Preplanning Needs: Important Documents You Must Have

If you have preplanned your cremation services in Columbia, TN. then know you have done a wonderful thing for your family. As uncomfortable as it might have been to address your own death, in doing so and making these arrangements, your family will not have the extra burden of making these plans while they are grieving your loss.

Many times people think that since these plans have been arranged, that is all that their family will need. However, this is not the case. Although this preplanning will help your family immensely, there are several other documents your family may need. These include personal, financial, and medical documents. While every person may have more or less documents depending on their life situation, we have complied a list of the most common and most useful papers to have.

Personal Documents

Personal papers can include a large array of documents, contracts and other important papers. Some of the most important you want to make sure have on hand and easy to get to are:

List of Passwords – When your family is needing to log into your accounts online and/or your phone, they will need your passwords. This will make it much easier for them to quickly take care of matters rather than having to spend extra time on simply trying to access the account.
Marriage/Divorce Papers – It’s nice to have all papers associated with any marriages and/or divorces on hand for your family after you pass. They can use these for legal reasons as well as information for things like the obituary.
Last Will and Testament– This is an extremely important document as it will list who will inherit your assets.
Letter of Instruction – This may be a lesser known document but is equally important as your will for example. This document will lay out how you would like your last wishes to be carried out. This could include things like the location or your ashes.
Digital Plan – This plan will outline what social media accounts you have and how you would like for them to be handled.

Financial Papers

The most crucial document you want to have is a Financial Power of Attorney (POA). This document is imperative in assigning someone to handle your finances if you are unable to do so. Without it your family will have a much more difficult time trying to take care of things for you. Other important documents to make sure you have are:

Tax Returns – Make sure you have your past tax returns accessible for your family. No more than the past six years should be needed.
401(k) – Papers relating to your 401(k) and retirement accounts
Vehicle Titles – Gather and organize any and all vehicle titles you may have.
Stock Certificates – Gather any documents related to stocks you own or savings bonds
Deeds – Deeds involving things such as housing, cemetery, or land
Loans -Documents showing any loans you have as well as payments you have made and current balances.

Medical Documents

These documents are ones that would be needed by your family if you were to require hospital care. They include:

An Advance Health Care Directive – This document is a combination of your Living Will and the naming of a Health Care Proxy
Do Not Resuscitate Orders (DNR) – If it is your wish for doctors not to try and resuscitate you, you must have this document completed.
HIPAA Authorization – This document will allow your private health information to be released to the parties you appoint.

Final Thoughts

Although preplanning your cremation services in Columbia, TN. is a huge step to ensure your family is taken care of when you pass, you can see that there are several documents you should complete and have and easily accessible to your family in the case of other emergencies.