertakers (from 3,200 euros) and cemetery fees (from 1,200 euros) - many times cheaper than the traditional burial in a cemetery.

Third cost: the funeral service

After the funeral, there is traditionally coffee and cake.

How expensive this is depends on the number of guests, the offer and the restaurant.

Relatives often invite the close family to their home and provide them with drinks and food themselves.

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Possible additional costs

In the case of burials and cremations in particular, the tombstone is often an additional cost factor.

Just like with the undertaker, it is better to get several offers.

The costs vary greatly, size, material and design also play a role.

List of rubrics: © Roland Hartig/Imago