No one likes to think about their own death, and certainly, having a discussion about it with your family is not an easy thing to do. However, if you have specific wishes about your funeral, your possessions, or anything else that you need people to know about, it’s crucial to let those wishes be known. Read on to learn how to do this, even if it’s hard to think about. 

Photo by EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA

Make A Will

If you want your estate to go to a certain person after you die, or you want to split it into parts, or even if you want to set up a trust for your children – or pets – you should write a will and make sure everything you want to happen to your home, your vehicle, your possessions, your money, and your investments is made clear. 

You can choose to do anything you want with these things, but unless you write it down in a legally recognised will, it might be that none of your wishes come true. This will either be because no one is aware of your plans or because your family wants to do something other than what you wanted for some reason. If it’s written in a will that has been signed and witnessed, there will really be no choice. 

Make A Funeral Plan

A lot of people think they can add their ideas about what they want for their funeral into their will (perhaps they’ll have a specific outfit they want to wear, something they want to be buried with, the music they want to have played, and so on), but in many cases, the will won’t be read until after the funeral takes place. 

This is why it’s better to consider prepaid funeral plans. In this case, you can arrange everything ahead of time and even pay for it over the course of months or years. Your family won’t have to worry about anything, and you will get the funeral you actually want. 

Talk To Your Family 

Of course, although it’s good to write everything down and arrange everything you can in advance where possible, it’s also worthwhile talking to your family about your wishes. As we’ve mentioned, and as you might expect, it’s not going to be an easy conversation to have, or at least an easy one to get started, but it will put everyone’s mind at ease. You might even find it easier to do than you thought, and perhaps your loved ones will come up with some ideas that you had never considered, but that you actually like the sound of. 

You don’t even have to have firm ideas in place if you’ve not got that far. The discussion could be as simple as saying you would never want to be buried or cremated. This will help a lot to ease your stress and worry during a hard time, and it will mean your family at least has a place to start if they need some additional help later on.