When creating your funeral pre-plan, consider choosing cremation as one way to ease the burden on your family after you've passed away. They will be dealing with their grief over losing you while trying to make the final funeral arrangements that you've set forth in your funeral pre-plan. Cremation can make this process easier for your family at the time when they need the most support. Here is how selecting cremation for the final disposition of your body helps your family.

1. Cremation gives your family more time to make the final funeral arrangements.

A funeral home can hold a body for only a short amount of time before they must do something with it. This means your family must quickly get the funeral notices out and make the necessary arrangements with the people you wish to have participate in the services. This also gives people who must travel long distances to get to your funeral little time to make plans.

When you're cremated, your cremains are returned to your family and they can take whatever time is needed to put together the funeral arrangements. It also gives people from out of town time to travel to the location of the funeral.

2. Cremation can ease some of the financial burden on your family.

If your family will be paying for the funeral, cremation gives you more options to reduce those costs for them. Consider the following scenario to create a funeral pre-plan that minimizes the costs of your funeral:

• Request that you are cremated as soon as possible after you pass away.
• Have your cremains returned to your family in a simple fiberboard container.
• Request that your family scatter your cremains at a favorite spot, such as a lake or park.

This reduces the cost to your family in the following ways:

• You won't need to be embalmed or have restoration services in preparation for a viewing service.
• You won't need a casket and vault for burial.
• You won't need any space in which to store your cremains, such as a cemetery plot or columbarium niche.

You can still have the funeral services that you wish and be cremated:

• Specify that you want a visitation service instead of a viewing.
• Funeral services can be held normally once you're cremated.
• Instead of a graveside service, have a service held at the time your cremains are scattered.

3. Cremation makes it easier for your family to get you back home.

Should you pass away when away from home, it can be difficult, and expensive, for your family to get your body back home for the funeral. If you allow yourself to be cremated wherever you passed away, your cremains can be returned to your family using a simple delivery service.