Having a pre-planning contract means living with the certainty that you will leave
with your wishes respected, sparing your family the weight of any difficult choices.
Since death is an inescapable reality, it is important to think about your own departure. Do you want to be cremated or buried? Would you like a secular or a religious service? Or would you rather simply leave in silence? Because wishes differ from one person to the next, funeral planning is a reassuring step that ensures everyone’s choices are respected. When a loved one dies, it also spares those close to them from having to make difficult decisions and relieves the family of the financial burden of the funeral.
In this field, Azur Prévoyance Funéraire SA, a funeral planning specialist since 2002, offers a wide range of services, all tailored to its clients’ wishes, culture, religion and budget. The budget can be adjusted during a personal meeting with expert advisers, who provide guidance and support throughout the planning process. Florence and Sophie Bédoïan, respectively a director of Azur Prévoyance Funéraire SA and a senior manager at Pompes Funèbres Générales Genève SA, which has been arranging funeral pre-planning contracts since 1982, highlight the benefits of funeral planning.
Sophie Bédoïan, why did you choose to work in this sector?
It runs in the family. My father joined the company as a funeral assistant in 1987 and is now Managing Director. Ever since I was a little girl, I have known Pompes Funèbres Générales and the Carouge branch. My mother joined him in 2001 as Administrative Director. As for me, I started in this line of work in 2006, after studying hospitality and catering, which gave me great rigour and a sense of impeccable customer service. Still, something was missing. Because our profession is so deeply human, our work is a vocation before it is a job. I feel that I am truly useful.
Florence Bédoïan, what does a funeral pre-planning contract include?
First of all, every pre-planning contract is unique. It covers everything from the choice of coffin to writing the death notice in advance, as well as the choice of venue for the ceremony, the type of burial and even the flowers. We take the time to go through our clients’ wishes together, to reassure them about any concerns and to draw up a budget according to their means. It is important to take time to reflect, because this is a personal step that can sometimes be difficult to take.
Why is this so common today?
S.B.: Setting up a funeral pre-planning contract reassures the person concerned, because they know they will be taken care of quickly and that everything will go according to their wishes. It is an entirely personal step, but it is also an act of love towards one’s family.
Today, family members often live in all four corners of the world. For children, it is reassuring to know that their parents have arranged everything and that, by the time they return from abroad, the organisation is already under way. What is more, families can sometimes have serious conflicts.
A pre-planning contract has the merit of putting minds at rest and getting everyone to agree.
F.B.: We also notice that more and more people live alone. Here too, it is reassuring to know that everything is well organised and that one’s wishes will be respected. Finally, the financial side is important as well. Everyone who comes to see us knows that, when the time comes, they will not be leaving a financial burden to their family.
What options do you offer?
S.B.: We are able to offer two basic packages. The first is called “Simplicité” and costs 3,100 francs. We increasingly see our clients opting for a personalised package. In our field, it is difficult to stick to a ready-made package, because wishes differ from one person to the next and everyone has their own idea of simplicity. Nobody wants exactly the same thing, and that is the essence of our profession.
More precisely, what does the client’s bill correspond to?
S.B.: Contrary to what many people think, Azur Prévoyance Funéraire is not insurance, and a pre-planning contract is not a monthly contribution based on a lump sum payable on death and calculated according to the subscriber’s age. With a pre-planning contract, the bill corresponds to the actual, total price of the funeral as if it had been organised on the date the contract was taken out. Once the contract has been paid in full, whether the death occurs one year or twenty years later, the funeral directors’ prices for supplies and services are guaranteed. The only readjustment that might be made, when the time comes, concerns third-party costs beyond our control (for example, increases in crematorium fees, the cost of publishing the death notice, or flowers).
F.B.: Some clients also decide to change their contract, which is possible at any time. In addition, if someone moves abroad and sends us a letter asking for their contract to be refunded, we respond straight away. Lastly, in cases of force majeure, where some families have had to forgo the ceremonies, the services not provided have been refunded
to the estate. Nevertheless, in the sensitive field of funerals, our rigour is also our strength. That is why we do not depart from our rule: we cannot refund just anyone.
What about the investment system in place?
S.B.: Azur Prévoyance Funéraire SA is a public limited company whose sole purpose is to manage pre-planning contracts and the funds entrusted to it, in order to guarantee that the clients’ wishes are properly carried out when the time comes. It is therefore important that the funds invested are ultimately secure.
F.B.: The funds are managed by Swiss financial institutions. Azur Prévoyance Funéraire SA chooses secure investments, only in Swiss francs and in Switzerland. The returns are lower, but the risk is very limited. This means the money from the contract is not paid to a funeral home that could use it as cash flow for its day-to-day running, which could be risky if that company ran into difficulties.
How do you know which funeral planning company to trust?
F.B.: We are seeing a growing number of online platforms that are not funeral professionals. They operate with no transparency whatsoever about what their contracts contain, give information and advice on what to do when the time comes, and offer to record your wishes without knowing local customs, practices and fees, even though the formalities differ from one canton to another. Only an independent company specialising in this field, such as Azur Prévoyance Funéraire, can guarantee that its clients’ wishes are respected and that the funds paid in are as secure as possible.
S.B.: It is important to turn to funeral professionals so that everything recorded in the contract can actually be carried out at the time of death. You should also choose a long-established funeral planning company with a proper local presence. And I would stress one really important point: you must know exactly which funeral directors will carry out the funeral when the time comes! If you take out a pre-planning contract, it is partly to know what will happen to you… the very least you can expect is to know who will take care of you on your final journey! Finally, I would like to point out that Pompes Funèbres Générales Genève does not work with any online platform for funeral pre-planning contracts. Since its creation in 2002, we have worked only with Azur Prévoyance Funéraire SA.
Interview Andrea Tarantini