How to Ensure that Your Funeral Plan is Followed

Creating a funeral plan is a very important move. However, it is important to take additional steps that it is followed.

Ensure that your funeral plan is readily accessible upon your death. Do not place it in your safety deposit box as some states will seal the box upon death. (The box is opened along with the estate.) If you have designated an executor, leave a copy with this individual. If not, provide a copy to one or more next-of-kin or friends. If you have selected a memorial garden, you can also provide a copy to the administrator.

In life, there are legal directives which allow us to control our destiny if we are incapacitated, including Power of Attorney, Medical Power of Attorney, Living Will (health instructions which may include a Do-Not-Resuscitate. Your funeral plan is your death care directive. However, only about half of the states recognize the legality of a funeral plan. Read about funeral directive legislation by state at Funeral Alliance and contact them for any updates. You can also contact an estate planner or estate attorney in your state.

In addition to inquiring whether your state honors funeral plans, you may also want to know whether your state recognizes a designated agent, a form of Power of Attorney, for death care. This agent could make funeral decisions in the absence of formal funeral plan or could make decisions that the funeral plan does not address. To legitimize your wishes, be sure to have any and all documents notarized. Note that the obligation to adhere to a funeral plan may be void if it is impractical, for example, lacking adequate funds.

If your state does not honor funeral plans, be sure to provide your funeral plan to someone that you trust to execute your wishes. In states that do not recognize funeral plans, next-of-kin is permitted make decisions on the behalf of the deceased. This is particularly common where cremation is concerned, presumably because it is irreversible.

At a minimum, a funeral plan provides a guide. Most likely, it will relieve your loved ones at a time of bereavement.

Lisa S.
May 11, 2011