Why You Should Plan for Your Death

I get it, there is a lot going on. Laundry, work projects, diaper changes, getting the car fixed…or maybe you have none of these things on your plate and your life is full of other things. It doesn’t really matter what your life is full of…there will be a day when the things from your plate get dumped onto someone else’s, in a manner of speaking.

I have several friends that have said that they don’t see a point in a will or even life insurance since they are single and don’t have any kids or own anything of value. There are two things I always ask them:

What do you want done with your body and who's going to handle that?

What do you want to happen to the things you do own that may not be worth a lot of money but are sentimental or important in some way?

This usually garners a furrowed brow, looking off into the distance, then stating, “Uh, I don’t know.”

There are endless scenarios of the aftermath of a person passing, but the worst ones are when there is no plan left behind and everything is up in the air amongst family and friends. And these could be people that maybe don’t agree on how things should be done. People that have issues, vendettas, a tendency toward greed, or simply no respect for your wishes or each other.

You might think that you are not important enough to need something so fancy as a will but really, the more you plan for, the less those you do leave behind have to go through in taking care of the details, and it can help avoid court in a lot of cases. Wills are not complicated for most people. Simply a list of your possessions and what you want done with them. It can also include your funeral plan and what you would like done with your body. As I mentioned before, it is basically an outline to guide your loved ones. You can write one on notebook paper, you can create one on a website, or you can do it through an attorney…just make sure to get it notarized.

If you want to go the extra mile, get some insurance. Even if you have no spouse/partner or children, insurance is pretty handy. A small term policy that is enough to cover your funeral costs (or even pre-planning and pre-paying for end-of-life services instead) is an amazing gift to your loved ones.

Once you have a will and life insurance, you might as well add a living-will. A living-will is the document that lets your family, friends, and medical professionals know what you want done in certain medical situations like coma or brain death. This one could prevent a lot of heartache and guilt, essentially taking the decision out of the hands of a parent or sibling and making sure your wishes are followed. It can also keep it out of the courts.

Oh yeah!?!? Well, I don't even have any loved ones. What’s all this to me then? It might be even more important in that case. If you have no one to speak for you, a living will can do that speaking. If there is no one to pay for or plan your funeral, a will, insurance, and/or pre-planning will do that for you. Does your shit just go in the trash, or do you want it to be donated? A will handles that.

As usual, it isn’t really the task of preparing for death that is the difficult part…it’s the thinking about it. If you can get past that, you will find that you may sleep a little better at night knowing that you’ve taken seriously important steps to make it a little easier on those that survive you.