Plan Ahead
A personal end-of-life planner
for where you are now.
Choose your situation and state. MORTL builds a practical action list for legal documents, medical wishes, accounts, care, and family instructions.
Want the full document-by-document list? Open the complete end-of-life planning checklist →
This page assumes you have time. I'm already dying →
The short answer
Planning ahead means deciding five things while it's easy: who gets what (the will), who decides if you can't (the directive and power of attorney), what happens to the kids, what you want at the end, and where your family finds it all. The planner below builds your action list for your situation and your state.
Reviewed August 2026
Parents: start with the three decisions →Test the plan you already have →
Optional: Your State
Select your state to get state-specific law notes embedded in your action plan.
What describes your situation?
Free account
What a free account does.
- Keeps your checklist ticked on every device.
- One thing to do each morning, by email, if you want it.
- Your state's rules on the items that depend on them.
Free. The someone-just-died path never needs one.
Not sure where to start?
Use the full end-of-life checklist.
33 items across 5 categories. Covers everything from legal documents to digital accounts. Progress saves automatically.
Choose a planning task
Start with the job you need to finish.
These pages put the free first step, state-law references, and the relevant planning tools in one place.
I need a will.
Start with the legal effect of a will and the signing rules that make it valid where you live.
I need to document my medical wishes.
Put your care choices in the right documents, name the person who can speak for you, and make sure the people involved can find the signed copies.
I need to get my finances in order.
Make the accounts, debts, beneficiaries, insurance, and important contacts easier for the person who may eventually handle them.
I want to plan my funeral.
Decide what matters to you, understand your consumer rights, and record enough detail for someone else to carry out the plan.
I’m helping someone else make a plan.
You can make the process easier without making the decisions for them. Start with permission, let their choices lead, and help make the final information usable.
From The MORTL Edit
Go deeper on the topics that matter.
The Advance Directive: What It Is, Why You Need One, and How to Get It Done
11 min read →7 Estate Planning Myths That Are Costing People Money
7 min read →How to Write a Will: The Complete Guide
12 min read →What Happens to Your Digital Life When You Die
9 min read →Your Body Quits Before Your Brain Does
10 min read →The Career Trap: What Happens When You Run Out of Time
9 min read →The Paperwork Nobody Warns You About When Someone Dies
8 min read →Green Burial: The Complete Guide to Eco-Friendly Death
10 min read →The tools
Turn the plan into finished documents.
The Weeks You Have Left
Put in your age and see how many weeks you’ve already spent and roughly how many remain, then save the weeks you’ve lived as an image to post.Will Template Hub
Answer a short set of questions and build your last will and testament, free, as a PDF or Word file. Confirm your state’s current requirements and consider legal review before signing.Living Will Builder
Build the living will half of your advance directive: the document that records which treatments you want and don't want, with your state's witness and notary rules built into the signing block.Healthcare Power of Attorney
Name the person who makes medical decisions when you can't: your agent, alternates, and what they can decide, free as a PDF or Word file, with your state's witness and notary rules in the signing block.Advance Directive Hub
The umbrella document: see your state's signing rules and work through the full set of medical decisions, living will choices included, against an official state source.Obituary Maker
Fill in what you know, skip what you don't, and create an obituary draft to review, print, copy, or download.Write Your Own Obituary
Write the obituary you want people to read, the way a newspaper would run it, and turn it into a card to post.Funeral Program
Build a folded funeral program in your browser and print it at home or at any print shop.Eulogy Builder
Answer four prompts, pick a length in minutes, and get a eulogy draft you can print in large type and read out loud.What to Say
Pick who died, how close you are, and card, text, email, or in person. Get the lines to skip and the lines to write instead.Thank-You Notes
List who sent flowers, brought food, gave, carried, or spoke, and get one funeral thank-you note per person to print, copy, or edit in Word.Pet Obituary
Write an obituary for a dog, a cat, or any animal from the name, the years, the people who loved them, and the one thing only they did.Pet Quality of Life Scale
Score your dog or cat on the seven-question HHHHHMM scale vets use, read the total the way the scale does, and print a week sheet for the vet.Pet Cremation Cost
Estimate pet cremation and euthanasia costs by weight and option from published 2026 ranges, with the source on every line.Debt Responsibility Checker
Answer a few questions to screen for common reasons you may or may not be personally responsible for a debt. Confirm the result before paying or promising payment.Who to Notify Tracker
A checkable list of common organizations and people to notify after a death, grouped by priority, with progress saved in your browser.Do I Need Probate?
