The Funeral Directors Association has defended its members' rights to withhold putting headstones on graves when fees have not been paid.
Association president John Duncan said the issue was raised after a funeral director recently withheld ashes because an account had not been paid.
Mr Duncan said the association didnot condone such an action but if a funeral director had paid for a plot for a burial and the cemetery fees remained unpaid, withholding the right to erect a headstone was legitimate.
"I guess the rationale behind that very simply is that if they can afford to spend the money on a headstone, why can't they pay the funeral bill," Mr Duncan told NZPA.
Consumers Institute chief executive David Russell said yesterday that the behaviour appeared to be "petty".
However, Mr Duncan said funeral directors relied on cashflow like any other business.
"I wouldn't call it petty when a typical funeral account may be several thousand dollars these days," he said.
In his own neighbourhood in Porirua, a plot was about $1600 for local ratepayers and more than $2000 for those living outside the local authority district.
He said funeral directors often incurred costs of funerals and sometimes had to wait months for payment from estates.
Only about 4 per cent of funerals in New Zealand were paid for in advance.
Mr Duncan said disputes over unpaid funeral costs were rare.
