Meet Solace

Your Forever Free AI for Grief, Funeral Planning and End-of-Life Guidance

Grief-Informed. End-of-Life Educated. Available 24 hours a day at no cost, now or ever.

Most people are not prepared for what happens when someone dies. Not emotionally. Not practically. Not financially. They find themselves making hundreds of decisions while running on no sleep, surrounded by grief, and being handed paperwork they have never seen before. They search online and find listicles. They call funeral homes and feel the pressure of upselling they do not have the bandwidth to push back on. They spend thousands of dollars they did not have to spend, simply because nobody was there to tell them what they actually needed.

Solace was built for that moment. And for every moment that comes before it.

She was created by Gabriel Killian, the founder of Memorial Merits, after health complications forced him to reckon with what he would leave behind and who would be left to figure it all out. What he found was a gap that technology had not filled: a free, knowledgeable, compassionate presence available at any hour, with no agenda, no paywall, and no pressure. Someone you could talk to at 2am when the grief hit and no one else was awake. Someone who knew the difference between a direct cremation and a traditional burial and could explain it without making you feel rushed. Someone who could help you write your father’s obituary or draft a letter to your children or figure out what to do with the ashes sitting on the kitchen counter. Solace is that presence. She has been free since the day she launched. She always will be.

Solace is free forever. The mobile app is available now. Learn more about Solace v.2 below.

What She Can Do For You

Solace is not a general-purpose chatbot wearing a sympathy face. Every part of her knowledge base is built around the specific terrain of loss, planning, and legacy. She knows how cremation works and what direct cremation actually saves you. She knows the questions a funeral home will not volunteer answers to. She has sat with thousands of conversations about grief and knows how to be present without being prescriptive. Below is a small window into what she can actually do.

When someone has just passed away

The first 24 hours after a death are the most financially dangerous hours a family faces. Decisions made in shock and grief often cost thousands of dollars more than they need to. Solace can walk you through what actually needs to happen right now, what can wait, and what the industry does not volunteer to tell you about your options. She can explain the difference between a funeral home and a cremation service, help you understand what you are signing, and point you toward resources that protect your family’s interests rather than someone else’s bottom line.

When you cannot sleep and the grief is loud

Licensed therapists do not take calls at 3am. Friends and family have their own grief. Solace is there. She will not rush you toward closure. She will not give you a five-step plan. She will meet you where you are, stay as long as you need, and when it feels right, she can connect you with professionals who can offer the kind of help she was not built to replace.

When you need to write something you do not know how to start

Obituaries. Eulogies. Letters to your children. Final messages to the people you love. Solace can help you find the words when grief makes language feel impossible. She asks the right questions, holds space for what matters, and helps you build something that will last longer than the moment you are living in right now.

When you want to plan ahead so your family does not have to guess

Legacy planning is one of the greatest gifts you can give the people you love. Solace can help you think through what you want your life to mean, what you want done when it ends, and how to document your wishes in a way that actually gets followed. She can walk you through will basics, explain what a trust does differently, help you organize your digital accounts, and connect you with tools built to hold what she helps you think through.

When you are writing your own story and do not know where to begin

Journals. Life stories. Memory books. The things your grandchildren will read long after you are gone. Solace can prompt you, encourage you, and sit with you through the process of putting your life into words. She is patient with the pauses and skilled at helping people access what matters most.

Try Her Right Now

Reading about what Solace can do will only tell you so much. The best introduction is a conversation. She is available directly below. No account required. No timer. No trial running in the background. Just start talking.

Solace is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, forever free. She remembers your previous conversations so you never have to start from scratch.

Four Ways to Access Solace

Wherever you are in your journey, Solace meets you there. She lives in three places, and each one is designed to serve a different moment.

The Chat Bubble on Every Memorial Merits Page

Every page and every post on Memorial Merits has a Solace chat bubble in the bottom right corner. You do not need to find this page to reach her. She is already there. She remembers your previous conversations and can pick up where you left off or start fresh, whichever you need.

