Making Good Decisions While Grieving

If you're making plans for your eventual passing, and you've decided on cremation, you need to make sure that all your plans are in order. You want to make sure that you don't leave any loose ends for your family to deal with. Here are four steps that will help while you're planning your cremation.

1. Talk to Your Family About Your Final Wishes

If you haven't talked to your family about your final wishes, now's the time to do that. Cremation is a serious decision, and you need to make sure that your family is involved in the process. Ultimately, the decision is yours to make. However, you can avoid leaving your family with hard feelings by including them in the decision-making process. If you're concerned that your family won't carry out your wishes once you've passed, include your burial arrangements in your estate plan.

2. Document Your Cremation Plans

If you have specific wishes for your cremation and services, be sure to document those plans. Your family will be in mourning once you pass, and may not be in the right emotional frame of mind to plan for your services. Having a detailed plan in place, including what you want done with your remains, will make things easier on your family. It will also ensure that you get the services you wanted after you pass. if you've decided to have your remains scattered at a specific location, be sure to make prior arrangements. Some locations require a permit before remains can be scattered. Some locations prohibit the scattering of remains, altogether. You'll want to have that information as part of your cremation plans.

3. Plan for the Transportation of Your Remains

Once you pass away, your body will need to be transported to the crematorium. If you haven't made plans for that, you need to take care of that as soon as possible. If you fail to make those arrangements, your family will be left to do that, which could cause them to incur an additional expense. When making arrangements for your cremation, make sure that the transportation of your remains is included in the package.

4. Make Arrangements With a Funeral Home

If you want to have a funeral service as part of your cremation, you need to make arrangements with a funeral home. They can ensure that all your needs are met, and that your cremation is performed properly. Not only that, but when you make your funeral and cremation plans through a funeral home, you ensure that everything is taken care of before you pass. If you want to make sure that your family isn't left with the expense of your funeral arrangements, sign up for a prepaid funeral plan, or take out an additional life insurance policy for those expenses.

Contact a service, like American Cremation Society (Ridgemoor Chapels), for more help.