Planning For Your Funeral in Advance

Partner Nancy Ling regularly advises clients in the practice areas of wills, trusts, estate and incapacity planning, estate administration, residential and commercial real estate, property matters, corporate transactions and business law.

In this edition of Legal Matters, Nancy suggests making arrangements in advance will ultimately help your grieving family and friends.  It is also very important to let your Executor know the plans in case something unforeseeable needs to be addressed.

Transcript:

There are several aspects to setting up your estate plan beyond preparing a Will.

One step that might be worth considering is to prearrange your funeral; however, there are pros and cons to consider. By making arrangements for your remains in advance, you can reduce the stress on your grieving family and friends and potentially avoid emotional spending on an elaborate celebration of life. 

You can also lock in the cost of your plan now and avoid the cost of inflation. However, consider that your chosen funeral home could go out of business, or your family may not be happy with their level of service.

You may also be restricted from cancelling or changing your plans without paying additional fees, and you may not entirely reduce emotional spending as your family may decide to purchase upgrades in any event.

Whether you decide to make your funeral plans in advance or not, it is still a good idea to let your Executor know your wishes and set them out in your Will.