When the life insurance hasn't paid out yet, every family asks the same two things: what do we owe today, and what's left once the policy pays? Now the Statement you print or send for signing answers both.
📢 Want the full story on every total? See Understanding Your Statement's Totals and How They Tie Out. Looking for how packages display on the Statement? That's 3 Options to Display Statement Packages. And to print a custom copy for one payer, check out Printing Exactly What Every Payer Needs with Customizable Receipts.
Table Of Contents:
What can I Change About my Statement?
Payments and outside charges get their own tidy sections, every total explains itself, and a live preview updates as you go. With Edit how the Statement is displayed, you can:
🧾 Show Outside Charges, Actual Payments and Expected Payments as Not Shown, Total or Itemized
💵 End on Balance Owed today and Balance Owed After Expected Payments
💳 Give convenience fees their own line, or fold them into Total Actual Payments
✂️ Hide crossed-out revision lines
📐 Make the columns equal in the Compact layout
🏛️ Choose your header details (see Making Every Page Yours with Customizable Headers)
Itemized payments get their own Payments section showing who paid and how, and itemized outside charges get an Outside Charges section. Each can carry legal language from the back office Legal tab (see Setting Your Funeral Home's Default Statement Header, Columns & Legal Language).
Bonus: on the statement page, each itemized section has its own + Add a Payment or + Add an Outside Charge button that jumps straight to the Payments page.
🚫 Only your team can edit how the Statement is displayed. Families never see the top-left menu or the editor; they just get a clearer Statement.
How do I Edit How My Statement is Displayed?
Two ways in, both on the statement page:
1) From the Top-Left Menu
Click the ✏️ pencil at the top left (a ❄️ snowflake once the Statement is frozen). The How the Statement is displayed card sums up your setup; click Edit how the Statement is displayed to change it.
2) From the Statement Page's 3-Dot (⋮) Menu
Choose Edit Statement Display. Just below it, Configure Statement Defaults opens your funeral home's defaults in the back office.
A Quick Tour of the Editor
It opens as How Harold's Statement Is Displayed (named for the case you're on), with your options on one side and a live preview on the other.
Layout: pick Visual Layout or Compact Layout, then Make Statement Columns Equal and Show Statement Revisions.
Charges and payments: pick Not Shown, Total or Itemized for each, plus Show separate line for Convenience Fees. A line under each choice says exactly what will print.
Totals: the Statement Total always prints. Add Balance Owed and Balance Owed After Expected Payments.
Customize Your Header: tick the details to show. Case Name always prints.
Save for Harold's Statement, and you're done! Close with unsaved changes and Gather asks first: Save and Close or Close Without Saving.
📍 Good to know
🔒 The official Statement always lists every charge and payment, so its rows are locked. To leave a line off, print a one-off copy from Print Receipt.
⏱️ Visual or Compact is just for this visit and isn't saved.
📐 Make Statement Columns Equal works only in Compact, and not while your funeral home uses NJ Groupings.
What Does the Family Owe Today, and After Insurance Pays?
That's exactly what the two closing balances answer. Here's the Whitaker family, with Prairie Star Life Insurance's $8,000.00 still on its way:
🧾 STATEMENT TOTAL: $13,751.20
➕ Total Outside Charges (memorial video, extra death certificates): $214.00
➖ Total Actual Payments (Linda's card, Michael's check): -$5,500.00
💵 Balance Owed today: $8,465.20
➖ Total Expected Payments (Prairie Star): -$8,000.00
✅ Balance Owed After Expected Payments: $465.20
Overpaid? The balance prints as Credit Balance instead (and Credit After Expected Payments). A payment that's still settling, like a pending ACH, counts as expected until it clears (see Pending Payments).
And every total explains itself. Hover its little ? to see what it counts, how it's worked out, and where the same number shows up on the Payments page or in Gather Analytics (The Case Financial Data Source).
Bookkeepers, the full breakdown is in Understanding Your Statement's Totals and How They Tie Out. Billing Prairie Star for that $8,000.00? See How Do I Bill an Insurance Company (or Any Payer) with View Payer Invoice?.