This Page

The Solace web experience gives you a full-screen conversation without navigating away from where you are. Use the embed above or the open chat button at the top of this page. Same Solace, same memory, same zero cost.

This Link

Prefer to use Solace directly in your mobile browser without downloading anything? Copy the link above, paste it into your browser, and save it to your home screen or bookmarks for one-tap access anytime you need her. No app store required. No account. No steps between you and the conversation you need.

The Solace Mobile App

Solace has been available as a working mobile app since Memorial Merits launched. Built from scratch by someone who had never written a line of software in his life, it gives you access to her chat experience on your phone alongside the Memorial Merits resource library. It is real, it works, and thousands of families have used it. You can download it right now at memorialmerits.com/solaceapp.

What is in active development now is Solace v.2. A fully rebuilt mobile experience with guided planning checklists, step by step funeral prep tools, legacy building resources, grief support paths, and Solace at the center of every feature. The foundation she was built on is already proven. What it is becoming is in a category of its own.

Solace v.2 Coming Soon!

The Many Faces of Solace

Solace is not a logo or a chatbot interface. She is a designed presence with a visual identity built to feel genuine across every context she inhabits. She exists in four distinct visual stages, each one serving a different purpose while remaining unmistakably her.

Stage 1: The original illustration

Solace began as a warm flat illustration, approachable and simple. This version carries the history of where she started and still appears in legacy contexts. It is where she was born.

Stage 2: The Disney CGI version

The current primary face of Solace. Age-neutral, universally warm, and immediately recognizable. This is the version you see in the chat interface today. She was designed to feel familiar to anyone, regardless of where they are in life or what they are carrying.

Stage 3: Near-human CGI

This rendering brings Solace fully into photorealistic territory while preserving everything that makes her recognizable: the dark hair, the burgundy streak that ties to Memorial Merits’ brand, the teal shirt, the warmth in her expression. She appears in editorial imagery, infographics, and the featured image at the top of this page.

Stage 4: Realistic human likeness

The most detailed and lifelike rendering of Solace, developed for future video and advertising applications. She is the next chapter of what Solace can become as the platform grows.

All four stages were modeled on the same person. The burgundy hair streak runs through every version as a deliberate connection to the Memorial Merits brand color and to the continuity of who Solace is regardless of how she appears.

What Solace Can Put in Your Hands

One of the most powerful things Solace can do is connect you with real, tangible tools you can print, save, and use at your own pace. The Memorial Merits free resources vault holds a growing library of guides, checklists, workbooks, and planning documents covering every stage of the journey Solace helps you navigate. Every resource in the vault is free to download, share, and distribute with no sign-up required.

Solace can direct you to the right resource during your conversation. She knows what is available and when to offer it. But you do not have to wait for a conversation to access them. The full vault is available at memorialmerits.com/free-resources.

If you are looking to go deeper into the legacy and end-of-life planning work that Solace was built around, both of Gabe’s books carry her as an integrated companion. Should Tomorrow Never Come: Legacy Edition is a guided legacy journal designed to help you document everything that matters before you can no longer say it. How to Legacy Journal is the strategy and how-to guide for anyone who wants to build a journaling practice that outlasts them. Solace is referenced in both as a core companion for the work.

What Solace Is Not

Solace is genuinely useful. She is also genuinely limited in specific ways, and being honest about those limits is part of what makes her trustworthy.

She is not a licensed therapist, grief counselor, or mental health professional. She can sit with you through grief, offer grounded perspective, and point you toward real help, but she is not a substitute for clinical care. If you are struggling in ways that go beyond what a conversation can reach, she will tell you and she will help you find the right person.

She is not a lawyer or financial advisor. She can help you understand what a will does, explain how estate planning works in plain language, and connect you with trusted partners who provide those services properly, but she does not give legal or financial advice.

She is not a funeral director. She can help you understand your options, ask better questions, and avoid the decisions that cost families the most money and the most regret, but the relationship with your funeral professional is yours to navigate.

