While you might not think about it often, you may have an idea of how you want your funeral procession to be executed and how you want your body to be buried at the time of your unfortunate passing. This may be due to religious reasons or simply personal preferences for how you want to be honored and remembered. Whatever your exact motivations, you have a right to these preferences. In turn, you have a right to have them respectfully acknowledged by your loved ones, at a time when you can no longer execute these plans for yourself. And so, please read on to discover how to instruct on funeral and burial arrangements within your estate plan and how a seasoned Broward County estate lawyer at The Probate Lawyers can help you get your point across, so to speak.
How do I effectively instruct on funeral arrangements in my estate plan?
Realistically, we might not recommend you leave your funeral instructions within your Last Will and Testament document. This is because by the time your loved ones locate the document, submit it to the Florida probate court, and your probate proceedings are scheduled, your funeral might have already taken place. That said, your directions may go in vain.
Rather, we might encourage you to add another vital document to your comprehensive estate plan, known as a final arrangements document. As the name suggests, here, you may set your preferences on how you would want your funeral and burial to go. Specifically, you may instruct on the following logistics:
- Whether you prefer your body to be buried or cremated.
- Whether you prefer a wake to take place before your funeral services.
- Whether you prefer charity donations in lieu of flowers at your funeral.
- The specific funeral home you prefer for your services to take place.
- The specific cemetery you prefer your body to be buried in.
- The specific location you prefer for your ashes to be scattered.
How else can I convey my funeral and burial preferences to my loved ones?
Even in being as detailed as possible in your funeral arrangements document, there is always the possibility that your preferences may not be met. This is because, for one, your loved ones may not know about its existence. And secondly, this is not a legal document with which your loved ones are contractually obligated to comply.
Well, this can easily be resolved by fostering open communication with your loved ones. Understandably, you may not want to be morbid in talking about your death. But they need to understand exactly how you want your legacy to be celebrated and how serious you are about it being handled in a certain way.
If this blog has deeply resonated with your personal situation and concerns thus far, please reach out to a competent Broward County estate lawyer for more information. The team at The Probate Lawyers will be glad to represent you in your upcoming legal case.
