Why Should Funeral Planning Be in My Estate Plan?

A funeral can be one of the biggest burdens after the death of a loved one beyond dealing with the dispensation of the estate. That being said, there are options when it comes to handling your end-of-life expenses and helping make dealing with your estate easier for your family. Funeral planning within your estate plan is a fantastic way to help protect loved ones and truly make the grieving process easier.

Why Should You Include Funeral Planning in Your Estate Plan?

Funeral costs can fluctuate and cause undue stress to your family that is already grieving and struggling with your loss. Funeral planning within your estate plan can help move things along and can take some guesswork out of your final wishes as well.

When it comes to dealing with the death of a loved one, the added stress of funeral arrangements can make it even tougher to start the healing process. When funeral plans are built into the estate plan, the family or whoever is in charge of the estate can access those funeral plans and funds as well as advocate on behalf of the family with the funeral home to start the final arrangements.

The process starts as soon as the person passes away. The executor or person in charge of the estate can access those plans to get the burial going. They can then contact the funeral home where the arrangements were made. By including funeral costs and your final wishes into your estate plan, you protect loved ones by funeral planning and by take some of that stress off of their plate.

Can You Prepay as Part of Your Estate?

There are a couple of options for adding funeral plans to your estate. You can either contact the funeral home directly and prepay expenses with them, then include that information in the estate plan, or set funds aside. With prepaying, you are fully in control of what you want to be done, and it is all prearranged so that all your family has to do is set the ball rolling.

If you are going to set money aside in the estate for the funeral, this may still require that your family figure out some fine details. You can also write a plan into your estate paperwork that states your specific wishes and that sets aside money within the estate to pay for those final wishes.

No matter what you decide, it is always a good idea to put some of your final wishes into your estate planning to ensure that things go the way you want them to. It can be so hard for families to think about funeral arrangements and how they are going to pay for them at the end of life — preplanning can ease this burden.

Categorised in: Funeral Plans

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