COVID-19 Makes Final Wishes Imperative

Final wishes include planning funerals at funeral homes in Van Buren, NY, but they also include much, much more. As COVID-19 continues to surge in the United States, it has become obvious that no one is immune to the virus and the potential of dying from its ravaging effects.

That’s why having your final wishes spelled out is imperative. You may not have thought much about death until now. You may not really want to think about your own death, because it seems morbid or it is scary.

However, when you think about and plan for your own death, you not only have the peace of mind that your final wishes will be honored, but you also have the peace of mind that your grieving family will not be further burdened with trying to decide how to deal with your death.

So, what is included in the term final wishes?

First, you need to plan for your end of life care. There are several legal documents that you should have drawn up.

One of these documents is a medical power of attorney. A medical power of attorney lets you designate one or more people to make medical decisions and to advocate for your medical wishes if you are not able to.

The person or people you designate should be trustworthy, should know all your medical history, your medications, and your medical wishes, and they should live within an hour of you. This decision needs to be made based on practicality, not sentimentality.

For example, while you may want your favorite brother in California to be one of your designees, it will be virtually impossible for him to be an effective medical power of attorney (POA) when he’s 3,000 miles away, especially in a crisis situation where time is of the essence.

Another end of care document you need is a living willing. A living will lets you indicate what type of medical intervention should be done when you are in a situation where death is imminent.

A living will is straightforward: you can choose to either have every medical option exhausted to keep you alive or you can choose to have no medical interventions done to prolong your life (you can make sure, however, that you have comfort care, which is essentially pain management, while you’re dying).

The next part of your final wishes is planning your funeral. You can do this with our funeral home or you can simply make sure you have detailed written instructions with your important papers (and that you talk with your family about your wishes).

If you have burial insurance, include the policy number and pertinent contact information in your funeral plan. You will need to choose whether you want to be cremated or buried. If you choose burial, you need to designate the cemetery you want to buried in.

You also need to detail what kind of funeral service you want, including the format, participants, and readings and music you want included as part of the service.

The last part of your final wishes also includes a legal document that names someone who is responsible for distributing your property and other assets according the wishes you spell out. You can do this by creating either a will or a revocable trust.

As part of this piece, you should also create a digital will for your executor or trustee. A digital will contains all the information for all your digital accounts including financial (banks, credit cards, investments, retirement, shopping, etc.) accounts, email accounts, and social media accounts.

For more information about final wishes at funeral homes in Van Buren, NY, our compassionate and experienced team at Bagozzi Twins Funeral Home, Inc. is here to help you.