Access to Online Accounts: Helping Your Executor and Loved Ones

Make sure your executor or another trusted person can find the passwords and usernames for your digital accounts.

Practical Estate Planning: Organize Your Documents

Estate planning isn't just about legal issues -- there are practical ones as well. Help your family -- and make your executor's job easier -- by getting your paperwork in order.

Help Your Executor: Secured Places and Passwords

Does your executor know how to find the things you've hidden?

Prepare for Deployment: Get Organized

Deployment orders stir up many emotions and a host of personal and practical responses. One of the most common is a desire to get things in order -- and the need to do so quickly. You want to protect and care for your home and loved ones, even while away. To help you achieve these goals, review this checklist of important things to do before you leave.

Disaster-Proofing Your Documents

Part of preparing for a disaster includes disaster-proofing your important documents  -- that is, making sure that after a disaster you have the information and documentation necessary to speed the recovery process. Prepare for a disaster by learning about what kinds of documents you might need in a disaster, where you should store these important papers, and how technology can help make the job easier.

A Plan for Your Digital Legacy

When making your estate plan, consider what you want to happen with your digital legacy —that is, all of your accounts, blogs, social networking identities and digital files that will be left onl

Make a Financial Power of Attorney in Your State

Give someone you trust authority over your assets, just in case someday you are unable to handle them yourself because of illness or injury. Select your state for more information.

Final Arrangements FAQ

Questions Why not leave instructions for my final ceremonies and the disposition of my body in my will? Where is the best place to leave written instructions for my final arrangements? Why should I leave written instructions for my final ceremonies and the disposition of my body? What details should

Planning Your Funeral or Memorial Service

If you've ever settled a loved one's affairs after death, you know it can be difficult to plan a funeral or memorial service. Family and friends want to honor the person who has died, but they may not agree on what's best. Taking the time now to document your wishes for a funeral or other memorial service can both ensure that you get the kind of services you want and provide tremendous relief for your loved ones.

Green Funerals: Protect the Planet and Your Pocketbook

Burials and cremations can be hard on the environment. Embalming chemicals, metal caskets, concrete burial vaults, and cremation facility emissions take a surprising toll. The good news is that it's not difficult to make final arrangements that are easier on the earth. And many environmentally friendly options bring an additional benefit that interests almost everyone -- saving money. You may save thousands of dollars for your inheritors by making a few careful choices.

The Prepaid Funeral and Its Perils

It's a good idea to shop around for the most suitable and affordable funeral goods and services, but paying for them in advance is risky business.

The Organ Donor: A Guide

Organ, tissue, or body donations must be carried out immediately after death, so if you want to be a donor, you should make arrangements in advance and discuss your plans and wishes with those closest to you. Here is some basic information about organ donation and what you can do to ensure that your wish to be a donor is carried out.

Donate Your Body to Medicine

Most medical schools need donations of whole bodies for research and instruction. If you want to make this type of donation, it's usually necessary to contact the medical institution of your choice and make arrangements in advance. Here is some basic information about how to proceed.

How to Get a Death Certificate

When someone dies, the death must be registered with the local or state vital records office within a matter of days.

Get It Together:Organize Your Records So Your Family Won't Have To

Everything you need to bring order to chaos--and make things easier on your family when the time comes.

The Executor's Guide

If you're helping someone get organized and expect to someday serve as executor, here you'll find 10 things that the person you're helping can do now to make your job easier.

What Are "Digital Assets"?

Technically speaking, digital assets are any “electronic record” that you own, license, or control.

The Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (UFADAA)

The Uniform Law Commission wrote UFADAA to give fiduciaries broad access to digital assets.

What Will Happen to My Email Account After I Die?

What happens to your email account when you die depends on a few things, including:

Why Your Executor Needs Access to Digital Assets

After you die, the person wrapping up your affairs may need to access your digital assets.

Burial and Cremation Laws in California

Each state has laws affecting what happens to a body after death. For example, most states regulate embalming, burial or cremation, scattering ashes, and how to get a death certificate.

Burial & Cremation Laws in Texas

Here are some answers to common questions about post-death matters in Texas.

Burial & Cremation Laws in New York

Each state has laws affecting what happens to a body after death.

Burial & Cremation Laws in Illinois

Each state has laws affecting what happens to a body after death. Here are some answers to common questions about post-death matters in Illinois.

Burial & Cremation Laws in Pennsylvania

Here are some answers to common questions about post-death matters in Pennsylvania.

Alkaline Hydrolysis in Maryland

Alkaline hydrolysis has been legal in Maryland since October 2010, but the procedure is not yet available for human remains within the state.

Alkaline Hydrolysis in Illinois

Illinois was one of the first states to legalize alkaline hydrolysis (AH), and it’s one of just a few states where AH facilities are available to the public.

Alkaline Hydrolysis in Florida

Florida was one of the first states to legalize alkaline hydrolysis (AH), and it’s one of just a few states where AH facilities are available for human remains.