Do you have a pre-arrangement in place? The biggest question we hear about pre-planning is simply "How does pre-planning help my family?"

The answer is funeral pre-planning is a gift to your family. At the time of a death, there are so many decisions to make. If a family has never discussed the final wishes of their parents or siblings or children, all of those decisions need to be made in a short period of time, in a very emotional and stressful setting.

If you have already discussed, considered, questioned and made decisions for your own funeral service in a well thought out manner, pressure is taken off of the grieving family members. In an ideal world, everyone in the decision making process will only think of celebrating a life with joy and honor, but that is not always true. Sadness often overtakes common sense, anger often causes unexpected or unkind words to be spoken and the simple shock of a death interferes with clarity of the tasks needed.

If your funeral is pre-planned, you have the opportunity to select your casket, urn, the songs that you would like at the service, and who your casket bearers will be. You can identify important hobbies, pre-write your obituary, select your favorite outfit, and whatever else that is important to you. If you are a veteran, you will learn what benefits you are entitled to receive and how that process is accomplished.

In addition to pre-planning, you will also have the option to pre-pay for your services. The reality is that a funeral is a costly event. If you have the opportunity to partially or completely pay for that, it is a blessing to your surviving family. Rather than worry about the expense, or fighting with others over responsibilities, it will simply become an opportunity for all survivors to cherish your memory and honor your life, the way it is supposed to be. They can then move forward on learning how to live without you, which is difficult enough in itself.