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Tag: obituary

  • Choosing a Guardian for Your Special Needs Child: Legal and Practical Considerations

    Choosing a Guardian for Your Special Needs Child: Legal and Practical Considerations

    Choosing a guardian for your special needs child isn’t about who loves them most—it’s about who can advocate through decades of IEP meetings, insurance denials, and benefit bureaucracy. Here’s how to make this agonizing decision with clarity, compassion, and the hard conversations families need.

  • Memorial Service Planning: Options and Considerations

    Memorial Service Planning: Options and Considerations

    Planning a memorial service involves decisions about format, timing, location, and content that honor your loved one while meeting the needs of those gathering to remember them. This guide explores different service types, burial versus cremation considerations, location options, and ways to create meaningful personalized tributes.

  • What to Do When Someone Dies – First 24 Hours Checklist

    What to Do When Someone Dies – First 24 Hours Checklist

    The first 24 hours after someone dies require specific actions while you’re processing grief and shock. This comprehensive checklist covers immediate steps including obtaining pronouncement of death, body transportation options, securing belongings, gathering essential documents, and knowing what can wait until later.

  • From Loss to Legacy: Why I Built Memorial Merits

    From Loss to Legacy: Why I Built Memorial Merits

    After losing my father while serving at sea, I discovered how overwhelming grief and end-of-life decisions can be. Memorial Merits was born to give families clarity, comfort, and trusted resources when they need them most.

  • Eulogy vs. Obituary: Understanding the Differences and How to Write Each

    Eulogy vs. Obituary: Understanding the Differences and How to Write Each

    When a loved one passes away, honoring their memory with the appropriate words can be a deeply meaningful act. Both eulogies and obituaries serve this purpose, but they […]

  • Honoring a Legacy: Crafting Unique Obituaries for Lasting Memories

    Honoring a Legacy: Crafting Unique Obituaries for Lasting Memories

    In the realm of memorializing loved ones, the crafting of an obituary is both a tribute and a narrative archive of a life well-lived. This article delves into […]

  • Do Executors Need a Probate Lawyer? When Going Without a Probate Attorney Becomes Dangerous
    Not every estate needs an attorney, but most do. Simple estates under $500,000 with clear wills and straightforward assets might be safe for DIY administration. But estate tax requirements, business interests, real estate in multiple states, will contests, or creditor disputes require professional help.
  • The Executor Errors You Can’t Undo: Costly Mistakes That Become Your Financial Problem
    Some executor mistakes you can fix with amended filings or apologies. Others are permanent. Paying beneficiaries before creditors, missing tax deadlines, selling assets without authorization, destroying property before inventory, and self-dealing create personal liability that lasts years beyond estate closure.
  • Digital Executor Duties Nobody Prepared You For: Crypto, Cloud Accounts & Social Media Access Laws
    Traditional executor guides focus on bank accounts and real estate, ignoring the digital assets that now comprise significant portions of estates. Cryptocurrency wallets, cloud storage with irreplaceable family photos, social media accounts, NFTs, and password-protected online businesses create executor duties nobody teaches you about. Without proper legal authority and technical knowledge, executors lose access to assets worth thousands or destroy digital legacies families can never recover.
Open legacy journal on bedside table with pen, coffee mug, and glasses in warm morning light, with prompt to reflect and write