Write Your Own Obituary

Let’s face it, death is inevitable for all of us.

I have written several articles about estate planning, choosing guardians for your children, wills, trust, powers of attorney over the last few years…but I have yet to write about this particular topic.

In every estate planning session with my clients, I give them one homework item that they can choose to do or to ignore: Write Your Obituary.

Yes, it is a morbid topic to talk about. But I can tell you this…as the person who wrote her Mama’s and Grandfather’s obituary, making sure you complete this one item prior to your death is a true act of love for those you leave behind.

I had less than 24 hours to write a tribute worthy of their lives…and it was a daunting task…even for this professional writer.

In many cases, you have a day or a few hours to get the obituary information together for the funeral home when a loved one dies.

Your family is grieving. They aren’t thinking straight. Even remembering full names of loved ones who preceded or survived the lost loved one is darn near impossible to do when you are trying to process the loss of a close family member.

So many of my clients ask me if they need to write a full obituary…and what information to include.

My answer is that ANYTHING is better than nothing. But I also tell them that they need to include at least the following information, even if it is a bullet point list:

· Your mother’s and father’s full legal names

· Your siblings’ full legal names

· Where you were born

· School and educational information

· Social clubs or organizations of which you were a member

· Military service, years served, and rank when you left the service

· Special honors or awards

· Any hobbies or volunteer work you performed in your lifetime

· Funny tidbits

· A photo you would prefer to be used in your obituary

Some people go all out and write the full obituary and include details of how they want their funeral, service, and celebration of life to be held.

Some people write down the bare minimum details.

If you want to write the full obituary or if you want to provide a framework of information for your loved ones to write the obituary after you pass away, let me say this again, anything is better than nothing.

This is not the time for your family to try to scramble or play detective to recreate your life so that they can write a fitting tribute to the years you have spent on this Earth.

Don’t wait, write it down, and place it in a location where they can find it after you pass away.

Or, do as my clients sometimes do: give it to your estate planning attorney to add to your file and make sure your loved ones know that he/she has a copy.