Funeral Fund

My deceased mom 91 years old has been a member of the SA Funeral Trust for over 20 years. Then when she passed away they refused to bury my mom because she paid the last 4 months late. but they kept the money. we then also paid for December 2024 which money they also kept. but i still had to pay R10 000.00 cash. There reasoning is that the policy lapsed after 3 months which I understand but if that is so why did they keep the money and issued us receipts paid up to December 2024. but when she passed away in December they refused to bury her after being a client for more than 20 years. Please can someone explain this to me.