Making your funeral wishes known
Talking about your death with the people you love is hard, but even a simple conversation about your wishes can make all the difference for them when the time comes.
Most of us find it hard to think about what will happen when we die, but we know from conversations with many families that even the simplest conversation about your funeral wishes can make a hard time a little bit easier.
A Funeral Wishes Template
For a few years now we’ve provided a template for people to download so that their wishes can be captured, and it has proven to be very popular.
We’ve had a chance to stand back now, and use our experience to refine this document.
So What’s Changed?
Through talking to families and people who are dying, we realised that more space needed to be allocated to stating what’s important when it comes to the funeral – not only for the person writing the wishes, but also potentially for the people who will be left behind.
Many people tell us that funerals are for the living, it’s how friends and family, and sometimes whole communities support each other to move forward when someone dies so we’ve included a ‘What’s most important?’ section for you to consider.
We’ve also now added a ‘Notes’ section at the end – so wherever you see the asterisk “*” you’ll know there is a note to help you think about what you might want to write.
We’ve made it as simple as possible to complete;
you can download it and print it off to write on,
or you can download the pdf and edit it on your computer.
At the end you can sign it and then simply give copies to the people who need to know, or leave it in a safe and obvious place for people to find.
The best option, if you can, is to discuss it with the people who matter so they know what you want, and also so that you understand what they will need when you die.
Feel free to send us a copy if you would like us to help you when the time comes.
