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Free Grief Support, Funeral Planning and Estate Planning Downloads and Tools
Every checklist, worksheet, workbook and guide Memorial Merits publishes is on this page or one click from it. The files are PDFs. Each one opens from its link, prints on a home printer, and can be filled in by hand. There is no email form, no account and no fee.
The library is sorted into five collections. Three hold the downloads by subject: funeral planning, legacy and estate planning, and grief support. Two sort the same files by who is using them: caregivers and family members, and the professionals who hand these files to clients. Open the collection that matches your situation, or use the table and the Help Finder lower on the page to find one file.
The Memorial Merits free resources library is a collection of printable PDF checklists, worksheets, reference guides and workbooks for funeral planning, estate planning and grief support, plus free online planning tools. Every file downloads directly with no email address, no account and no fee, and every file may be printed and shared.
- What it covers: funeral planning and consumer rights under the FTC Funeral Rule, legacy and estate planning, executor and probate work, grief support for adults, children and pet loss, caregiver tools, and reference materials for hospice and grief professionals.
- How to use it: open the collection that matches your situation, download the file you need, print it and fill it in by hand.
- License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Print, copy and distribute any file with the Memorial Merits attribution left in place.
- Free tools: the Funeral Cost Calculator, Probate Cost Calculator, Estate Readiness Tool and the rest of the free tools are on the Memorial Merits tools page.
The free downloads
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Funeral planning
Checklists for the first days after a loss, funeral cost and funeral home comparison worksheets, your rights under the FTC Funeral Rule, and the Funeral Planning Field Guide.
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Legacy and estate planning
Legacy & Estate Planning Downloads
Estate planning workbooks and checklists, executor and probate guides, digital asset inventories, special needs planning, life insurance worksheets and legacy writing guides.
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Grief support
Grief workbooks and trackers, journal prompts, guides for supporting someone who is grieving, age-by-age grief guides and pet loss resources.
Who the downloads are also built for
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For caregivers and families
Caregiver & Family Support Resources
For the person standing beside the person in crisis: caring for someone who is seriously ill, planning for a death at home, helping a friend who lost a spouse, and keeping a family organized through estate settlement.
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For professionals
For therapists, counselors, hospice staff, funeral directors and attorneys. Every file is licensed for printing and distribution to clients: waiting room sheets, estate planning packet inserts and arrangement meeting worksheets.
Free planning tools
Which download covers each part of a plan
Help Finder
Questions about the downloads
Which Free Download Covers Each Part of a Plan
A complete plan is a set of documents, not one form. Most of the files in this library cover one part of that set. This table shows the ten parts, what each one covers, and the free Memorial Merits file written for it, so you can see which parts you have finished and which still need a file.
The rows run in order. The first six are the parts you set up yourself, while you can: your wishes, your care instructions, your legal documents, your accounts, your insurance, and the letters and story you want to leave. The next three are what your family and your executor handle at the time of a loss: the funeral budget and your rights, the first days, and the estate. The last row is for the people you leave, in the months after. Every link opens a PDF.
Burial or cremation, the kind of service you want, who should be told, and where your documents are kept.
What a caregiver needs to know and track, and how a family plans for a death at home.
Which documents you need, which you already have, and who holds the originals.
Email, banking, phone, photos, subscriptions and social accounts, with access instructions for the person you choose.
Policies, account beneficiaries, and the steps a family takes to file a claim.
The letters, recordings and conversations your family will want to have, written while you can write them.
What each part of a funeral costs, how to compare funeral homes, and the prices the FTC Funeral Rule says you may see before you agree to anything.
Who to call, in what order, and how many death certificates to request.
What the executor does in the first 30 days, the full settlement sequence, and the mistakes that create personal liability.
Worksheets for the weeks after a loss, a tracker for when grief needs professional help, and a checklist for the friends who want to help.
Not Sure Which Download You Need? Use the Help Finder
Choose your situation and what you need. The Help Finder opens the Memorial Merits page that answers it and gives you a free PDF guide for your situation. Every Memorial Merits hub, directory, tool, guide and partner review is listed on one page, grouped by situation: the Memorial Merits resource map.
Questions About the Free Downloads
Do I need to give an email address to download these files?▾
No. Every file on this page and on the five pages it links to opens directly from its link. There is no form, no login and no fee.
Can I print these and fill them in by hand?▾
Yes. Every checklist, worksheet and workbook is a PDF made to be printed. Print the pages you need, fill them in by hand, and store them with your will or hand them to your executor.
Can a therapist, hospice, funeral home or attorney share these with clients?▾
Yes. Every file is licensed Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. You may print, copy and distribute them to clients and at workshops at no cost, as long as the Memorial Merits attribution on each file stays in place.
Is there a free end-of-life planning workbook I can print?▾
Yes. The End of Life Planning Checklist and Workbook is a free PDF on the estate planning downloads page. It covers your wishes, your documents, your accounts and the people who need access to them.
Which download should I start with?▾
If someone has just passed away, start with the First 24 Hours After Death Checklist. If you are planning a funeral, start with the Funeral Planning Field Guide. If you are planning your own affairs, start with the End of Life Planning Checklist and Workbook. If you are settling an estate, start with the Probate Checklist. If none of those fit, use the Help Finder below.
Are these a substitute for a lawyer or a counselor?▾
No. The worksheets organize your information and your questions so that a meeting with an attorney, a funeral director or a counselor is shorter and costs less. State law decides what makes a will or a trust valid, and a licensed professional in your state answers that question.
Can I put these files on my own website or hand them to my clients under my own brand?▾
Yes. Every file is licensed Creative Commons Attribution 4.0, so you may copy it, print it, post it on your own site or use it as a download for your own visitors. The one condition is that the links inside the file stay intact. If you want your own business name added to a file, ask through the Memorial Merits partner page.
How current are these files?▾
Each file is reviewed when the law or a price it references changes. The date under the page heading shows when this library was last checked. If a file is replaced, the new version is uploaded under the same link, so a bookmark or a printed link keeps working.
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