End-of-life planning checklist is vital because we don’t want to add more stress to our loved ones when deciding for us. Although it may be a complex topic, we need to plan how people around us will fix our essentials when we die. It’ll be part of your estate that legalizes your wishes when you’re nearing death. This will help prevent possible fights amongst your loved ones, especially if you have assets you want to give to them.
Here are some of the most important things you should include in your end-of-life planning checklist:
1. Memorial Or Funeral Service
Your funeral or memorial service includes participants, songs, readings, and features. Planning it will make it easier for your loved ones to hold the funeral without much hassle of thinking about what you’d want. In case you have a religious tradition, it may be best to include them in your will.
You may also want to plan for the following:
- Order of the service or the funeral program
- Music or songs they’ll play at the funeral
- Specific flowers or floral arrangements
- People who’ll deliver prayers or readings at the service, eulogies, pallbearers, and officiant or conductor of the service
2. Living Will
A living will is unlike the last will as it helps you draft your healthcare preferences when you can no longer communicate them yourself. This includes procedures, medications, and medical treatments you do or don’t want to receive, which must be strengthened by a medical power of attorney (POA).
When a medical POA is combined with the living will, they become an advance healthcare directive (AHCD). The healthcare agents must follow your wants in the living will when deciding what’s best for you.
3. Financial POA
Besides medical, you can also use a POA for your financial and legal affairs. You can grant authority to a trusted person like your adult children or parents to manage your finances on two levels.
In a durable POA, the power you grant to a person allows them to decide on your behalf when you become incapacitated. Meanwhile, you can appoint a person with the power to make critical financial decisions, pay bills, and sign legal documents on our behalf. However, this general POA will end when you die.
4. Last Will And Testament
While a living will allows you to assign someone to decide on your medical needs, a last will and testament is general. It allows you to designate someone who can be the executor or someone who can handle your estate’s administration. This means the person ensures that your wishes regarding your properties are followed. This person will also be responsible for filing your will with the probate court. By doing this, you can ensure that the legal transfer of title to your properties is executed and debts are paid.
5. Death Notice And Obituary
While living, you can now draft your obituary and death notice so your family or friends won’t have to do this for you. Doing this also allows you to include a message you want to convey.
In a death notice, you must enumerate your nickname, full name, and other essential information. You can also include the funeral service’s details and your family member’s name. If you want, you can also have the place and date of your death and its cause. You can also add the names of businesses or charities you can honor.
6. Digital Assets
These days, most people own different digital accounts for storing digital assets like insurance, investment, and bank. If you have such, you must ensure they’ll be taken care of when you pass away.
You can designate someone who can shut down your accounts or manage and access your digital assets when you die. They can be the ones who may also access the vault where you keep your digital accounts safe. With such, you can ensure that your digital assets won’t be wasted when you pass away.
Most importantly, you can specify what the trusted persons should do to these assets. You may want them to sell and donate to an organization or individual.
Conclusion
A lot of people have difficulty preparing for their death. However, it’s practical to have an end-of-life planning checklist to help those you leave behind have an easier way of dealing with their loss. You can include what people want to do to your properties, digital assets, finances, and medical decisions. Doing this ensures that all your wishes will be executed without giving much hassle to your loved ones. Consider the ideas mentioned here as you plan and prepare.
