Learn How to Develop a Funeral Planning Checklist

Losing a loved one is never easy, and there are practical matters to consider, even in the midst of our pain. This should serve as an important reminder to leave our own matters in order for those we'll someday leave behind. A funeral planning checklist is the perfect tool to accomplish this.

• Leave your loved ones with information on estate settlement, and where to find important documents.
• Specify in as much detail as possible your instructions for burial and a memorial service.
• Download a checklist, or create your own with the information provided below.

The loss of someone we love is a devastating event that leaves emotional shock in its wake. Knowing that we'll miss our loved one is one of the things that makes death so difficult, but it also reminds us of our own mortality. This serves as an important reminder that none of us lives forever. Along with the emotional trauma of dealing with death, there are many practical arrangements to be made during this difficult time.

A funeral is always difficult to plan. Apart from the emotional turmoil we are experiencing, we also need to deal with budgetary concerns. In order to avoid leaving their loved ones in a difficult situation, many people choose to complete a funeral planning checklist.

While none of us likes to ponder our own demise, developing a checklist for our funeral is an important tool that can help make it easier for the relatives of a deceased loved one to manage the practical things that need to be taken care of. This checklist will serve as a guide that tells your loved ones exactly what to do, and helps fulfill the deceased person's wishes.

A funeral planning checklist can clarify a number of issues that many loved ones who are in charge of making funeral and estate arrangements may run into. For example, it may include important information on locating the deceased person's will, or on other estate settlement matters.

The core of a funeral planning checklist is in providing instructions about how the deceased person's remains should be handled. It should include contact information for the funeral home the person has chosen. It's important to decide this in advance in order to avoid scrambling at the last minute. It may also include information on cremation versus burial, and any instructions for the funeral or memorial service, such as a request for a eulogy from specific person, poetry, music, or something else the deceased would like to have shared at his or her memorial.

Death has become somewhat taboo in modern society, but many ancient cultures acknowledged death as one of the most important journeys a person can make. It's important for us in the modern world to learn how to deal with feelings of grief that naturally accompany death, and to view death as an important step in life. It's important to work through our emotions, while at the same time thinking clear-headedly about the practical considerations that must be dealt with.

It's simple enough to download a funeral planning checklist from the Internet, and these documents are composed of specific sections to help you leave everything well planned and organized.

Here is some general information you can use to get an idea of what is involved in developing a funeral planning checklist, and use it to create your own detailed checklist.

• Funeral Insurance information: account number, provider's contact name and phone number, and amount of policy.
• Personal information for obituary.
• Decide what you'll wear and if you'll wear your jewelry when buried or cremated.
• Decide on a funeral home.
• Decide if you'd like to be buried or cremated.
• Based on your decision purchase a casket or urn.
• If you're going to be buried, decide if you'd like a burial vault or a cemetery plot and purchase.
• Choose the marker and inscription.
• Decide on the location and type of funeral service you'd like to have.
• Include name of cemetery, location, contact person name and phone number.
• Decide if you'd like to have a viewing and the type of viewing: family only, family and friends, etc.
• Choose the floral arrangement(s) and a photo of yourself to display at the service.
• Choose the music, hymns, and solos.
• Select scripture and or literature that will be read.
• Choose funeral programs.
• Decide on transportation: hurse, family limousine, and pallbearer limousine.
• Chose clergymen if you don't have a regular priest or pastor.
• Decide on the type of music and select an organist.
• Select pallbearers.
• Decide who will perform the eulogy.
• Select either friends or family to perform the reading of scripture.

Your family will need to be prepared to work with a funeral director on the following after your death:

• Transfer to funeral home from place of death.
• Death certificate.
• Burial permit.
• Coordinate time and date of services.
• Write and submit obituary to newspaper(s).
• Coordinate location and food for get together after the funeral.

With maturity comes the realization that our loved ones will bear the burden of our demise. They'll be in the same state of emotional turmoil that we face at the loss of a loved one. One of the best gifts you can give them at the end of your life is a complete funeral planning checklist to ensure that everything you leave behind is prepared and well organized so that your loved ones can simply and easily carry out your wishes.

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