Plan ahead
I want to plan
my funeral.
Decide what you want, write it down, price it, and name the person who carries it out. MORTL's free tools cover each step, and you don't have to pay a funeral home anything to plan.
← Change my answerFree first step
Pre-plan a funeral without overpaying
Decide the arrangement, get prices from several funeral homes, name the person who decides under your state's law, set the money aside, and hand the plan to your family.
Read the step-by-step guidePlan it with MORTL
Plan your funeral wishes with MORTL
Four free tools take the plan from what you want to a number your family can use.
Write down your wishes
The Funeral Wishes page in a free MORTL account records burial or cremation, the ceremony, the place, the funeral home you prefer, music, readings, flowers, food, and your own obituary.
Open Funeral WishesPrice the arrangement
The funeral cost planner lists every line a funeral home has to quote, with the national median where there’s one. It needs no account.
Open the cost plannerCompare funeral homes
Get each funeral home's prices by phone or on its General Price List, and compare the same arrangement line by line.
Read how to compareName who decides, then share
Your state guide says how to name the person in charge of your funeral. Then save your wishes as a PDF and give that person a copy.
Find your state guide
Keep going
Resources for this exact question
Choose the next topic that matches what you need. You don't have to work through them in order.
Compare funeral homes
What funeral home services include, how to get every home's prices, and the license and trust checks before you sign.
Read the comparison guideBuild a funeral budget
Every line of the bill next to the national median, the costs a funeral home doesn't set, and the help that offsets it.
Open the budget worksheetKnow your federal price rights
The FTC Funeral Rule gives consumers specific rights when requesting prices and selecting goods and services.
Read your funeral-price rightsFree tool
Funeral Cost Planner
Price a funeral item by item using the categories the FTC Funeral Rule requires funeral homes to quote. Free, with no account.
Open the cost plannerPlanning a Funeral Ahead
What people ask before they plan their own.
How do I plan my own funeral?
Decide burial, cremation, or body donation and whether there's a service. Get prices from several funeral homes for that arrangement. Name the person who'll carry it out in the form your state accepts, decide where the money comes from, and give your family a copy.
Read the step-by-step guide →Can I record my funeral wishes for free?
Yes. A free MORTL account has a Funeral Wishes page for the arrangement, the ceremony, music, readings, and your own obituary. You can save it as a PDF to print and give to your family.
Do I have to prepay to plan a funeral?
No. The Funeral Consumers Alliance advises planning ahead without paying ahead, unless Medicaid requires you to spend down your savings. A payable-on-death bank account keeps the money yours and pays out after your death without waiting for probate.
What a prepaid plan is →How much does a funeral cost?
The National Funeral Directors Association's most recent study put the 2023 national median at $8,300 for a funeral with viewing and burial and $6,280 for one with viewing and cremation, before cemetery costs. Direct cremation averaged $2,202 in 2026 in Funeralocity data reported by US Funerals Online.
See the full cost guide →Who decides about my funeral if I don't name anyone?
State law does. Each state sets the order of next of kin who control the body. In most states, naming a person in a signed document your state accepts puts that person first. Your state guide has the rule.
Find your state guide →How MORTL verifies these resources
The MORTL guides linked on this page show their citations. Articles show publication dates. State-specific pages show review dates and link to the statutes and official agencies behind the guidance. Read MORTL's sources and methodology.
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