It can be reassuring and satisfying to place your affairs in good order, ensuring that when the “bells toll for thee” you will not be a burden on your family or friends. Please watch this short End of Life documents overview video:
We do offer general guidelines that can assist in your planning and we provide forms, some of which are legally binding, for your use.
The Elysian Society offers information to help you record and actualize your wishes in three major areas of end-of-life planning:
1. CA Advance Health Care Directive
(Recording decisions and directives regarding the health care and burial requests)
Contact us for a printed version of CA Medical Associations Advance Health Care Directive as a legal method for designating your health care wishes and we can also help you to complete it.
2. CA Statutory Will or Trust planning with the attorney
(Distribute your possessions and choose your child’s guardian)
One can download the CA Statutory Will here and also download the Distribution of my personal property. This is the most basic of wills, usable only by CA residents and recommended only if your assets are less than $184K when a person dies after April of 2022 (these numbers change every few years). Important to note: If your assets are more than $184K or if you have children under the age of 25 it is recommended to have a trust with an attorney. We recommend that you seek legal advice when creating a will or trust.
3. Personal Arrangement Guide
(Record personal information and your funeral wishes)
The Personal Arrangements Guide created and published by the Elysian Society provides a useful method of recording general good householder information and plans you may have regarding your funeral service. You can download it here.
These forms are available for $5 each and may be purchased at the Elysian Society through the CONTACT US page. Contact Mary Hinrichs or Deborah Hoerner for an appointment to help fill in any of these documents.
Please note that The Elysian Society does not offer legal advice and the official name for the cemetery is “The Fellowship of Friends Cemetery”.
Why now is a good time to get ready?
Funeral or memorial service costs
There are charges for Fellowship funeral or memorial services and interments; those estimated costs are listed here:
Death Carol
Come lovely and soothing death,
Undulate round the world, serenely arriving, arriving,
In the day, in the night, to all, to each,
Sooner or later, delicate death.
Over the tree-tops I float thee a song!
Over the rising and sinking waves — over the myriad fields, and the prairies wide;
Over the dense-pack’d cities all, and the teeming wharves and ways,
I float this carol with joy, with joy to thee, O Death!
Walt Whitman
