The Funeral.com Journal

Resources to help you create tributes as unique as the people (and pets) you love. Learn how engraving, photos, colors, and symbols add meaning; discover scattering rituals and at-home memorial ideas. We focus on the details that matter—because small choices can carry a lifetime of comfort.

LGBTQ+ Grief and Exclusion: When You’re Left Out of Obituaries, Funerals, and Family Rituals - Funeral.com, Inc.

LGBTQ+ Grief and Exclusion: When You’re Left Out of Obituaries, Funerals, and Family Rituals

There are losses that break your heart, and then there are losses that break your trust in the world around you. For some LGBTQ+ grievers, death is followed by a...

Transgender Death Care: How Families Can Respect Name, Pronouns, and Identity After Death - Funeral.com, Inc.

Transgender Death Care: How Families Can Respect Name, Pronouns, and Identity After Death

There are moments after a death when a family is asked to make decisions that feel impossibly practical: forms, phone calls, timing, and arrangements that have to happen even when...

Obituary Security: How to Prevent Burglary and Identity Theft During a Funeral - Funeral.com, Inc.

Obituary Security: How to Prevent Burglary and Identity Theft During a Funeral

In the first days after a death, your attention is pulled in a hundred directions at once. You are making calls, answering texts you can barely read, choosing a time...

Perpetual Care Funds: What They Are, How Cemeteries Use Them, and Questions to Ask Before Buying - Funeral.com, Inc.

Perpetual Care Funds: What They Are, How Cemeteries Use Them, and Questions to Ask Before Buying

When you are standing in a cemetery office looking at prices for a grave, a crypt, or a niche, it is common to feel like you are trying to translate...

Funeral Scams to Watch For: The “Grandchild in Trouble” Call and Other Grief Exploitation Tactics - Funeral.com, Inc.

Funeral Scams to Watch For: The “Grandchild in Trouble” Call and Other Grief Exploitation Tactics

Most families expect grief to arrive like a wave. What they do not expect is the paperwork, the phone calls, the urgent decisions, and the strange feeling that time speeds...

Guaranteed vs Non-Guaranteed Prepaid Funeral Contracts: What Can Still Increase in Price - Funeral.com, Inc.

Guaranteed vs Non-Guaranteed Prepaid Funeral Contracts: What Can Still Increase in Price

Most people sign a prepaid plan for one reason: they want to remove uncertainty for the people they love. In a season of grief, even “simple” decisions can feel heavy,...

Executor Fees and Taxes: Are Executor Payments Taxable Income? - Funeral.com, Inc.

Executor Fees and Taxes: Are Executor Payments Taxable Income?

Serving as an executor (also called a personal representative) can feel like being handed a second job at exactly the wrong time. You may be coordinating family conversations, court paperwork,...

Probate 101: Which Assets Avoid Probate and Which Ones Go to Court - Funeral.com, Inc.

Probate 101: Which Assets Avoid Probate and Which Ones Go to Court

After a death, grief and logistics arrive together. You may be planning a service, calling relatives, and trying to keep the household running—then a bank tells you an account is...

How to Notify Credit Bureaus After a Death: Equifax, Experian & TransUnion Step-by-Step - Funeral.com, Inc.

How to Notify Credit Bureaus After a Death: Equifax, Experian & TransUnion Step-by-Step

Notifying the credit bureaus after a death is a straightforward way to prevent identity theft after death. TransUnion notes that fraud using a deceased person’s identity is sometimes called “ghosting,”...

Transfer-on-Death (TOD) Deeds: Pros, Cons, and Common Problems to Avoid - Funeral.com, Inc.

Transfer-on-Death (TOD) Deeds: Pros, Cons, and Common Problems to Avoid

Most families do not start thinking about real estate paperwork because they love paperwork. They start because they want fewer delays, fewer court filings, and fewer “what happens now?” moments...

How to Transfer Ashes Into an Urn: Step-by-Step Instructions, Tools, and Mess-Free Tips - Funeral.com, Inc.

How to Transfer Ashes Into an Urn: Step-by-Step Instructions, Tools, and Mess-Free Tips

There is a moment after cremation that catches many families off guard. The big decisions may be behind you, but the temporary container arrives and suddenly you are holding something...

Social Security $255 Death Benefit: Who Qualifies and How to Apply for the Lump-Sum Death Payment - Funeral.com, Inc.

Social Security $255 Death Benefit: Who Qualifies and How to Apply for the Lump-Sum Death Payment

After a death, families often describe the first few days as a blur of phone calls, decisions, and paperwork—made heavier by grief and a sense that everything is urgent. In...

Freeze a Deceased Person’s Credit: Preventing Post-Mortem Identity Theft (“Ghosting”) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Freeze a Deceased Person’s Credit: Preventing Post-Mortem Identity Theft (“Ghosting”)

In the days after a death, families often feel pulled in two directions at once. One part of you is trying to grieve, to breathe, to get through the next...

DMV License Cancellation After Death: How to Notify the State and Prevent ID Theft - Funeral.com, Inc.

DMV License Cancellation After Death: How to Notify the State and Prevent ID Theft

The first time you see your loved one’s driver’s license after they’re gone, it can land like a small shock. It’s just a card—plastic and laminated, a familiar photo, a...

Cancel or Transfer a Cell Phone Plan After a Death: Verizon & AT&T Policies Made Simple - Funeral.com, Inc.

Cancel or Transfer a Cell Phone Plan After a Death: Verizon & AT&T Policies Made Simple

The phone keeps ringing long after a person is gone. A pharmacy reminder. A “happy birthday” text. A two-factor authentication code that appears right when you’re trying to sign into...

How to Close Utility Accounts After a Death: Phone Scripts for Electric & Gas Companies - Funeral.com, Inc.

How to Close Utility Accounts After a Death: Phone Scripts for Electric & Gas Companies

In the days after someone dies, grief can make time feel warped. You can be in the middle of choosing clothes for a service, answering texts you don’t have the...