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.

Debt After Death: What Happens to Credit Cards, Loans, and Medical Bills?

Debt After Death: What Happens to Credit Cards, Loans, and Medical Bills?

You expect to be making decisions about memorials, funeral planning, and how to honor a loved one’s story. You probably don’t expect to be fielding phone calls about debt after...

What to Do When Someone Dies at Home: Step-by-Step Guide for Expected and Unexpected Deaths

What to Do When Someone Dies at Home: Step-by-Step Guide for Expected and Unexpected Deaths

Knowing what to do when someone dies at home can feel overwhelming, especially when emotions run high and decisions need to be made quickly. Whether facing an expected death at...

Important Papers to Organize Before and After a Death: Documents, Passwords, and Where to Store Them

Important Papers to Organize Before and After a Death: Documents, Passwords, and Where to Store Them

Imagine your kitchen table on an ordinary afternoon. There is a stack of mail pushed to one side, a laptop that still has not been shut for the day, and...

Preplanning Your Own Funeral or Cremation: Benefits, Decisions, and What to Put in Writing

Preplanning Your Own Funeral or Cremation: Benefits, Decisions, and What to Put in Writing

There’s a moment when you realize that preplanning your own funeral or cremation isn’t morbid, it’s practical, protective, and deeply loving. Thinking about it isn’t about dwelling on the end;...

Closing Accounts and Subscriptions After a Death: Step-by-Step Help for Everyday Bills

Closing Accounts and Subscriptions After a Death: Step-by-Step Help for Everyday Bills

After a death, life can feel divided between emotional responsibilities and practical tasks. On one side are decisions like planning a funeral, selecting a cremation urn, or arranging a home...

Planning a Funeral from Out of Town: Long-Distance Coordination Made Easier

Planning a Funeral from Out of Town: Long-Distance Coordination Made Easier

Planning a funeral when you’re far away can feel overwhelming, especially when grief is paired with the stress of distance. Planning a funeral from out of town involves coordinating multiple...

LGBTQ+ Partners and Chosen Family: Ensuring Wishes Are Respected in Death and Memorials

LGBTQ+ Partners and Chosen Family: Ensuring Wishes Are Respected in Death and Memorials

For many LGBTQ+ individuals, end-of-life planning carries a weight that goes far beyond paperwork. It is a profound act of love, an act of protecting your partner, your identity, and...

Social Security Benefits After a Death

Social Security Benefits After a Death

Losing someone you love is one of life’s most difficult and emotionally draining experiences. Amid grief, funeral planning, and the day-to-day reality of loss, practical details can feel overwhelming—notifying agencies,...

When Family Disagrees About What to Do with Ashes: Compromise, Legal Rights, and Creative Solutions

When Family Disagrees About What to Do with Ashes: Compromise, Legal Rights, and Creative Solutions

It’s one of those conflicts that often surprises families. You’ve done the hard part: made the arrangements, gotten through the service, received the cremated remains. And then a quiet but...

Digital Legacy Planning: Passwords, Social Media Accounts, and Online Memories

Digital Legacy Planning: Passwords, Social Media Accounts, and Online Memories

Most of us now live a significant part of our lives online. We scroll through social media, upload photos, pay bills through apps, store important documents in the cloud, and...

Final Letters and Ethical Wills: Passing on Values, Stories, and Messages of Love

Final Letters and Ethical Wills: Passing on Values, Stories, and Messages of Love

Most people know they should have a legal will to say who receives their money and property someday. Far fewer have heard of an ethical will or taken time to...

Traveling with Cremated Remains: TSA Rules, Airline Policies, and Practical Tips

Traveling with Cremated Remains: TSA Rules, Airline Policies, and Practical Tips

Families often travel with a loved one’s ashes for deeply personal reasons, fulfilling a final wish to return home, scattering the remains in a place filled with meaning, or bringing...

Scattering Ashes: Laws, Locations, and Meaningful Ideas for Saying Goodbye

Scattering Ashes: Laws, Locations, and Meaningful Ideas for Saying Goodbye

Scattering ashes offers a profoundly personal way to commemorate a loved one’s life, turning loss into a moment of reflection, connection, and remembrance. Knowing the laws about scattering ashes and...

Preplanning a Funeral: Benefits, Costs, and Questions to Ask Before You Sign

Preplanning a Funeral: Benefits, Costs, and Questions to Ask Before You Sign

Thinking about your own funeral is not easy. But for many people, preplanning a funeral is less about focusing on death and more about giving a practical, lasting gift to...

Burying a Pet at Home: Legal Rules, Safety Tips, and Alternatives to Consider

Burying a Pet at Home: Legal Rules, Safety Tips, and Alternatives to Consider

Sometimes the quiet after a pet’s final breath feels heavier than words can hold. The house changes, its corners softer, its routines quieter, and yet their presence stays woven into...

Advance Directives and Living Wills: Making Medical Wishes Clear Before the End of Life

Advance Directives and Living Wills: Making Medical Wishes Clear Before the End of Life

Most families don’t start talking about end-of-life medical care because everything feels urgent and frightening. They start talking because of something quieter: a news story that hits close to home,...