A friend of mine just died in his sleep at the age of 45. No one expected him to die. He had casually told his friends that he wanted to be cremated and his ashes scattered at sea. However, his family, not there when he said that, consulted a funeral director who then embalmed the body, placed it in a fancy casket, and buried him on a hillside in a cemetery 50 miles from his home. His parents didn’t expect him to predecease them. My friend had a Will, but it didn’t have anything in it about his funeral wishes.
If you don’t tell your loved ones what kind of final arrangements and commemorative ceremony you want when you die, your grief-stricken and bewildered family will be burdened with decisions they never wanted to make.
It’s not an easy subject to talk about, but it’s important that you simplify the process for your friends and family. Otherwise, at a very painful time for them, they may be forced to turn to a professional funeral planner who never met you. The resulting service may or may not be what you would have wanted.
You may want a requiem mass; a 10-plane flyover; Beatles music played throughout; your body donated to the local medical school or put in long-term cryogenic storage. Whatever your wishes, write it down! Include it in your estate planning documents or as a separate document, but do think about it and do leave written instructions.