A (not close to me) relative has recently passed away and left virtually no instructions, or made any arrangements or plans for their funeral, no will etc and had no savings. Separately, my own parent is in a residential care home and when this was deemed necessary it was difficult for my siblings and I to arrange because we were utterly clueless and my parent hadn't made any plans or had any thoughts about it when they were younger / during their retirement years. In both cases the families don't really talk about these things so poor communication and a reticence to mention death / vulnerability have resulted in a lot of panic and confusion and headaches around administration.
Looking ahead to my own life, end of life and that of my husband, what is the ideal blueprint for planning? We have DC and I don't want them to be grappling in the dark to arrange things.
We are middle aged. What should we put in place now and over the next few years to ensure a smoother process for any care needs and for end of life, funerals etc etc? In an ideal world (if money was no object) what would be the best plan for all of this? Is this available anywhere for people to find? Eg is there a recommended checklist? They don't teach you this stuff at school and if your family don't speak about stuff you only find out when it's too late!
Step 1 is we will talk about it all openly with our DC.
What would the further steps be (both financial and practical)?
Caveat: This is as things stand currently. I am hoping that the Labour government may introduce assisted dying, which is another aspect we currently cannot consider.