End-of-Life Planning Checklist

A will is the foundation of end-of-life planning, setting out who inherits your estate, who acts as your executor, and who would care for any children under 18. Without one, your estate is distributed under the intestacy rules, which follow a fixed formula that may not reflect your actual wishes, particularly if you are unmarried or want to provide for people outside your immediate family.

If you already have a will, check when it was last reviewed and whether it still reflects your circumstances, since marriage, divorce, house moves and new children can all affect whether it still works as intended. If you do not have one yet, it is usually the single most valuable thing on this whole checklist to put in place first.

A will only takes effect after you die. A lasting power of attorney (LPA) covers the period while you are alive but unable to make decisions yourself, whether due to illness, an accident, or a condition such as dementia. There are two types: one for property and financial affairs, and one for health and welfare, and it is worth putting both in place rather than assuming a family member can simply step in automatically, since without an LPA they generally cannot.

Setting up an LPA while you have full mental capacity is essential, since it cannot be arranged after you have lost capacity to make the decision yourself. This is a distinct legal document from your will and needs to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian to be used.

Many people have views about their funeral, whether that is burial or cremation, a religious or non-religious service, or something more personal, yet never write any of it down. Doing so, even briefly, spares your family from guessing or disagreeing about what you would have wanted at an already difficult time. This is usually best kept as a separate note rather than relying solely on your will, since a will is not always read before funeral arrangements need to be made.

Similarly, register your organ donation decision with the NHS Organ Donor Register and tell your family what you have decided, since they are likely to be asked and it helps enormously if they already know your wishes rather than having to make the decision on your behalf in an emotional moment.

Modern life leaves a substantial digital footprint: email, social media, online banking, subscriptions and sometimes cryptocurrency. Decide what you want to happen to each, whether that is closing accounts, memorialising a social media profile, or passing on access to specific digital assets, and make sure someone knows this exists, using a password manager or secure note rather than plain text lists.

Alongside this, a simple record of your bank accounts, pensions, investments, insurance policies and any debts, naming providers rather than including sensitive numbers, gives your executor a starting point that can save weeks of otherwise painstaking searching through post and old paperwork.

This part is entirely optional, but many people find real value in writing letters or messages to be given to family or close friends after they die, whether that is a single letter, individual notes for children or grandchildren, or simply a record of family history and stories you want preserved. There is no right way to do this and no obligation to include it at all.

If you do, keep these separate from your will and tell your executor or a trusted family member that they exist and where to find them, so they are not accidentally overlooked among other paperwork during an emotional and busy time.