'What'll You Do [With Me] When I'm Gone' Controlling Body Disposition: The Law and the Macabre

Abstract

Perhaps the most difficult thought to ponder is one’s own mortality. Many people avoid confronting the grim reality that they and their loved ones will eventually die. Estate planners must sensitively urge their clients to face the inevitability of death to obtain well-reasoned dispositions of their property. Many clients are also very concerned with the final disposition of their bodies. For example, some individuals want to be buried while others prefer to be cremated.An estate planner needs to take steps to help insure that a client’s body will be handled after death in accordance with the client’s wishes. The estate planner must also work to reduce the chances of those wishes being frustrated either by lack of information to the individuals making disposition arrangements or by individuals surviving the client who are unhappy with the deceased’s disposition requests.Unfortunately, many estate planners ignore or deal superficially with their clients’ body disposition concerns. Accordingly, this article details the techniques which Texas estate planners may use to assist their clients to receive the body disposition they desire.