Every winter, hundreds of thousands of northerners trade the snow for a few months of Florida sunshine. It’s one of the best parts of retirement. But there’s a question almost nobody asks before the season starts: if a snowbird passes away at their winter place, what exactly happens next — and who has to make it happen?
The honest answer is that the work lands on the family back home, at a distance of a thousand miles or more, in the worst week of their lives. This page walks through what that actually involves, what it can cost, and the one plan that changes all of it — made ahead of time, by the person who loves them enough to think of it now.
The first hours: four sets of calls, made from a thousand miles away
When someone dies away from home, there is no single office that handles it. A family in Michigan, Wisconsin, or Ontario whose parent or spouse dies in Florida has to deal, one by one, with:
- The hospital or local authorities where the death occurred — notifications, release of the body, and the first round of information, all handled by phone.
- A funeral home in Florida they’ve never heard of, in a town they may barely know — chosen under pressure, from a search screen, to take charge of their loved one and prepare them for the journey home.
- An airline cargo desk or transport service — because bringing someone home is freight logistics as much as it is arrangements, with its own scheduling and paperwork.
- The vital records office in Florida — because the death certificate is issued in the state where the death occurred, and certified copies are needed before much else can move forward.
And it is never just one call each. There are follow-ups, signatures, and coordination between all four — managed by people who are grieving, from a kitchen table a thousand miles north. (The funeral home and cemetery back home are part of the family’s own arrangements either way; it’s this sending-side work, in a state they don’t live in, that catches families off guard.)
Why Florida isn’t “home,” legally
Here’s the part that surprises most snowbirds: spending the winter in Florida doesn’t usually make Florida your legal residence.
For a plan like ours, legal residence means the place you reside for 180 or more days in the 12 months before death. A snowbird who spends four or five months in Florida and the rest of the year up north is almost always still legally resident back home — Florida is a long, wonderful visit.
That distinction is exactly what creates the problem. A death at the winter place is a death away from home: a different state’s funeral homes, a different state’s death certificate, and a long journey back to the community where the funeral, the burial, and everyone who loves them actually are. (This is a plain-language explanation of how the membership defines legal residence, not legal advice about your own residency or taxes.)
What it costs to bring a loved one home
Without a plan, the family pays for all of it directly, at retail, at the worst possible moment. Industry figures in our own program materials put the cost of bringing a loved one home at up to $11,000 within the United States — and more than $40,000 if the death happens overseas. That’s on top of the regular funeral costs back home, and it’s money most families simply haven’t set aside for this.
But if you ask the families who’ve been through it, the money is only half of it. The other half is the figuring-out: not knowing which funeral home to call, whether the paperwork is right, or how long the whole thing will take — while everyone is waiting on them.
The plan you make before the season starts
This is the part you can take off your family’s plate entirely, while everything is fine.
Journey Secure offers the Return Assured℠ membership: one $350 payment, once, for life. It isn’t insurance — it’s a membership whose benefits are provided through APASI, which has been providing travel assurance since 1994. If a member passes away more than 75 miles from their legal residence — a Florida winter place almost always qualifies — the family’s entire job becomes one call to APASI, at the time of death. From that call, APASI:
- locates a licensed sending funeral home near where the death occurred,
- transports your loved one from the place of death to that funeral home,
- prepares the remains for either burial or cremation,
- arranges and covers the transport home, and
- procures the death certificates and handles the documentation,
with no caps on expense and no out-of-pocket costs for the covered repatriation. Two things matter: APASI must be contacted at the time of death — by the family or anyone acting on the member’s behalf — or benefits can’t be provided, and arrangements made independently can’t be reimbursed afterward. That’s precisely why the plan is made ahead of time, not improvised in the moment. Members receive a certificate and two wallet ID cards, and if you change your mind within 30 days of signing, the membership is fully refundable.
Getting started is a short pre-enrollment form — no payment is taken on this website. After you submit it, we will contact you to confirm your details, have the application signed, and collect the one-time $350 fee. Snowbirds can read more on our Snowbirds page; Canadian snowbirds, you’re covered too — see our page for Canadians. And if you’re comparing costs in detail, our guide to what it costs to transport a loved one home breaks the numbers down further.
The snowbird life is about spending winter where you want to be. Making this one plan before the season starts is how you make sure your family never has to figure out the way home without you.
Travel for you. Plan for them.
Common questions
Does Medicare cover bringing a snowbird home if they die in Florida?
No. Medicare does not pay to transport a loved one’s remains home. Without a plan, the cost of preparation and transport — up to $11,000 within the US — falls on the family.
What if a snowbird lives in Florida more than half the year?
Then Florida may be their legal residence. The definition is the place of residence for 180 or more days in the 12 months before death — wherever that is becomes “home,” and coverage applies to deaths more than 75 miles from there.
Who should call APASI, and when?
APASI must be contacted at the time of death — by a family member or anyone acting on the member’s behalf. That one call starts everything; arrangements made before the call can’t be reimbursed, so the number on the member’s wallet ID card should be somewhere the family can find it.
More questions: journeysecure.com/faq