Steps to Funeral Planning

The sensitive subject of planning for your funeral is an area most people want to avoid, we offer the much needed help and support to make the process easier.

There are many reasons why you decide to plan your funeral and the most important one is to make sure the family knows your every wish for the funeral and how your life can be celebrated.

It will allow you to enjoy the rest of your life having the peace of mind that everything is in order.

All your wishes will be listed and available in a treasured journal, all your personal wishes will be available for your family to follow and it will prevent family arguments and they follow everything you want.

In certain instances where you have no family the journal will be passed to your friends and carers to make sure all the wishes are followed.

The journal once produced will cover all the essential areas including practical instructions to make sure your full estate is administered by the executors in the best and most sensible way and reducing any areas of indecision.

This document will sit next to your Will with the Solicitor and be available to your family and friends on your passing.

During the meeting we can discuss your thoughts and decide what you may want to happen. You can plan the type of funeral, discuss the benefits of a pre-paid funeral plan, explain why it is necessary to have a Will and look at other legal services, offer financial advice from our independent financial advisor, make a choice about flowers or donations, define your own personal funeral service, plan a receptions to celebrate your life and lots more.

The meeting will allow you to list down lots of answers to a number of key questions which you may not have been considered essential but will support your plans and wishes and help your family and friends when you pass on.

Sample Questions:

What type of funeral service, Religious or Humanist?

Pre Funeral gathering?

Poetry, Quotes, Readings (Be conscious that a eulogy will be read, you may want to choose the people in advance and the content)?

Music: Live or Recorded (This is linked to the funeral theme) Do you want a choir, instruments or a singer (all or part)?

The location of the Will (home, lawyer, accountant?) Let someone know where it is stored

Who are the executors? (Their names, addresses, telephone/mobile number, email addresses)

Do you have a Bank Vault?

The combination of your House Safe?

Where is your outside Storage unit?

What is the name of your Pension provider?

Insurance documents are filed where? There are many questions we ask in order to have a complete understanding of your wishes and we list all the practical details to support the estate management.

We will produce a comprehensive document and arrange the secure storage of the journal with your solicitor or family. We can also securely store in our offices, if required. The Funeral Planning Journal is a document which will serve as your Letter of Wishes, and offer your family and executors complete clarity at a time when they will be stressed and needing assistance.

Always allow time to the finish all the answers to the important questions and re-visit if more time is required.

In our experience we know this will help your loved ones find the answers to all those important questions as they make arrangements.

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Hugh O'Brien http://www.funeralplanner.co/ EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hugh_O'Brien

You Can't Take It With You: Episode 3

The third episode shown at 9.00pm last Friday evening. The theme: fairness amongst the siblings.

Sir Gerry Robinson turns his attention towards two families who have to decide how to split their estate fairly and avoid major issues amongst the siblings.

The first family is from Kent who have built a large dairy farm which is currently valued at £4 Million. Raymond wants to leave the farm to his three sons who all worked there and leave out his daughter who is currently at University and has no plans to work on the farm in the future. His wife Jane thinks this is entirely unfair and they seek advice from senior lawyer Sue Medder who provides a number of options for the couple.

The second family are devout Muslims and want to follow the teachings from the Koran. The Koran states that boys should be left twice as much as their sisters but certain conditions are attached.

Khalid and Sara face a dilemma in writing their Will. Do they remain true to their faith which is clearly unfair in modern Britain or do they share their estate equally.

Raymond and Jane discuss the Will options with their children. Sir Gerry probes the individuals to determine their views which in most respects is rather selfish. All the sons are happy to cut their sister from the farm and business. One son also wants to stop his sister receiving one of the family properties which was a compromise suggested by their Mother.

The family debate saw all the son's state their opinion which really upset their sister and shocked their Mother.

Raymond showed little emotion throughout the discussion and sent out mixed messages. His main priority was to ensure the farm continued as a business for his sons and felt that was only possible by cutting out his daughter.

Sue Medder presented an option where the business is split into shares and the shares are allocated in the Will. This option allows all four children to benefit from the business with the share proportions decided by both Raymond and Jane. The other options included leaving the business to one son or the three sons.

Khalid and Sara from Cheshire seek advice from specialists in Muslim law and have a discussion whch also involved friends who have similar issues. The advice received from the Muslim hierarchy was inflexible and pressurised the couple to follow Sharia law which would mean leaving Sara only 1/8th of the estate and the remaining estate to be shared with his own family and stated that their son receives twice as much as his sisters. Khalid and Sara believed this was fundamentally unfair in their eyes and they seeked further advice from members of their community. A leading Muslim academic had a different view and suggested the estate could be spread evenly if the son decided not to support his sisters for the rest of their lives.

The decision had to be made and Raymond and Jane decided to follow the share option with a 32%, 29%, 29% and 10% split for the business, also giving one of the properties to their daughter and splitting the remaining properties amongst their sons. Jane was very happy with this but it was clear Raymond has been pressurised and didn't really like the option. If Jane was to go first there may be changes!!

Khalid and Sara followed the second piece of advice they received and shared the estate equally but allow the option for the son to take twice as much if he committed to support his sisters. They also decided that the family home would stay with the surviving spouse and would then pass on to the children after the death of surviving spouse. This conclusion was progressive for Khalid and Sara and represented an understanding of modern day life in Britain which expects a fair split on the estate.

Once again the key point of this show is that a Will must be discussed and prepared before death as ignoring the decision will create major issues for all the surviving family members and could tear families apart.

Next week the issue moves to child care and who will take care of your children before they reach the age of 18 if both parents die. This looks like another important subject especially in modern times when families are often been affected by divorce and separation.