Nobody wants to think about this. It sits in the back of your mind, something you'll get around to eventually, when the time feels right. But if you've ever watched someone you love navigate the aftermath of a death without a clear guide to follow, you'll know that the time to do it is now, while it's easy, rather than later, when it isn't.
Getting your affairs in order isn't a morbid task. It's one of the most loving things you can do for the people you'll one day leave behind.
Why it matters more than most people realise
When my grandfather became ill, he spent a significant amount of his final months doing paperwork. Chasing documents, sorting accounts, making sure everything was in order. Time that could have been spent with family, resting, or simply enjoying his days was instead consumed by admin, because so much of it hadn't been sorted while he was well.
And even with all that effort, there were still things he missed. Accounts that nobody knew about. Subscriptions that kept charging. Small details that fell through the cracks. My grandmother, who has never been particularly confident with paperwork or technology, was left trying to piece it all together at the worst possible time. The stress it caused her was entirely avoidable.
That experience stayed with me. And it's part of why I created the checklist below.
What "getting your affairs in order" actually means
It sounds formal and overwhelming, but it really isn't. At its core, it means making sure the people you love aren't left guessing about what you had, where it is, and what you wanted.
That covers a few key areas:
Your legal documents — a will, an executor, and a Lasting Power of Attorney (there are two types in the UK: one for financial decisions and one for health and welfare). Without these in place, decisions about your estate and your care default to rules and processes that may not reflect your wishes at all.
Your finances — bank accounts, pensions, investments, insurance policies, and any outstanding debts. A simple list of what you have and who holds it saves your family hours of searching at the hardest possible time.
Your property and possessions — the practical details around your home, your vehicle, and anything of value or sentimental significance.
Your digital life — email accounts, social media, photos, and passwords. Increasingly important and almost always overlooked.
Your personal wishes — funeral preferences, organ donation, who you'd like to be notified. Not legally binding in all cases, but invaluable guidance for the people making decisions.
The personal side — letters, recordings, stories, and if you'd like, arrangements to keep showing up for the people you love on the dates that matter most after you're gone.
A free checklist to make it simple
To make this as straightforward as possible, we've put together a free UK checklist that covers everything above. It's designed to be worked through at your own pace. You don't need to do it all at once. It's free to download, easy to save on your phone or computer, and easy to print out if you'd prefer to work through it with a pen.
We hope it takes some of the weight out of the process, and means that when the time comes, the people you love can focus on grieving rather than searching.
A few things worth knowing for the UK
A will can be written yourself, through a will-writing service, or with a solicitor. There's no one right way, but having one at all is far more important than how you do it.
A Lasting Power of Attorney costs £92 per document to register with the Office of the Public Guardian. There are two separate documents, so £184 in total. It's one of the most overlooked but important things on the list, particularly the Health and Welfare LPA which covers medical decisions if you lose capacity.
Without a will, the rules of intestacy apply, which means the law decides who inherits, and it may not be who you'd have chosen.
The most important step
Getting started. Everything else follows from that.
Most people put this off because it feels like a big, heavy task. It isn't. With the checklist in hand it becomes a series of small, manageable steps, and once it's done, it's done. You can get on with living, knowing the people you love are taken care of.
That's all any of us really want.
At Evermore, we help people arrange recurring flowers and gifts to be delivered to their loved ones after they pass, so your love keeps showing up on the dates that matter most. If you'd like to find out more, visit evermore.uk.