As a planner, I try to minimize the element of surprise in life changes. Though life is fragile and can fade in a matter of moments, I want to invest my time and energy into preparing for our future. Realizing that I may not have any notice when my life ends, I want my family to know (and not guess) my final instructions.
In addition to the What To Do When Someone Dies checklist, I also keep a Funeral Arrangements checklist in File Box 3 with our estate planning documents. Since we don’t talk much about our last wishes, we have our wishes noted for our family on our funeral arrangements checklist.
The nice thing about the funeral arrangements checklist is that you customize it and can change it as often or as little as you need. Even starting the checklist by including basic information will help your family during their time of grief.
Funeral Arrangements Checklist
The following resources are recommended as a guide. You can customize, create, or re-invent your own checklist or last instructions. I present these checklists from basic to thorough as examples of options. If your family uses the same funeral home, then you may find forms and checklists through that director to have on file.
My family has used the same funeral home for the home-going of my aunt, grandfather, great uncle, great aunt, grandmother, and extended family. With an established relationship of trust, my family recommends this funeral home to others in their time of need.
Using their forms keeps the information uniform and saves time from transferring the information from one page to another. However, if you don’t know what you plan to do, then a basic or thorough checklist will give your family direction.
Basic Funeral Arrangements Checklist
- If you don’t know where to start, then this list of items to consider by Net Places can offer some suggestions to ease the emotional strain on your loved ones.
- Organized in chronological order, the checklist provided by Funeral Services presents the options for each possible phase of a funeral. Giving you choices, you can make an informed decision.
Thorough Funeral Arrangements Checklist
- Should I find myself not able to think, I can turn to iMortuary’s checklist. This resource lists who needs a call and simple explanations to remind me why I need to follow this sequence. The information is simple, but thorough. I can do one task and mark it off. If I need to take a break, I can return and know where I left off.
- My favorite funeral arrangements website is Funeral Wise. They offer an immediate Funeral Arrangement Questionnaire should you need to plan a funeral now. If a loved one passed away and you don’t know where to start, Funeral Wise offers a questionnaire for you to use before visiting with the funeral director.
- Besides the Questionnaire, Funeral Wise also provides a 15-page Funeral Planning Guide to pre-plan your own funeral. I appreciate this resource because I can take that burden from my family by already having most of the items chosen for them.
The best gift I can give my family is detailed instructions. Without having to guess and make decisions, my family can concentrate on healing and adjusting without the pressure and burden of figuring out what I may have wanted.
By using a funeral arrangement checklist, I can indicate my wishes and place them within my important document file. Knowing the options, researching the differences, and making the choices helps me understand the process. Should I need to plan a funeral, I will have a better understanding of the procedure and know where to find the needed information.
Weekly Project: Print 1 or 2 funeral arrangements checklists.
In using time wisely, I need to update my funeral arrangements as I have basic information noted. Adding more details little by little, I can help my family even when I’m not with them. Though not an immediate concern, I consider this task important for the sake of my family. Making progress with you!
Question: Do you plan to leave final instructions?