You may or may not have heard of pre-planning your funeral or cremation. Let’s look at 5 ways you can take care of some details for the final services you’d like to have. And save your family a huge burden.
- Let them know your wishes.
The very least you can do is communicate to your family what your final wishes are. The most basic of question is do you want to be cremated or buried. If you choose cremation…. do you want a public viewing before hand? If you choose burial do you want a public viewing? Open or closed casket? A Church Service? What Cemetery? There are many more choices to be made but if you can relay at least the basic wishes your family will be that many steps ahead of the game when the time comes.
- Create a “When I’m Gone Folder”
In this folder you can place:
Your written wishes. You can be very specific or keep things general. However the more specific you are the easier it will be for your family to respect your wishes.
Your biographical information. Name, DOB, Place of Birth, Parents, Names, Occupation, Education, Veteran status Etc. Download our Death Certificate Worksheet this form will help you collect the necessary information.
The cemetery deed and plot information
Life insurance information. A note on life insurance… make sure your beneficiaries are up to date. Often times when a spouse passes away the remaining spouse neglects to change the beneficiary on their policies.
Other information to include. You may want to list banks you deal with, retirement accounts, location of Vehicle titles and even login information.
Lastly make sure you tell them where the file is. It serve no purpose if nobody can find it when you are gone.
- Write your obituary.
A lot of times when folks are pre-planning they will write an obituary. This is a great way to share your story with your family. Normally you would list your family survivors, members that have passed away before you, your hobbies, work, church, clubs, and personal statements. Download our Obituary Composition Form that will help you gather the necessary information for an obituary.
- Make Financial Arrangements
Aside from your family not knowing what your wishes were; the second most difficult item for them to deal with is the costs associated with final services. There are a few ways to have funds set aside to pay for these services. Life insurance, a Burial account at the bank or a pre-paid account with the funeral home or cremation service. The latter is usually the better option because you can get a price guarantee. This way you pay at today’s price and not a higher price later on.
- Live your life.
If you’ve told your family what your wishes are, started a “When I’m Gone Folder”, wrote your obituary, and made financial arrangements, you can now live your live knowing that you have relieved your family of a heavy burden.
If you’d like to ease the burden on your family by pre-planning your arrangements, call me today!
1-844-552-6739
Helping ease the burden one step at a time,
Corey Strauch
Our Sister Website www.StrauchFuneralHomeScranton.com
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