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End-of-Life Planning: Ultimate Guide

You can go through the guide step-by-step or you can focus on specific articles that might be more relevant to your situation. See how GoodTrust can help you prepare, today.
Step 1 - Get Your Affairs In OrderStep 2 - Protect Your Digital LegacyStep 3 - Memorialize & Delete Social Media AccountsStep 4 - Close Online Accounts & Cancel SubscriptionsStep 5 - End-of-Life Planning For A Loved One
End of life planning guide

Step 1

Get Your Affairs In Order

No matter your age or health, it's never too early to create an end-of-life plan. It could be finalizing your bucket list. Or choosing a legal guardian. Maybe clarifying which medical procedures you'd like done if you become incapacitated. Regardless of your choices, it's important to get your affairs in order while you still have the time and mental capacity to do so. Click the tiles below to learn more about basic end-of-life planning tasks.
A crowd of people

Create a bucket list (101 ideas)

A bucket list is a to-do list of your big and small dreams. It helps you achieve as much as you can during your time on Earth. Click here to learn how to make a bucket list and find inspiration for your own.

Preplan your Funeral

Planning your funeral takes one stressor off your loved ones and helps ensure you get the memorial you desire. Here, we'll discuss some ways to make that plan and communicate it to others.

Wills & Directives

Your Will lets people know what you want to be done with your estate and can help your loved ones ensure your final desires are met. Click here to create a Will on GoodTrust.

Advance Directives

Advance directives are essential when planning for your end-of-life medical care. Learn about the different types of advance directives and how to create one.

Choose Legal Guardian

It's crucial to choose a legal guardian for your children, no matter how young and healthy you are. Here, we offer advice about how to choose the right guardian for your children and steps for assigning guardianship.

Assign Power of Attorney

A person with Power of Attorney (POA) is allowed to make financial, medical, and possibly other decisions on your behalf. There are many legal ins and outs involved, and this article aims to help navigate those.

Choose an Executor

Your Will's executor is one of the most important people in your end-of-life plan. They ensure your Will is carried out and may need to have challenging discussions with others involved. Here, we provide some ideas for how to pick the right person.
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Step 2

Protect Your Digital Legacy

In this day and age, end-of-life planning must include a plan for your digital accounts. Your digital legacy includes everything online: from email to bank accounts to social media. With GoodTrust, you can assign people to secure your online presence and securely provide them with the information they need to do so.

What Is Digital Legacy?

Everything you've ever created online and with different devices counts as your digital legacy. That includes photos, videos, emails, financial accounts, cloud storage, social media, subscriptions, cryptocurrency, domain names and more. In today's era, when we're connected for an average of 7 hours per day, it's critical to plan and decide what happens to all of that priceless content. The choices are yours.
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Why Is Digital Legacy Important?

Our digital legacy is now intertwined with our physical legacy. We have both physical assets and digital ones. And without addressing your digital legacy, your memories, stories, and information can be lost forever. In addition, after someone passes away they can be still be vulnerable to hackers and identity thieves, which can be hurtful to the remaining family. Secure your digital legacy today.
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Family HistoryFamily History

Learn how to trace your ancestry and create a family tree for you and your loved ones to pass down through the generations.Learn how to trace your ancestry and create a family tree for you and your loved ones to pass down through the generations.
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Secure Social MediaSecure Social Media

Secure your social media accounts so your loved ones can delete, memorialize or retrieve content once you have passed away.Secure your social media accounts so your loved ones can delete, memorialize or retrieve content once you have passed away.
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Protect Online AccountsProtect Online Accounts

Protect your online accounts, including bank accounts, music apps, and subscription services, so your identity and financials are secured.Protect your online accounts, including bank accounts, music apps, and subscription services, so your identity and financials are secured.
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Safeguard DocumentsSafeguard Documents

Easily and safely store or share essential family documents like Wills, passports, insurance, estate information and more.Easily and safely store or share essential family documents like Wills, passports, insurance, estate information and more.
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Future MessagesFuture Messages

Send Future Messages as a digital time capsule either to friends or family members or to your future self. Even after you pass away.Send Future Messages as a digital time capsule either to friends or family members or to your future self. Even after you pass away.
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Step 3

Memorialize & Delete Social Media Accounts

Memorializing or deleting social media accounts helps keep your identity safe and stops people from misusing the accounts. When undertaking end-of-life planning, you can choose individuals to close down or memorialize your social media accounts by providing them the necessary details on GoodTrust. They can also potentially retrieve content on your behalf.

Secure these accounts today

Facebook

Instagram

TikTok

Twitter

LinkedIn

Snapchat

Step 4

Close Online Accounts & Cancel Subscriptions

With GoodTrust, you can put people in charge of closing or managing all types of online accounts. This is a crucial step for protecting your money and identity, so make sure you've assigned a Trusted Contact to take care of your online accounts.

Update Address & Forward Mail

Deactivate Yahoo Email Account

Delete Venmo Account

Delete Microsoft & Xbox Accounts

Deactivate Google Accounts & Gmail

Deactivate Apple Account

Delete Dating Apps

Memorialize Spotify Music

Step 5

End-of-Life Planning For A Loved One

Sometimes a person passes away but leaves behind no trace of their wishes or end-of-life plans. GoodTrust is here to help navigate those waters and provide options to memorialize them in heartwarming ways.

Create digital memories

With GoodTrust's unique digital memories feature, you can upload a photo of your loved one and watch them come to life through the magic of AI.Read more

8 creative memorial ideas

When a loved one dies, it can be hard to think of creative ways to remember them through the fog of grief. These 8 ideas can help you move forward.Read more

How to Write & Submit an Obituary

Writing an obituary can be emotional, and submitting it can be confusing. Use this step-by-step guide to learn how to write and submit a heartfelt obituary for your loved one.Read more

How to Plan a Funeral

Funerals often need to be planned quickly and can be a lot for one person to take on. This step-by-step guide aims to help simplify the process and explain what's involved.Read more

Plan a Celebration of Life

Planning a celebration of life is a beautiful way to honor someone who has passed away. Click here to get inspired and learn how to plan a celebration of life with some unique ideas.Read more

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