Have you ever been to a funeral where you’d swear the people speaking up front had no idea about who the dead person really was? They’d put red roses on her coffin, even though you knew darn well the dead person, your friend, hated roses, especially red ones.
Or they talked about how loving and generous the person was, even though you knew he had a stingy streak that only came out when he was drunk.
Most books about being an executor don’t cover stuff like this.
In fact, I don’t know of any estate-planning books that do.
So, here’s another little snippet from After I Die: What My Executor Will Need to Know:
More about the funeral / end of life service:
I kind of hope you ☐ open the service to everyone ☐ keep it family only
I ☐ will ☐ won’t haunt you if you ignore these wishes.
I ☐ have ☐ haven’t put together some requests about my funeral service.
You’ll find them here: _________________________________________
This is where you list things such as:
Please stop Aunt Eulalia if she wants to sing a solo. You know she can’t carry a tune in a bucket with a lid on it.
I want everybody to sing the Hokey Pokey as you lower me into the ground.
Ask everyone to bring a rock and toss it onto my coffin, simply because I like rocks, and I figure they’ll keep my body company as I merge back into Mother Earth.
I’ll be back next week with another tip or two about how to keep your executor from despair.
Sending good wishes your way,
--Fran