Who Sees my Choices?
Each choice is saved right where it makes sense:
🙋 Just you, on every case and any device: Outside Charges, Actual and Expected Payments, the convenience fee line and the closing totals. Each teammate keeps their own.
👥 Everyone, on this one Statement: revisions, equal columns and header details. Columns and header details follow your funeral home's default until changed here (set them back to match and they follow it again).
⏱️ Just this visit: Visual or Compact.
Hover the bookmark on Save for Harold's Statement anytime for this same rundown.
Important Note: The copy you send for signing uses the sender's saved choices (Outside Charges, payments and totals) plus this Statement's revisions, columns and header details, always in the Compact layout. So set up your display before you send! A copy the family already signed never changes. More in Signature Packet: Print and Sign.
🆚 And a one-off copy from Print Receipt?
Two tools, two jobs:
📄 Edit how the Statement is displayed sets up the official Statement, which always lists every charge and payment.
🖨️ Print Receipt → Statement prints a one-off copy. Untick rows and the totals follow, with an amber note to warn you. Its columns, revisions and header details apply to that print only.
🎨 Print Receipt adds four headers and the legal language you pick, remembers its layout on your device, and allows equal columns in Compact even with NJ Groupings.
Everything Print Receipt can do is in Printing Exactly What Every Payer Needs with Customizable Receipts.
Already Used Show Payments on Statement?
Here's what has changed:
📦 Payments and outside charges now print in their own sections.
💵 The Statement ends on Balance Owed (formerly Remaining Balance), plus Balance Owed After Expected Payments while a payment is expected.
🎛️ Show Payments on Statement grew into the Outside Charges, Actual Payments and Expected Payments choices, which live in Edit how the Statement is displayed along with Show Statement Revisions.
🏷️ The total line reads STATEMENT TOTAL: same number, clearer name.
🕰️ Never saved a display? Your Statement follows your old Show Payments on Statement setting, in the new layout.
Other FAQs About Customizing Your Statements
Do itemized payments show the payment date?
Do itemized payments show the payment date?
Nope. Each row shows who paid and how, plus the check or policy number, like Check Payment 2417 (Michael Whitaker). Need the date? Use View Receipt → Print this Receipt.
Will Gather remember Visual or Compact?
Will Gather remember Visual or Compact?
Not in this editor, where it's just for this visit (everything else you save sticks). A Statement you print from Print Receipt does remember its layout on your device.
Why can't I make the columns equal?
Why can't I make the columns equal?
Either you're in Visual (only Compact has two columns), or your funeral home uses NJ Groupings. Hover the switch to see which. A one-off copy from Print Receipt can still use equal columns in Compact.
Why isn't Balance Owed After Expected Payments printing?
Why isn't Balance Owed After Expected Payments printing?
It prints only while a payment is still expected, like an insurance policy that hasn't paid out. It also needs Balance Owed ticked and Expected Payments on Total or Itemized. Balance Owed greyed out? Set Actual Payments to Total or Itemized.
Can I change the display on a frozen or signed Statement?
Can I change the display on a frozen or signed Statement?
Yep. These settings stay editable on a frozen Statement, and a signed copy never changes. New to freezing? See How to Finish and Archive a Completed Case in Gather.
I never saved anything. What does my Statement look like?
I never saved anything. What does my Statement look like?
It follows your old Show Payments on Statement setting, in the new layout. On: payments, expected payments and outside charges are itemized in their own sections, and both balances print. Off: none of them print.
Does Print Draft use these choices?
Does Print Draft use these choices?
Yep. Print Draft prints the Statement exactly as it's displayed for you. The copy you send for signing uses them too, always in the Compact layout.
Do I really have to set this up again on every case, for every family, every single time?
Do I really have to set this up again on every case, for every family, every single time?
Well, only if you really love clicking... just kidding! Nope. Your Outside Charges, payments, fee line and totals follow you to every case, on any device. 😄
Need More Help With Statements? 👋
Chat with our team anytime. Or give us a ring at (208) 908-0488.