Yes, you can use a funeral directive to delay your funeral. Unfortunately, many families are not able to make very easy choices about a funeral when dealing with the stress of loosing a loved one.
Luckily, you can reduce arguments and stress by creating a funeral directive to delay your demise. Keep reading if you don’t believe me.
What is a funeral directive?
A funeral directive is a document outlining your wishes and desires for your funeral. The document is created before you die or before you are not able to communicate for yourself.
The goal of a funeral directive is to make decisions about your funeral arrangements and remove the likelihood of your loved ones making decisions that rock the boat or upset others.
What types of issues are decided by a funeral directive?
A funeral directive can make decisions on any issue you find important including:
- Do you want to be cremated or buried?
- ** If you are cremated, can your family wait for a month or longer to hold a service in your honor?
- Where do you want your ashes or body placed when you die?
- Do you want an honor guard to perform at your funeral?
- Will your funeral service call for a specific religious affiliation?
- What do you want your tombstone to say?
- What picture do you want used in an obituary?
Can your funeral directive be included in your Will?
This law office prefers a funeral directive that is separate from all other estate planning tools, like your health care directive or will.
In the past, I have seen families print a funeral directive and distribute it as they divide up work in preparation of a funeral. For example, granddaughter can use the document as she talks to a Church to select music while nephew can use the document as he purchases flowers online.
As you might suspect, a will or health care directive is likely more personal. A funeral directive is not as personal because the idea is to make specific plans for an end of life celebration versus the distribution of assets or property.
Yes, but why do you care about delaying your funeral?
Believe it or not, spouses and children can be torn on whether it is “right” to delay a funeral with the idea of accommodating travel schedules. Yes, you have the power to put your family at ease.
Nobody really knows the date of their demise. For all we know, you are going to pass days before a major holiday. In today’s world, more and more families are delaying a funeral so people can make arrangements for travel, take time off from work, school, etc.
Luckily, hard feelings can be laid to rest by granting your family the ability to delay your end of life party by implementing a funeral directive.
What form should you use when creating a funeral directive?
Look, preparing for a funeral is stressful enough. Make sure your funeral directive is legit and on point. As a result, have your funeral directive professionally drafted versus using a standardized form.
Thus, if you need help creating your funeral directive, please contact this law office for help.
