Few subjects are as difficult to consider as your own mortality. "Americans are famously afraid to talk about death," says Tanya Marsh, a Wake Forest University professor who teaches a class on funeral and cemetery law. "We almost willfully don’t want to confront the inevitability of the end."
So if you’re like most people, planning your own funeral is not top of mind. But making your wishes known before you pass away can be a real gift to your family, says Sara Williams, past president of the Funeral Consumers Alliance, the watchdog organization for the funeral industry.
