Just trying to put things together, unlikely I’ll live next year. I have no savings but have life insurance thru work. Can I make out my plans, have it notarized snd have a funeral home made my survivor in life insurance and how can know my wishes are followed thru? Thank you!
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1. The term is “beneficiary”, not survivor.
2. If you make it funeral home, that guarantees that your wishes cannot be done. Life insurance money is a gift to whomever you pick as beneficiary (what you are incorrectly calling “survivor”) to be used however that person wants to use it, without anything being done in return by that person. If you pick the funeral home to get the money this way, then they are allowed to keep it without doing anything for it. Your wishes can be done only if either (a) you pick a living human being to get the money and that person voluntarily decides to spend it how you want, (b) you use a lawyer to set up a trust and have the lawyer draft the trust documents to say how the money is to be spent, (c) you live the money to your estate with instructions in your will for how you want the executor of the estate to use the money.
Funeral home cant be your beneficiary of life insurance. You should buy a pre-need burial plan and specify exactly what you want from the mortuary and cemetery. Then you wont need life insurance since you obviously have no one to leave money to.
You can prepay on some funeral expenses separately from your life insurance company.
You can also set up a living trust with your final wishes in it.
Talk to the funeral home about how to have it done. Keep in mind, your life insurance might be a whole lot more than that funeral would cost.
Sorry to hear about your poor health.