Hello, I am raising funds on behalf of my mother, Margaret Neal to pay for funeral expenses for my stepdad, Roscoe Neal. On October 23rd, sadly, my stepdad passed away at age 83 after battling numerous illnesses and complications from dialysis. This year alone he was in and out of the hospital about 6 times. My mom, who is also 83, has lovingly and steadfastly cared for him as his health declined.

 

After his passing, she went with my husband to make the arrangements. After choosing everything and getting things settled, the funeral home director went to process the insurance plan. My stepdad had one insurance policy in place that he had taken out in 1995 when he started a new job. For years he and my mom had been paying into this insurance plan which was for $7,000. To everyone's surprise, it turned out that my stepdad had named one of his biological daughters as the sole beneficiary. We aren't sure why he did that, but it could be that in 1995 although he and my mom had been together for many years already, they weren't legally married at the time.

In any case, they called his daughter, she seemed to agree and cooperate with having the money go toward the expenses. We thought everything was going smoothly.

 

But as you know, money can sometimes be the root of all evil. His daughter, who lives in Ohio, arrived in New York, went straight to the funeral home, and told them she would actually be taking ALL of the proceeds from the insurance plan, leaving my mom to pay for the entire funeral (which came to $8,500) by herself at 83 years old.

 

The total came to $8,500. If my mom used the $7,000 from the policy towards the funeral, she would only need to pay the balance of $1,500. To be honest, when I heard that his daughter was headed to the funeral home, I honestly thought she was going to just pay the rest of the balance for my mother. Sadly, she only came to collect.

 

As you can imagine this is extremely stressful and disappointing. My parents were together a total of 39 years, married for 17. My mom did not choose the most extravagant service for my stepdad, but as she said "he was always good to me, so I wanted to do right by him".

 

$8500 for a funeral in New York is not extravagant, but it's a lot for an 83-year-old to be blindsided with like this. I'm not in a financial position right now to help my mom and it kills me. And since this daughter was listed as the beneficiary, there's not much we can do.

 

For me, this is not about money, it's about empathy and human decency. My stepdad was a wonderful father figure to me, he embraced everyone and was a loving soul. My mother loved him fiercely and as brave as she is, you can imagine how much this hurts her. In the last 10 years, she has lost my grandmother, her mother, and my brother to Lupus. Currently, my oldest brother is in a hospital recovering from a tragic truck accident that happened this summer, and this has weighed heavily on her for months, and now this. It's too much.

 

I know that we will all have a brighter day, but it's tough right now.

 

Any help you can provide would be appreciated. All proceeds will go to my mom to pay for the funeral.

 

Thank you for your time and understanding.

 

Robin Shumays