…because you shouldn’t have to start with a blank page.
Writing an obituary is one of the hardest things to do at one of the hardest times in life. You’re grieving. You’re managing arrangements, fielding phone calls, making decisions you never wanted to make. Somewhere in the middle of it all, someone needs to capture a whole person’s life in a few hundred words.
That’s an enormous thing to ask.
It’s why we built the Funeralwise AI Obituary Writer — a free tool that helps you get started by asking a few thoughtful questions about your loved one and generating a meaningful first draft you can edit and make your own.
Whether you’re writing for someone who just passed or thinking ahead and want to put your own story on paper, this tool is here to help.
Why We Built This
At Funeralwise, we’ve been helping families navigate end-of-life planning since 2008. Over the years, one of the most consistent challenges we’ve found is this: people know they need to write an obituary, but they don’t know where to start.
A blank page is hard under any circumstances. In the middle of grief, it can feel impossible.
Most people have never written an obituary before. They’re not sure what to include, how long it should be, or how to balance the factual details with the emotional story of who this person was. They worry about leaving someone out. They agonize over how to put into words what this person meant to them.
The Funeralwise AI Obituary Writer gives you a place to start. It’s a guided, conversational experience that helps draw out the details that make an obituary truly meaningful.
How It Works
Using the tool is simple:
- Go to the Funeralwise Obituary Writer page and fill out the short request form.
- We’ll send you an email with an access link to the tool. Once you’re in, you’ll answer a series of questions about your loved one — their name, family, life highlights, personality, and the things that made them who they were.
- The AI generates a meaningful draft obituary based on your answers.
- You receive your draft as a Word document, ready to edit, personalize, and submit wherever it needs to go.
There’s no writing experience required. No staring at a blank screen. Just a series of gentle prompts designed to help you remember and find the words.
Who It’s For
We designed the AI Obituary Writer for two kinds of people:
- Those writing for a loved one who has recently passed. If you’re in the middle of making arrangements and need to produce an obituary quickly, the tool provides a thoughtful starting point without adding to your burden. The draft is yours to edit since you know this person better than anyone.
- Those planning ahead. More and more people are choosing to document their own story while they can. Writing their obituary in advance can be part of a broader end-of-life plan. Use this tool to tell your life story the way you want it told.
What Makes It Different
There are generic AI tools that can generate text. This isn’t that.
The Funeralwise AI Obituary Writer was built specifically for this purpose — with the emotional weight of the moment in mind. The prompts are designed to surface the kinds of details that make an obituary feel personal: the relationships that mattered, the passions that defined someone, the small moments that add up to a life.
A well-written obituary does two things: it announces a death and celebrates a life. The best ones focus far more on the latter. As award-winning obituary writer Jim Nicholson described his own work: the goal is celebrating life, not death — if you removed the phrase “died on Tuesday,” a great obituary could stand alone as a human-interest story about someone worth knowing.
That’s the standard we built toward.
A Few Practical Details
- The free obituary writer tool is available to all Funeralwise visitors.
- We deliver your draft as a Word document you can download, edit, and share.
- There’s no subscription required — just a quick request form to get started.
- The draft is a starting point, not a finished product. We encourage you to read it, add to it, and make it yours.
Build Your Story
If you’re ready to use the tool — or just want to learn more about writing a meaningful obituary — visit our Obituary Writer page. You’ll find the request form there, along with our complete guide to writing an obituary.
You don’t have to do this alone. And you don’t have to start from scratch.
