MORTL · MMXXVI
You're Going
to Die.
Let's Talk
About It.
Plain answers, state-specific law guides, and one checklist for before and after a death.
Someone just died? That path is free forever. No account required. Here's how we pay for it
We built MORTL because the silence around death is killing people. Financially. Emotionally. Practically.
Why MORTL Exists
When someone dies, the family inherits dozens of tasks and no order of operations.
Death is universal. It happens to every single one of us. And yet the entire industry built around it treats you like a fragile child who can't handle the truth.
Pastel websites. Soft fonts. Grannies in gardens. Language so sanitized it's meaningless.
MORTL is different. We talk about death the way you talk about it with your best friend at 2am. Directly, honestly, sometimes darkly funny, and always with the respect that the subject deserves.
Read the Manifesto →More Than Reading
Put your plan somewhere your family can find it.
A checklist that knows your state.
The end-of-life checklist, your documents, your people, and your wishes. Personalized to your state's laws, tracked to done.
→Finish your plan. Then share it.
The Folder your family gets, 17 planning tools, family sharing, and an annual estate health check. $9 a month or $69 a year. The someone-just-died path stays free forever.
→Death, in your inbox, every Sunday.
The death email you'll actually look forward to opening. Free. Unsubscribing is one click.
Give your whole team the benefit.
Every workplace has people dealing with a death. MORTL for Employers covers your people with planning tools and honest support. Pilots from $2,500 a year.
→Death Doesn't Have to Be Depressing
Some people have the memorial, the documents, and the wishes planned before anyone needs them.
There's a growing movement of people who are treating death the way it deserves to be treated. As the last thing you get to plan, and worth planning well. They're planning celebrations of life that are actually celebratory. They're writing the obituaries they want. They're dying on their own terms.
MORTL covers all of it. The practical and the profound. The paperwork and the party.
Explore the State Guides →
What You Can Do on MORTL
The checklist, your state's rules, the providers, the answers.
End-of-Life Checklist
The complete list of what needs to happen before and after death. Printable, shareable, actually useful.
→State-by-State Guides
Death law varies wildly by state. We break it down for all 50 states plus Washington, DC. So you can understand the rules where you live.
→Provider Directory
Find funeral homes, grief counselors, and hospice providers near you. A listing in the MORTL directory is not a recommendation, endorsement, guarantee, or referral.
→The MORTL Edit
Practical reporting on probate, funeral costs, grief, digital accounts, and end-of-life care.
→Ask MORTL
Real questions about death, answered without the runaround.
→The Death Dispatch
Our weekly newsletter. The death email you'll actually look forward to opening.
→You've been putting this off.
We get it. Everyone does.
Families spend an average of 420 hours settling the affairs of someone who died ↗. You can prevent most of that in an afternoon.
Start the Checklist →From the MORTL Edit
Practical reporting on death, money, and grief.
AgingNobody Wants Your Wisdom
The cruelest thing about getting old in America: the moment you have the most to offer, the culture stops listening.
Read →CultureWhy Americans Are Terrified of Death (And What It's Costing Them)
A hard look at death avoidance culture and the $20 billion industry that profits from it.
Read →
Grief"Nobody Told Me There Would Be This Much Paperwork"
What actually happens in the 72 hours after someone dies. And why nobody prepares you for it.
Read →Quick Answers
The questions everyone has but nobody asks out loud.
What is MORTL?
MORTL is a death-positive media company and resource hub that covers estate planning, probate law, grief, end-of-life care, advance directives, funeral planning, and digital legacy. MORTL treats death like the universal human experience it is. Directly, honestly, and without euphemism. It is a media brand dedicated entirely to death education for adults.
What does MORTL cover?
MORTL covers the full spectrum of death-related topics: writing a will, probate law by state, advance directives and healthcare proxies, funeral and cremation planning, grief and bereavement, digital legacy and what happens to your accounts after death, estate taxes, organ donation, death with dignity laws, and talking to children about death. MORTL publishes state-specific legal guides for all 50 US states and Washington DC.
What is an advance directive?
An advance directive is a legal document that specifies your healthcare wishes if you become unable to communicate. It typically includes a living will (what treatments you want or don't want) and a healthcare proxy or durable power of attorney for healthcare (who can make decisions for you). Every US state has its own official advance directive form. MORTL provides links to the official form for 50 states and Washington DC.
What is probate and when is it required?
Probate is the court-supervised legal process of distributing a deceased person's assets and settling their debts. Whether probate is required depends on the state and the size of the estate. Most states have a simplified small estate procedure for estates below a threshold (ranging from $20,000 in some states to $200,000 in others). Assets held in a trust, jointly owned property, and accounts with named beneficiaries typically bypass probate entirely.
How much does a funeral cost in the United States?
According to the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), the median cost of a funeral with viewing and burial in the United States is approximately $8,300 (2023 data). The median cost of a funeral with cremation is approximately $6,280. Costs vary significantly by region and funeral home. The FTC Funeral Rule requires funeral homes to provide itemized price lists upon request.
What happens to your digital accounts when you die?
What happens to your digital accounts after death depends on the platform and whether you have designated a legacy contact or digital executor. Facebook and Instagram allow memorialization or account removal. Google has an Inactive Account Manager. Apple has a Digital Legacy feature. Most states have adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA), which gives executors limited access to digital assets. Without planning, most accounts are inaccessible to family members.
Who's Behind This
Independently owned. Built from statutes and official forms. Reviewed monthly.
MORTL is independently owned and edited. No investors, no parent company, no content farm. Every state guide is built from primary sources: state statutes, court rules, and official government forms, reviewed on a monthly cadence. No article is sponsored, ghostwritten for a vendor, or approved by anyone who pays us.