Death and dying

Nobody is ready for it, but a great deal of what follows a death is practical, and most of it can be made easier in advance.

What has to be dealt with

Registering the death and obtaining certificates. Telling the people who need to know, and the organisations: employer, bank, pension, insurer, landlord or mortgage lender, and the government. Arranging the funeral. Finding the Will and the person named to carry it out. Securing the home and any pets. Cancelling what is paid for monthly.

Executors describe the same difficulty again and again: not knowing what exists. An account nobody knew about, an insurance policy nobody could find, a password nobody had.

What can be settled in advance

A Will says who inherits what and who is to carry it out. A Power of Attorney says who handles money and property if you cannot. A Living Will says what medical treatment you would and would not want. Each of these is written for the law where you live, so PartingWishes Inc. offers them through a separate LegalWills website for each country.

Alongside them, a plain list of what you have and where it is saves your executor more time than anything else you can do.

Talking about it

Families who have talked about dying find the days after a death easier than families who have not. It does not take long, and it does not have to be sombre: what you want done, who you want told, and where to find the paperwork.

Afterwards

An online memorial gives people somewhere to go: the story of a life, photographs, and the notes friends and family leave. Creating one at PartingWishes.com is free, and anyone can visit it.