End-of-Life Planning and Your Loved Ones: How Final Expense Insurance Can Help
Key Takeaways
- An end-of-life plan can help your family to fulfill your wishes and manage a difficult time.
- Consider preparing advance directives for your healthcare, writing a will, organizing important documents, and drafting a letter to your loved ones.
- Final expense life insurance can help your family with funeral costs and any debts you leave behind.
Losing a loved one is always emotionally devastating, but you have the power to make a time of grief more manageable for your family. By carefully preparing an end-of-life plan, you protect their financial security and peace of mind.
Final expense life insurance is one way to make a funeral and related costs more manageable for your loved ones, even if your passing occurs unexpectedly. Let’s look at how this type of insurance policy fits into a thoughtful end-of-life plan.
Secure your family’s future with Final Expense Life Insurance.
Contact GoHealth to find coverage that fits your needs.
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End-of-Life Planning and Your Family
Families are often forced to have difficult conversations when a loved one is nearing the end of their life, such as when to switch to palliative care, what funeral arrangements to make, and how to divide up assets. Resolving these practical issues is especially tough when emotions run high.
By crafting an end-of-life plan, you provide your family and friends the information and resources they need to follow your preferences as they settle your estate. Take these steps to minimize the stress that your loved ones may face.
1. Prepare Advance Directives for Your Healthcare
Advance directives are legal documents that give clear instructions about what types of medical treatment you would like to receive if you lose the ability to communicate because of a serious illness or injury.
- Living will: This directive states what treatments should or should not be used to keep you alive, such as CPR, intubation with a ventilator, a pacemaker, or artificial nutrition and hydration with an IV or feeding tube.
- Durable power of attorney for healthcare: This document authorizes a certain person to act as a proxy in making decisions about your care.
2. Put Your Finances in Order
A 2024 survey found that less than a third of U.S. adults have created a will or estate plan, with many saying they don’t have enough property to make it worthwhile.
Even if you don’t own many assets, it’s wise to maintain an up-to-date, signed document laying out your wishes. Otherwise, your loved ones may find themselves navigating complicated state laws and disagreeing on how to settle the estate.
Name an executor in your will who is responsible for going through a probate process in court to validate the will. That person will also distribute money and property to your chosen beneficiaries, pay taxes, and address any debts. Be as specific as possible about how you want assets divided among your beneficiaries. Check the requirements where you live to make sure your will is valid.
In addition, you may want to create:
- Durable power of attorney for finances: This directive comes into effect if you ever have health problems that interfere with making judgments about your money and property.
- Living trust: This document names a trustee to manage specific assets, potentially eliminating the need for your family to go through probate.
3. Organize Documents
Organize relevant documents, make copies, and store them together to ensure your family can find all the crucial information they need to manage your estate. Keep these items in a secure place, like a safe, and tell a trusted loved one or a lawyer how to access them.
The essential information you should consider filing away includes:
- Social Security number
- Birth certificate
- Bank and retirement accounts
- A list of your sources of income
- Insurance policies
- Most recent tax return
- Details for your mortgage or any other debts
- Car title and registration
4. Express Your Final Wishes
Communicate in advance what you would like to happen to your body and any preferences you have for your funeral or memorial. Write a detailed letter to your loved ones to make sure your final wishes are carried out. You can even make arrangements with a funeral home yourself.
Some choices you might specify are:
- Whether your remains should be buried or cremated
- What funeral home should host the memorial
- What type of funeral service your family should hold
- Any readings, speakers, or songs you would like included
- The location of a reserved cemetery lot
- An organization to send donations in lieu of flowers
- Whether you’re registered as an organ donor
Secure your family’s future with Final Expense Life Insurance.
Contact GoHealth to find coverage that fits your needs.
Call 1-833-400-2363
Mon – Fri, 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. CT | TTY: 711
How Final Expense Insurance Helps Your Family
Along with communicating your wishes and getting your affairs in order, think about the expenses you’ll leave behind for your family. The average cost of a funeral was nearly $8,000 as of 2023. Final expense insurance, also known as burial insurance, can help your loved ones with this financial burden.
Final expense insurance is an alternative to traditional life insurance to take care of burial costs and outstanding debts. Monthly rates are generally lower than other types of life insurance, and it’s usually easier to qualify as there’s no medical exam required. Some policies also offer flexibility to cope with health challenges, such as accelerated benefits in case of a terminal illness or an extended stay in a nursing home.
With final expense insurance, you can rest assured that your named beneficiary will have financial support to take some of the stress out of managing your final expenses. When you know that your family will receive a death benefit, you’re able to plan with confidence.
Sources
2025 Wills and Estate Planning Study. Caring.com.
Statistics. National Funeral Directors Association.