Starter Kit. Idea 355 of 500. Cluster 17
A funeral and estate service for Sri Lankans abroad, who cannot fly home in time
The mechanism, from the book
Sri Lankans abroad have parents at home whom they cannot look after from Melbourne. They will pay, and the money stays.
The first step
Sit down with one funeral director and one lawyer in your town and agree what a complete package would include: the arrangements, the paperwork, the house secured, the accounts closed, and a written report with receipts. Put it on one page with a fixed fee and send it to three Sri Lankan associations abroad. Families who reply asking to register in advance are your proof.
- Who pays first
- A child abroad who has already been through one rushed funeral at home and paid twice for everything, and would pay a fixed fee never to repeat it.
- What leaves today
- Money that Sri Lankans abroad spend in grief now leaks to overcharging and delay; an honest, receipted service keeps it with a local business that earns trust.
Ask first
- the Divisional Secretariat. Ask which papers families need to register a death and settle affairs.
- the local council (Municipal Council, Urban Council or Pradeshiya Sabha). Ask what permissions a funeral or cremation needs in the area.
Check before you spend
What written authority a family abroad must give you to act, which tasks only a lawyer may do, and how you hold client money and keys.
Find out these three numbers
- What fixed fee would a family abroad pay for the package?
- How many families would register in advance?
- What do the funeral director and lawyer charge for their parts?
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.