Preplanning a funeral is a simple and logical thing to do. Every year, more and more people are choosing to make their own funeral arrangements with a funeral home, long before the need arises. The benefits of preplanning are many.

Firstly, preplanning gives you a way to ensure that your wishes concerning your funeral service are known. It allows you to make informed, unhurried decisions, in a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere, and to document these decisions in advance. You may have very specific ideas about what kind of funeral service appeals to you, or it may not be something that you have given much thought to. Either way, documenting your ideas in advance will ensure that your voice has been heard, and that your loved ones will not be faced with any doubt or conflicts when the time comes.

In fact, preplanning your funeral is one of the most considerate things that you can do for your family members. When a loved one passes away, there is tremendous grief. The stress and upheaval of trying to make a series of important decisions about a funeral service can only add to the emotional burden that your family is facing. Following a death, the days leading up to the funeral should be a time for families to be together to mourn, to celebrate a life, to reminisce. It is hard to do these things if you are faced with a multitude of decisions, big and small, concerning the practical arrangements for the funeral service.

Preplanning your funeral also ensures that your loved ones will not be faced with decisions that are difficult to make. Grieving families will always find themselves under pressure to plan a service that they think the loved one would have wanted, and it can be a very emotional thing to have to make decisions about hymns to be sung, the venue for the service, the choice of readings, and so many other things.

Having to make these decisions at a time of great upset can lead to two problems. Firstly, the family may feel under pressure to overspend: they feel that they are somehow letting their loved one down if they do not choose the most expensive casket, or floral tributes, or music. Preplanning your own service eliminates this problem: your family, directed by your own wishes, will be comforted by the knowledge that they are giving you the send-off you wanted.

The second problem that can arise when a family has to arrange a funeral for a loved one is that conflicts can emerge among the decision makers. Grieving family members may have different ideas about the details of the service, or the budget. And because this is a time of great emotional upheaval, families will be far more sensitive to differing opinions than they normally would be. If these family members have a document, prepared by you, to which they can turn for guidance, this potential conflict will be avoided completely.

There is another benefit to preplanning, and it is a financial one. When you make your arrangements, paying in advance means that you lock in to today's prices. No matter what happens with inflation in the intervening years, your family will not be faced with any extra costs, when the time comes. This ensures peace of mind for both you and your family.

And this peace of mind is what preplanning your funeral is really all about. The peace of mind that comes from knowing that in your last days, both you and your loved ones will be secure in the knowledge that your final send- off will happen in the way that you wanted it to happen, with the minimal amount of worry, doubt or financial imposition on those you leave behind.

Learn more about this author, Kate McKee.
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