Dear Frustrated,
If you truly can’t afford $600, your husband should tell his brothers what you told me: “We don’t have the money immediately to pay. We can save, but it will take a couple of months.”
Your husband should also mention the costs of travel. If he and his brothers aren’t close, they probably don’t know that money has been a struggle lately. In that case, it’s reasonable that they would have assumed that each brother could afford to pay a third, even though your husband had to pay airfare.
But I don’t think your husband should refuse outright to pay the $600, especially since he’s hoping his mother’s death might help to heal the family rift. Yes, he will have paid more than his brothers to fulfill his mother’s final wishes when you factor in travel. But that’s what happens when you live thousands of miles away from family. I’m guessing his brothers have supported your in-laws in ways that haven’t been possible for your husband given the physical distance.
He should focus on the fact that he doesn’t have $600 to spend immediately — but that he’s not refusing to pay. He’s looking for solutions for an expense that was relatively unexpected.
He could ask his brothers whether they could each front $300 so their mother’s ashes aren’t held up at the crematorium any longer. Then he could offer to send them each $50 or $100 a month. Your husband could also turn to his father to see if he can afford to part with $600 temporarily.
You’re no longer paying off your debt, so you should have some extra room in your budget. I’m guessing you can save up that money quickly.
It may also make sense to use a credit card to pay off the $600. I get why you’d hesitate to do so, having just gotten out of debt. But the death of a parent counts as an emergency. If you make it a one-time purchase and pay it off quickly, you don’t have to worry about slipping back into debt.
It sounds like your mother-in-law was extremely reasonable about her final wishes. She didn’t request an elaborate ceremony and burial. She asked for a simple cremation and for the family to have a meal together. It sounds like she, too, wanted to bring the family closer after her death.
Paying $600 may seem like a lot when you’ve just gotten out of debt. But I’d hate to see that $600 move the family further away from fulfilling the spirit of your mother-in-law’s final wishes.
