Every situation is different, each individual is original. Only you know what you want, need and desire. Your spiritual, familial and financial position are unique, so is your estate’s portfolio. Your personal ideas about the trajectory of your vision should be documented in writing.
Depending on your wishes, the planning and logistics may be arranged in advance or a detailed plans can be created. This process can be very helpful.
Everyone needs to have one. Unexpected events happen. This form helps to communicate your wishes around emergency medical intervention into perspective in a clear and “direct” way for your chosen advocate(s). If you can’t speak or act for yourself, how will anyone know what your wishes are or who you would want to call to act for you? This foundational planning document is important to let your healthcare and medical intervention wishes be known to others in the event that you are unconscious or temporarily incapacitated to the point where a medical proxy is needed.
Find a fillable California State Advance Care Directive PDF here.
These documents are basic and essential to a healthy estate plan. If you do not already work with a trusted professional attorney, Green Crow can assist in vetting professionals and relevant resources near you, for addressing any legal or banking needs. If doing it yourself with light guidance is just too much, or you are not sure what you actually need to do to protect your family from probate, Green Crow can help.
Some people live independently or do not have close family or friends. Naming someone that can handle managing the business of death is a responsibility, not to take lightly. An administrator’s life can be made especially complicated if there is no written planning. Family and friends are grieving and the administrative aspects of dying can be complicated and unfamiliar. Some people may not be willing or able to do that work after a death. Green Crow can help people who do not have family that will honor their true wishes and respect their chosen identity and need a dedicated advocate who will.
Home Funerals are becoming more popular as families cherish their last opportunity to honor and grieve for their loved ones in their home. Final Passages has been training Death Doulas to accompany the dying and help with the preparation of the body for interment upon death, according to their wishes. With proper planning, paperwork and preparation, having a special ritual ceremony at home is possible. Home funerals are generally more economical that commercial funerals and more healing for loved ones to participate in honoring the dead through personal ritual, that occurs in a safe familiar environment, rather than a funeral home space, rented by the hour. Loved ones are prepared for cremation or burial by family members or trusted ones and handled with sacred care, dignity and respect.
There are various ways and places to be interred naturally. Green Crow can help you choose an environmentally safe alternative to traditional burial if that is what you want. There are reasons to do so. Natural, green burial means no invasive procedures like embalming, and is ecologically sustainable and more affordable than commercial burial with less harmful environmental impacts from use of formaldehyde, elaborate caskets and concrete vaults.
Your impact in the world can continue. Consider how do you want to be remembered. A scholarship fund? A hospital wing? A park bench? A website? A memorial sandwich at your favorite deli? Green Crow can help you think about what you want to happen with the excess resources of your estate and can help you set it all up and write it all down in advance.
When Death comes up, so do the “big questions” of Life. Clients and families may need support, spiritual accompaniment and bereavement care, during their time of transition and grief. This ongoing process is offered.