Answer three screening questions to see common probate indicators, then use the state-specific estimator. The result is general guidance, not a court determination.What's This Document?
Found paperwork after a death and not sure what it is? Match it to common document types and see the effect each document typically has at death.Executor Checklist
Work through common executor tasks by phase, with links to relevant MORTL tools. Duties, deadlines, and required filings vary by estate and court.Estate Settlement Letters
Create editable notification templates an authorized estate representative may use for banks, creditors, insurers, utilities, and credit bureaus.Planning Checklist
Work through the documents, decisions, and notifications in one list; progress saves in your browser, no account required.Financial Power of Attorney
Build a durable financial power of attorney, free, as a PDF or Word file, with your state's signing rules in the signing block. Confirm the current form and execution rules before signing.Letter of Instruction
The practical letter your family reads first: where things are, who to call, what happens in the first week.The Folder
Build one handoff packet from the contacts, document locations, account hints, digital access notes, and wishes you enter.Estate Inventory & Net Worth
Record the assets and debts you know about, calculate an estimated net value, and create an inventory for your executor to review.Beneficiary Audit
A valid beneficiary designation commonly controls the listed asset instead of a conflicting will, subject to the account, facts, and governing law. Review the accounts you add and flag possible conflicts.Digital Legacy Planner
Review the platforms in the planner, use any legacy settings they currently offer, and document what you want done with the accounts you add.Probate Cost & Timeline Estimator
Compare the details you enter with MORTL's dated state threshold, cost, and timeline information for a preliminary estimate. Confirm current court rules before acting.Estate Tax Calculator
Estimate potential federal and state estate or inheritance tax exposure using the dated figures in MORTL’s source set. Confirm current law before acting.Funeral Cost Planner
Price a funeral item by item using the categories the FTC Funeral Rule requires funeral homes to quote.The Rehearsal
Walk through the documents and answers recorded in MORTL, apply the selected state, and flag the gaps this rehearsal checks.The Move Check
Moved states? Compare selected will, directive, deed, and tax rules that may affect the plan. Confirm the result with current official sources or qualified counsel.Your Plan vs. The Law
The laws your plan sits on change. See the published entries in MORTL’s state-guide change log since your last review and the areas they may affect.The Executor Kit
Build a practical playbook from the state, documents, contacts, and first-step information you record for your executor.On My Terms
Decide what the end looks like: the setting, the people, the lines you won’t cross. Then say it clearly, in writing.Legacy Letters
Write the letters that outlive you: what you learned, what you hope for the people you love, in your own words.Before You Start
The four questions that stall everyone.
What's the difference between a will and a living will?
A will directs the distribution of probate assets after death and can nominate a personal representative and guardian. A living will records treatment preferences for a time when you're alive but can't make or communicate medical decisions. They do different jobs. People can consider one or both based on their circumstances, using the signing rules and forms required by their state.
Advance directive, health care proxy, power of attorney. What's what?
The names and forms vary by state. An advance directive can record treatment preferences and may include an appointment of a healthcare agent. A healthcare proxy or medical power of attorney can name an agent for decisions you can't make or communicate. A financial power of attorney can grant specified authority over money and property during life. These powers generally end at death, when authority over estate property depends on ownership, beneficiary documents, trusts, and appointment of a personal representative.
When should I start? I'm not old and I'm not rich.
Planning isn't only about age or wealth. It gives the people you trust instructions and a place to start. Empathy's 2025 Grief Tax report says executors took an average of 20 months to settle affairs. A basic inventory, named decision-makers, and current documents can reduce uncertainty even when a complete plan takes longer than an afternoon.
What actually happens if I do nothing?
If you die without a valid will, state intestacy law determines who receives probate assets. A court may appoint a personal representative and, if no parent can serve, may appoint a guardian for minor children under the state's best-interest standard. Assets with valid beneficiary designations or survivorship ownership may pass outside probate. A will and current account records can document your choices, but the exact effect depends on state law and the assets involved.
Start with the checklist →The Death Dispatch
Give the people you trust a clearer starting point.
Weekly plain-English guidance on wills, estate planning, advance directives, and the conversations you keep putting off.