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Missouri – Yes, Designated Officers Act. Chapter 194, Death — Disposition of Corpses, Section 194.119, of the Revised Missouri Statutes, states that the next of kin have the “right to sepulture” – the right to care for and control the corpse. What`s interesting is that in Missouri, you can designate anyone you want to designate as your closest relatives for the layout of your body. Click here to download a form. The easiest way to do this is to designate a person to perform your funeral in your permanent health care accreditation. North Carolina – An irrevocable pre-need agreement cannot be changed. Since 2007, you can use your health care power of attorney form to give that person the right to make decisions about your funeral, cremation, burial or anatomical gift. Download your NC Health Care Power of Attorney here. Mississippi – As of July 1, 2004, your prepaid funeral contract is legally binding and cannot be cancelled by your next of kin. It is a pity that the only way to guarantee your right to decide what happens to your body is to pay the undertaker in advance.
Mississippi has the worst consumer protection laws in the country in terms of prepaid funerals. Click here for the Advance Directive form. Circumstances may arise if the funeral arrangements were made by the family and friends of the deceased without involving or notifying the legal personal representative. This approach should be followed with caution, as the legal personal representative may override the respective agreements. If someone dies, who has the legal authority to make funeral arrangements? Other legal forms that can be used in this way to some extent are living wills and forms for designated agents. The Funeral Consumer Alliance has a wonderful resource that lists by state the documents you can use to indicate your end-of-life and funeral wishes. Sometimes this document is a living will, sometimes country-specific documents are available, you can read it here. Arizona also allows citizens to designate an agent who has the authority to make funeral and funeral arrangements in the form of a permanent power of attorney for health care. You can find this right in articles 36-3221. But other sections of the law contain confusing and contradictory language that doesn`t make it possible to know if the person you designate to fulfill your desires has the highest authority or if a surviving spouse has one: Colorado – Colorado has a personal preference and a designated agents law.
Title 15-19-104 of the Colorado Statutes gives a deceased person the right to disclose their own legally binding preferences in a written document. Here is a form that you can download. I like, as you mentioned, that when planning a funeral, it is best to decide on a funeral plan before you need it. In this way, I can not only make the necessary arrangements for the funeral, but also pay in advance. I recently had a conversation about our future family plans with my wife over dinner. With that, I`m going to share with her what I discovered with your article, and we`ll be looking for companies in a few weeks that offer a pre-plan to get the process off the ground. It is often best to create a separate document just to describe your wishes for the funeral. Then, work with the person who will execute the estate and tell them to consider this document before making the will. Plus, you can simply have a conversation with your loved ones and tell them what the funeral should look like so they`re all on the same page. The care of funeral arrangements is one of the first tasks of the legal personal representative. Although the deceased`s will may provide non-binding advice on their funeral arrangements, it is recommended that individuals inform their personal representative of their funeral wishes outside of their will.
This could be done through a letter, funeral plan, or conversation about the often avoided topic of death. If you do not have a prepaid funeral plan, all funeral expenses will be paid by your estate. Your executors are allowed to use your estate to cover “reasonable expenses,” which may include things like the cost of a vigil, flowers, obituaries, and headstones. If there are not enough funds in the estate to pay for the funeral, it is common for the next of kin to pay. West Virginia – Law 16-30-4 allows you to express your funeral wishes in an instruction available to the patient and/or designate someone to perform them for you. Click here for the form. If you have any further questions about funeral wishes or general funeral questions, remember that you can always contact us by phone or by filling out our application form. You will want to be clear with this person about your funeral wishes.
Try to be very specific in all matters related to end-of-life decisions and your finances. .