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MORTL · MMXXVI
You're Going
to Die.
Let's Talk
About It.
Plain answers for overwhelmed people, state-specific law guides, and one checklist for before and after a death.
Overwhelmed or starting from zero? Start here. Get the next three tasks.
Someone just died? That path is free forever. No account required. Here's how we pay for it
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100%of people will die
69%of surveyed U.S. adults age 45+ said most Americans actively avoid thinking or talking about death. Source: AARP 2023 survey
$8,3002023 national median for a funeral with viewing and burial. Source: NFDA 2023 General Price List Study
24%of surveyed U.S. adults reported having a will in 2025. Source: Caring.com 2025 Wills & Estate Planning Survey
We built MORTL because avoiding these conversations can leave people without information, instructions, or support when they need it.
Find Your Way In
Step 1 of up to 2
Where are you right now?
Choose the answer that is closest. You can come back and choose a different path at any time.
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.
Free Planning
A checklist that knows your state.
Start without an account. Create a free account when you want to sync your checklist, documents, people, and wishes to a dashboard.
→MORTL Premium
Finish your plan. Then share it.
A Folder you can print for your family, 18 planning tools, family sharing, and an estate health check you can run whenever you want. $9 a month or $69 a year. The someone-just-died path stays free forever.
→The Death Dispatch
Death, in your inbox, every Sunday.
The death email you'll actually look forward to opening. Free. Unsubscribing is one click.
For Employers
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. $2,500 per year for up to 100 employees; $2 per employee per month, billed annually.
→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 isn’t 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.
Empathy's 2025 Grief Tax report says executors took an average of 20 months to settle affairs. Source: Empathy 2025 Grief Tax report. A clear plan gives the people you trust a place to start.
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 an independent death-planning media, guidance, and organization platform. It gives adults plain-English answers, cited state-law guides, situation-based checklists, planning tools, and optional saved family handoff features for before and after a death. MORTL is not a law firm, medical provider, funeral home, or financial institution.
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 a court-supervised process for administering assets left in a deceased person's name, resolving valid claims, and making distributions. Whether court administration is required depends on state law, the assets involved, ownership, beneficiary designations, and available affidavit or simplified procedures. Assets properly held in a trust, survivorship property, and accounts with valid beneficiary designations commonly pass outside probate, subject to state rules.
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
One owner. Built from primary sources. Monitored every 30 days.
MORTL is owned and edited by Stephanie Werner, its CEO, founder, and editor. No investors, no parent company, no content farm. Every state guide is built from primary sources such as state statutes, court rules, and official government resources. Automated change monitoring runs every 30 days. Each state guide receives a source-level review at least annually and sooner when an official change or credible correction is identified. If we run sponsored content or a partnership, it is labeled on the page and does not change the guide’s editorial content.