Most people know that the costs of funeral services and products are rising. Legacy Headstones is frequently asked whether funeral expenses are tax deductible. Although we cannot provide tax, legal, or accounting advice, we know that planning and preparing the funeral of a loved one can be stressful. This quick guide explores and explains some of the deductions that you or your loved one might qualify for when it’s time to prepare your federal income tax return.
When you lose a loved one, his or her memorial may be the only space you can visit and receive a sense of closure. Memorial appearance and condition are certainly of great concern to cemetery caretakers and family members of the deceased. Bronze, granite, and marble are some of the most popular materials used to make gravestones, cremation urns, and other monuments that honor the dead.
Burial customs have changed considerably over the last few centuries, but we still follow many of the same traditions that have been in practice since the time of early Christianity. We don’t often visit a graveyard and think about how it’s been designed or what direction the headstones are facing. In this article, we examine the superstitions and traditions that have led us to where we are today and affected the way we create the final resting places of our loved ones.
Have you ever visited a cemetery and found coins lining the edge of a headstone? There are many customs, habits, practices, and superstitions in the world, but this tradition is as mysterious as it is honorable. The coins left behind on the edge of a gravestone imply to family members and friends of the deceased that someone else has visited and left a token of commemoration.
Today’s memorial methods are changing fast, but traditions in other parts of the world can often endure for centuries or millennia. If you have been tasked with planning the memorial of a loved one, understanding the different religious memorials available to you may make the process and decision easier. Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism are five of the largest organized religions in the world that range from ten million to two billion followers and counting.
Every culture in the world has traditions and practices that are passed on for generations. In Judaism, people leave what we refer to as visitation stones on the gravesites of their loved ones. This practice can be observed in the final scene of the dramatic film known as Schindler’s List, in which WWII survivors and their offspring commemorate the grave of Oskar Schindler by leaving stones rather than flowers.
Gravestone Imagery Friday, May 25, 2018 Have you been tasked with designing the headstone of a loved one who has recently passed away? Personalizing a memorial might seem simple to some people, but others may find it difficult because they don’t know where to begin. There are many ways to encapsulate the passions or personality quirks of the deceased, but advances in technology have even made it possible to preserve the physical memory of someone.
Whether installing a headstone for the first time or repairing the grave of a loved one, deciding where to start can be difficult. Luckily, Legacy Headstones has almost a century of experience in the business of building gravestones and restoring old memorials to former glory. In this article, we take a closer look at ground anchor systems to explain how they are invaluable to the support and security of a headstone and why it’s important to have one for your headstone.
Funeral Costs Wednesday, May 23, 2018 Death might be the very last thing on your mind, but it is never too early to start settling your final affairs and wishes. With the rising costs of funeral expenses, many Americans find themselves torn between burial and cremation as the final form of disposition they choose. Traditional burials allow for slow and natural decomposition, whilst cremation is the process of reducing the deceased body to ash and bone fragments within a matter of hours.
Death is not something we like to think about, but it is still an inevitable fact of life. When a loved one passes away, we can easily become overwhelmed by undue decisions and the escalating costs of arranging a funeral. With more than a century of experience building high-quality memorials, Legacy Headstones understands a thing or two about coping with the practical tasks of everyday life while enduring the emotional repercussions of loss.
