- Talk with your family. Share your wishes so no one has to guess.
- Choose burial or cremation. Consider religious, cultural, and personal preferences.
- Select a funeral home or cremation provider. Compare a few and request their price lists.
- Decide on a service. Viewing, chapel service, graveside, celebration of life, or none.
- Pick a final resting place. Cemetery plot, niche, mausoleum, or scattering location.
- Consider a headstone or marker. Wording, material, and placement.
- Decide how to pay. A pre-need contract, final expense insurance, or savings set aside.
- Prepare legal documents. Will or trust, power of attorney, advance health care directive.
- Write down personal details. Obituary information, music, readings, photos, and pallbearers.
- Store it all safely. Give copies to your executor and a trusted family member.
Tips
- Ask whether a pre-need contract is guaranteed-price and transferable.
- Review your plan every few years or after major life changes.
Need help? Talk to a planning specialist or browse local providers.