Funeral Pre Planning

Funeral Pre Planning Prearranged Funeral

Funeral pre planning is not a topic that many of us want to talk or even thing about. However, it is a very responsible thing to plan in advance for your family and friends. It's one of the main parts in ensuring your affairs are in order and your last wishes are carried out.

It is a great idea to plan your funeral while you are still healthy. This will allow you time to consider how you would like to take care of your affairs and not make rushed decisions.

When Preplanning, you will decide what kind of ceremony you would like and the arrangements for putting your remains to rest. Prearranging your funeral includes preplanning and prefunding the cost of the arrangements, which may include different methods of investing and paying for the arrangements. Below we spell out these steps in more detail:

Listing out your wishes for your arrangements will be very helpful for the friends and family you leave behind. Keep these documents with your other important papers and put them somewhere safe and easy to find.

Preplanning checklist:

• Determine if you would like to be buried or cremated. If you would like to be buried, you will have a variety of decisions to make, such as which cemetery, site and type of grave stone. If you would like to be cremated, you will have a variety of decisions to make, such as what type of urn and where you might like to have your ashes scattered. For reference, see Burial and/or Cremation.
• Determine what type of service you would like to have. For reference, see Memorial Service
• If you belong to a specific religion, review what their customs are for last arrangements and plan how you would like to accordingly. You many also want to select the religious leader that you would prefer to have presiding over your service. For reference, see Religion
• Select a funeral home. To find a funeral home in your area, see Funeral Home Search and for tips to choosing a funeral home, see How to Select a Funeral Home and Services
• Determine if you would like to donate your organs (if possible). For reference, see Organ Donation
• Perhaps you would like to have some specific music played during your service. For a list of possible songs, see Music and Songs
• Perhaps you would like your friends and family to donate to a specific cause or charity in lieu of flowers. For reference, see Charitable Donations
• Perhaps you would like to select the types of flowers or flower arrangements you would like at your service. For reference, see Flowers
• Leave a list of people you would like to attend your funeral or be informed of your passing.
• Prepare your obituary. For reference, see Obituaries
• Prepare a list of where your obituary should be publicized. For reference, see Where to Publicize Your Obituary
• Determine if you would like to have Memorial Cards and if so, preselect a card. For reference, see Announcements
• Prepare a eulogy or leave a list of facts (e.g. accomplishments, memories, your favorite things, pets, loved ones) or last thoughts that you would like to have read at your service. For reference, see Eulogies

Preplanning is one of the kindest things you can do for yourself and your family.

• It gives you time to research funeral providers and prices and, thus, make informed decisions.
• It allows you to personalize your service, making it as simple or traditional as you would like.
• By eliminating second-guessing by your survivors, it ensures your wishes will be met. And should help to prevent your loved ones from overspending resulting from grief, guilt and other strong emotions.
• Planning the funeral service ahead of time can make things slightly easier. By getting family members to openly talk and discuss matters ahead of time, helps to relieve the immediate feeling of "what do we do first" when a death actually happens.
• It spares your loved ones a tremendous emotional burden and stress of making a number of significant and expensive decisions on your behalf on possibly the worst day of their lives. In addition, if you select the services you prefer, then there is likely to be less disagreement from family members if you did not make these choices in advance.
• With the large number of decisions that need to be made when arranging a funeral, preplanning can become a blessing for the loved ones you leave behind. With family members often living in different states or countries, this can add to complicating rapid decision-making. Solid pre-planning can prevent these complications during a time of pain and sorrow.

Related Topics
End of Life Care	Obituary Announcement	Find a Funeral Home