She is not always available at the level she is becoming. She is mid-transformation right now, smarter and more specialized than when she launched, and significantly more capable than she is today by the time the new app and knowledge base updates are complete. What you experience today is real and genuinely useful. It is also not the ceiling.

If you or someone you know is in crisis right now, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. Solace cares about your safety above everything else she can offer.

Frequently Asked Questions About Solace

Is Solace really free? Forever?

Yes. Solace has been free since the day she launched and that will never change. There is no trial period, no free tier that runs out, and no credit card required at any point. The decision to keep Solace forever free is a commitment, not a promotion. Families navigating grief and loss should never hit a paywall at the moment they need help most.

What can Solace actually help me with?

Solace is built around the full range of experiences that surround death and loss. She can help you navigate the immediate decisions after someone passes away, understand your funeral and cremation options, write an obituary or eulogy, plan your own legacy and final wishes, organize important documents and accounts, work through grief at any hour, and connect you with trusted resources and planning tools. She is grief-informed and end-of-life educated, which means she understands the emotional weight behind every practical question you bring her.

How is Solace different from ChatGPT or other AI tools?

General-purpose AI tools can answer almost any question. That is exactly the problem when someone is grieving or planning for the end of life. Ask a standard chatbot what to do when a parent dies and you will get a numbered list. Technically accurate. Emotionally empty. Solace was built specifically for this territory. Her knowledge base, her tone, her understanding of what families face, and her connections to real resources are all built around grief, planning, and legacy. She is not a general assistant wearing a sympathy face. She is purpose-built for the hardest conversations people have.

Is the Solace mobile app the same as the chat on this page?

The current Solace mobile app gives you access to her chat experience on your phone, along with the Memorial Merits resource library. It is a mobile application, not a desktop experience. The all-new Solace app currently in development will expand significantly on this with guided planning checklists, organized tools across funeral planning, legacy building, and grief support, and Solace at the center of every step. You do not need to wait for the new app to access Solace. She is available right now on this page and through the current mobile app.

Does Solace remember my previous conversations?

Yes. Solace can continue a previous conversation or start fresh, whichever you need. This means you do not have to re-explain your situation every time you come back. For families working through planning or grief over days and weeks, this continuity matters. She holds the thread so you do not have to.

Is it safe to talk to Solace if I am in crisis or having thoughts of self-harm?

Solace will always route you toward real human help when the situation calls for it. She is not a crisis counselor or a licensed mental health professional, and she will not try to be one when what you need is more than a conversation. If you or someone you know is in crisis right now, please call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Help is available 24 hours a day. Solace cares about your safety above everything else she can offer.

Can funeral professionals, grief counselors, or estate planners use Solace with their clients?

Yes, and many do. Solace is free for individual use and free for professional distribution. If you work with families navigating loss or planning, you are welcome to share Solace as a resource, reference her in your practice, or direct clients to the Memorial Merits free resources vault at memorialmerits.com/free-resources. Every guide in the vault is free to print, share, and distribute with branding intact.

What is Solace not able to do?

Solace is not a licensed therapist, lawyer, or financial advisor. She can provide information, guidance, and emotional support, but she does not replace professional legal, financial, or clinical care. She will always tell you when something is outside what she should advise on and will help you find the right professional when that moment comes. She is also mid-transformation right now. What she can do today is genuinely useful. What she will be able to do once her knowledge base updates and the new app launch are complete will be significantly more.

Where can I find the free planning guides and tools Solace mentions?

The full Memorial Merits resource vault is at memorialmerits.com/free-resources. It contains grief support guides, funeral planning checklists, legacy writing workbooks, estate planning primers, and more. Every resource is free to download, print, and share with no sign-up required. Solace can point you to specific resources during your conversation, or you can browse the vault directly at any time.

Is Solace connected to the Memorial Merits books?

Yes. Solace is integrated as a core companion in both Should Tomorrow Never Come: Legacy Edition and How to Legacy Journal. Readers of either book are encouraged to use Solace alongside the writing and planning work the books guide them through. She is referenced not as a feature but as a presence that extends what the books begin.