Prepaying allows you to pay for the funeral of your choice:

• Before assets are used up for medical care.
• Before your assets are reduced to SSI or Medicaid eligibility levels.

What does the law allow?
Federal and State law allows properly trusted funeral funds to be excluded from resources when SSI, Medicaid or General Assistance eligibility is determined.

You may pay your funeral director in full for future funeral arrangements by depositing funds into an irrevocable account in a properly established Trust Fund.

Will your prepaid funeral arrangements qualify as SSI, Medicaid or General Assistance exemptions?
If you prearrange your funeral through CHOICES, the New Jersey Prepaid Funeral Trust Fund™ you can be sure your funeral arrangements qualify for exemption. By opening an irrevocable account in the New Jersey Prepaid Funeral Trust Fund™ you can arrange the funeral of your choice provided that:

1. The cost of the funeral is reasonable.
2. The account is irrevocable, meaning that the funds cannot be refunded or used for any other purpose.

Why choose the New Jersey Prepaid Funeral Trust Fund™?
Security
Established in 1981, the New Jersey Prepaid Funeral Trust Fund™ is a safe, well managed, fully insured b the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to the fullest extent permitted by law in one of New Jersey's largest banking institutions. Unlike traditional savings accounts which may close or become inaccessible at the time of death, this account becomes payable.

Interest rates
The New Jersey Prepaid Funeral Trust Fund™ provides a rate of return intended to keep up with surpass inflation, so that at the time of death there are funds available to meet the future retail price for the same funeral goods and services. If the New Jersey Prepaid Funeral Trust Fund™ did not exist, most funeral directors would have to deposit prepayments in individual trust accounts at low interest rates.

Who to talk to?
Simply contact your County Department of Human Services and a funeral director who offers the New Jersey Prepaid Trust Fund™. That funeral director will provide you with valuable up-to-date information on funerals and your pending benefits.

To use your existing life insurance policy(s) to prefund funeral arrangements, ask for Sure Trust™!

Sure Trust™, the Funeral Insurance Administration Trust, is another CHOICES program especially beneficial for families who would otherwise have to surrender their whole life insurance policies during the spend-down process for SSI, Medicaid or General Assistance eligibility. Sure Trust™ meets all SSI, Medicaid and General Assistance requirements, ensuring that you will not be forced to "cash out" insurance policies in order to qualify for assistance.

Other reasons to preplan…
Preplanning helps you become informed of any benefits that may be available to your family at the time of death such as Veteran's administration, Social Security, fraternal, or civic benefits. Your funeral director will be pleased to answer your questions.

SSI and Medicaid allows you to have the following assets:

Prepaid Funeral Arrangements
Your total funeral costs may include: funeral director's professional services, funeral home facility and staff charges, transportation charges, casket, vault, similar merchandise, and cash advances for clergy, cemetery, monument, etc. SSI Medicaid and General assistance allow for these funds to be deposited into one irrevocable account in a properly established Trust Fund.

Prearrange your funeral through CHOICES, the New Jersey Prepaid Funeral Trust Fund™.