The Importance of Funeral Preplanning
When is the Best Time to Plan Your Funeral?In Brief: What’s in this article?
Planning your funeral in advance can ease the burden on your family, help you control costs, and make sure your wishes are clearly documented. It also gives you time to think through meaningful choices and keep important details organized in one place.
What You Need to Know About Funeral Preplanning
Funeral preplanning gives you the opportunity to make important decisions in advance, before they are needed. It can reduce stress for your family, help you maintain control over your wishes, and make the planning process clearer and less overwhelming.
At Funeralwise, we believe that planning ahead is one of the most thoughtful gifts you can give your loved ones. It allows you to make decisions at your own pace and gives your family helpful guidance when the time comes. In other words, the best time to plan a funeral is before you need it.
What Is Funeral Preplanning?
Funeral preplanning means making arrangements for your funeral or memorial service in advance. You can decide as much or as little as you want, and you can update your plans later if your wishes change.
Preplanning is not the same as prepaying. You can document your preferences without paying for everything in advance.
Is Preplanning the Same Thing as “At Need” Planning
Preplanning (sometimes called “Preneed”) refers to making funeral arrangements in advance. There is no immediate need, and death may not even be imminent. “At‑need” means a death has already occurred, and the family must arrange services immediately. If you are looking for information to plan for a death that has already occurred, visit our Arrangements page.
Funeral Homes, cemeteries, and other funeral service companies can help you preplan a funeral for yourself, your spouse, or a parent. How-to guides, planning worksheets, and interactive tools are now readily available at websites such as Funeralwise.com. These resources can help you create a funeral plan. Planning online is convenient and puts you in control of the process. Our After Me Planner is a great way to plan online.
Top 5 Reasons to Preplan Your Funeral Before You Need It
- Preplanning eases the burden on your family.
When you preplan your funeral, your family does not have to make difficult decisions during a time of grief. They will already know what you want, which can reduce stress, uncertainty, and conflict.
This kind of planning gives your loved ones the comfort of knowing they are honoring your wishes. It also allows them to focus on supporting one another instead of making last-minute arrangements. - It helps you control funeral costs.
Planning ahead gives you the time to explore your options and better understand what different choices may cost. That makes it easier to create a plan that fits your wishes and your budget.
Without advance planning, families often have to make decisions quickly, which can lead to higher expenses. Preplanning gives you the opportunity to think through those choices carefully. - It makes sure your wishes are followed.
A written plan helps ensure that your preferences are clear and easy to follow. You can include choices about burial or cremation, the type of service you want, music, readings, and other meaningful details.
When you document your wishes, you leave behind a reliable guide to help your family make decisions with confidence. That can provide reassurance during an emotionally difficult time. - It gives you time to think through meaningful choices.
A funeral is a personal reflection of a life lived. When you plan ahead, you have time to consider what best represents your values, beliefs, and personality.
That extra time can help you create a service that feels more meaningful to you and more comforting to the people who attend. It also allows you to make choices without pressure. - It helps keep important details organized.
Preplanning lets you gather key information in one place, including your service preferences, contacts, and final instructions. That makes it easier for your family to find what they need when the time comes.
Having everything organized in advance can prevent confusion and reduce the chance that important details are overlooked. It also makes the entire process feel more manageable for everyone involved.
Start Your Plan With Funeralwise
If you are ready to begin, the After Me Planner and Organizer can help you organize your decisions in one place. It provides a simple way to record your wishes and make the process easier for the people you love.
Start with the basics, then build your plan at your own pace. We’ll guide you step by step through the process of planning your funeral using our planning tools. You can take advantage of the Plan Guardian feature that allows you to share your plan with those you trust to carry out your wishes.
The Quick Plan is the first step in the After Me Planner. In a matter of minutes, you’ll have created a basic funeral plan and found your estimated funeral cost. There’s no cost and no obligation. Give it a try!
Common Questions About Preplanning a Funeral
Preplanning means making your funeral choices in advance. Prepaying means setting aside money or paying for some or all of those arrangements in advance.
You can preplan without prepaying, and many people choose to do exactly that. It gives them the benefits of preparation without the commitment of payment.
No. Funeral preplanning can be helpful for adults of any age who want to reduce stress for their family and make their wishes known.
The earlier you start, the more time you have to think things through and make updates if needed. Planning ahead is about preparation, not age.
Yes. In most cases, your plan can be updated if your preferences, circumstances, or budget change.
That flexibility is one of the biggest advantages of preplanning. It allows you to make decisions now without feeling locked into them forever.
No. It is a common misconception that preplanning means prepaying. You do not have to prepay, but you can. Making sure that funds will be available to cover your funeral costs is a sound financial decision, if you are able to do it. You have various options. You can enter into a contract with a funeral provider and prepay, or secure the contract with a funeral insurance policy.
When you record your funeral plan, you can specify the services and products that mean the most to you. For example, the type of casket may not matter to you. That means you may choose a simple wooden version rather than an expensive bronze one. Having multiple days for viewing or visitation can add considerably to the cost of a funeral. If the viewing isn’t important to you, you can let family know that through your preplanning.
The most important thing you can do to ensure that your wishes are carried out is to choose the people you designate to handle them carefully. Make sure they are fully informed about what you want.
Tools and Resources to Help You
Wherever you are in your planning journey, Funeralwise offers tools and resources to make your job easier.
- After Me Planner and Organizer — A step-by-step online planning tool to help you prepare for your arrangement conference and explore costs. Includes a compact portfolio to help you organize your important documents.
- Quick Plan — Get a simple funeral plan and cost estimate in just a few minutes. Free, with no obligation. The first in our portfolio of After Me Planning Tools.
- Funeral Arrangement Planning Form — Prefer paper? Print this form to compile everything you’ll need to share with your funeral director.
- Funeral Arrangements Checklist — A downloadable checklist to keep track of everything that needs to be done when planning a funeral that will take place soon.
- Funeral Preplanning Checklist — A downloadable checklist to keep track of everything that needs to be done when planning in anticipation of end-of-life needs.
- Funeral Provider Search — Find and compare funeral homes, cremation services, cemeteries, and celebrants in your area.
If you don’t find what you need, let us know by emailing support@funeralwise.com.
Contributors: Rick Paskin, Molly Gorny
