Important Information
If you are considering buying a funeral plan and wish for Stanley J Nicholas Ltd to be your chosen funeral director, we advise that you arrange the plan directly through us. Arranging your plan with us secures our services.
Stanley J Nicholas Ltd provides a bespoke service, and the costs reflect today’s prices and are calculated against your specified requests. All payments made against the plan are held in trust by a separate Trust Company. Please be aware that the Trust Company will deduct the fee for their services from your Trust fund.
If you purchase a plan directly from the Trust Company, your arrangement may not guarantee our specific services. In addition, it is possible that the sum the Trust allocate to your plan may not be enough to cover our costs at the time of your death. Reasons for this include that the Trust company may sell you a plan that is not tailored to your requirements or the Trust may only estimate the cost of our Funeral Director services, meaning the remaining sum will not be sufficient to cover the cost of our services.
Find out about guarantees
It is essential that you ask any funeral plan sales agents for a written guarantee that your chosen Funeral Director will provide the funeral services that you require. If you cannot obtain a guarantee, this may mean that the Trust will allocate a Funeral Director at their own discretion, which will be based on cost, rather than your pre-arranged plans.
If you are considering buying a plan that guarantees Stanley J Nicholas Ltd to be your chosen Funeral Director, then please approach us directly for peace of mind.
Golden Charter cannot guarantee our funeral services unless you pay them an inflated price compared to their standard pricing structure.
Plan costs
If you have been offered a very low price, we advise to question how the plan can cost less than today’s prices. Funeral costs are increasing every year, therefore, plans that promise unrealistic low costs should raise cause for concern.
Beware of vouchers
Some third party Trust Companies occasionally send out gift vouchers offering various discounts on funeral plans. Most of these vouchers are designed to encourage you into purchasing a low cost plan from them. However, it is likely that the plan in question will allow you little control over the arrangements. In addition, it is likely that the type of plan included in these sales tactics cannot allow you the choice of a specific Funeral Director.
Funerals are a personal consideration and companies promoting a “one size fits all” service should be avoided.
Bespoke funeral plans from Stanley J Nicholas Ltd can only be purchased directly through us. If your funeral plan does not specifically bear our name, then it is not provided by us.
Benefits of our bespoke plans
All plans are costed to reflect today’s prices. No further costs will apply to you or your family, provided the terms of the plan are complied with and no additional requests outside of the agreed plan are made.
All our plans are tailored to suit your unique requirements.
We offer free consultations at your home or at our office and will not pressurise you to buy.
Any plans that are paid in full or within the first year from purchase can be surrendered at any time subject to your terms and conditions, however the Trust Company may deduct an administration charge.
Any plan paid for via fixed monthly instalments over extended periods may be cancelled but will be subject to penalty fees (please refer to the terms and conditions of your plan).
Paying for your plan
If you have paid in full within the first year (either by a single lump payment or over 12 monthly instalments) your funds will be paid directly to the Golden Charter Trust. The Trust is a separate legal entity which protects your investment.
Extended instalment payment options
If you have chosen to pay by fixed monthly instalments, provided that you have made all payments in accordance with your payment plan, our funeral directors services will be fully guaranteed. This type of payment plan is managed by the Golden Charter Trust. After two years has passed, they will use your payments to take out a whole life policy with Axa Sun Life plc which will fund your funeral when you die.
