When you are close to someone who dies, you are usually involved in some way for planning their funeral. It’s a sad time and it’s full of grief, but if they haven’t planned their own funeral in advance it falls to you to do it for them. When you are dealing with death, you are dealing with grief, too. It all works hand in hand to give them the send off they deserve, and you need to get to know what it means to plan a funeral so that you can give them their very best goodbye.
It can feel like there are a hundred things to do in a few hours, and you don’t have to allow your family to go through all of this alone. There are some things that you need to know about funeral planning before you go ahead, and planning for someone else might help you to plan your own. There are so many questions that you have to ask yourself, like what size funeral urn do I need? Should I choose a coffin and burial instead of a cremation? Are there rules at the cemetery to consider? These are all questions that you can answer as you plan a funeral, but what about when you plan your own? Here are some things to consider for your own funeral planning.
- What do you want? Once you know what you would like for your funeral, you can establish your wishes in the form of a Will. You can also have a power of attorney chosne to help you to execute your wishes and know that you will get exactly what you want from your death.
- What are your rights? Did you know that you have rights when it comes to your death? Understanding these rights will help you to make the best possible decisions for your funeral, and you can then make better decisions with your plans.
- Do you know what it costs? Funerals are unfortunately not a cheap thing to have planned in life. What you spend on funeral costs largely depends on what you want from your funeral and how you plan to treat your body. It may cost you nothing to donate it to science, for example.
- Consider funeral insurance planning. You will find one of the best ways to avoid your family going into a financial crisis when you die is to add on funeral insurance. This will help them to cover your funeral expenses and will ensure that you are able to have all of it covered properly.
- Speak to your loved ones. While you can have a Will and testament detailing what you want, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t talk to your family about what you want for your body and your funeral. Let them know what your wishes are because the chances are they will want to honour these as much as possible anyway!
Your funeral is much easier on your family if you plan it in advance. Take your time – you have it right now.
