My Goodbye
What should happen to my remains?
A plain look at what people generally choose between. No option here is better than another, and this page will never tell you which one to pick.
Availability, legality and requirements vary by location. This page explains what each option generally is. It does not say what is permitted where you live - a local funeral professional or authority can tell you that.
Traditional burial
The body is buried, usually in a cemetery plot.
Generally involves a coffin, a plot, and a cemetery or burial ground. Costs, plot ownership, headstone rules and religious requirements differ widely between places and providers.
Availability, legality and requirements vary by location.
Cremation
The body is cremated and the ashes are returned to the family.
Often chosen for cost or simplicity, and it can be combined with a ceremony before or after. What may then be done with the ashes is a separate question with its own local rules.
Availability, legality and requirements vary by location.
Natural or green burial
Burial designed to return the body to the ground with minimal materials.
Typically means no embalming, a biodegradable coffin or shroud, and a burial ground managed as woodland or meadow. Availability depends entirely on whether such a ground exists near you.
Availability, legality and requirements vary by location.
Memorial options
A gathering or marker, with or without the body present.
A memorial can happen weeks or months later, anywhere, and can be as small or as large as you want. Some people want one and no funeral; some want the opposite.
Availability, legality and requirements vary by location.
Ashes kept by family
The ashes stay with the people who loved you.
An urn at home, divided between people, or placed somewhere that mattered. Worth saying who you would want to hold them, because the question is often left to whoever is standing there.
Availability, legality and requirements vary by location.
Scattering
Ashes are scattered at a chosen place.
Usually named as a place with meaning - water, a hill, a garden. Permission is the part people forget: land and waterways often have their own rules and owners.
Availability, legality and requirements vary by location.
Other available options
Newer and less common choices exist in some places.
Depending on where you are, other methods of disposition and other kinds of memorial may or may not be offered. If one interests you, a local funeral professional can tell you what is actually possible where you live.
Availability, legality and requirements vary by location.
Marking something as your preference here records it for the people who will read it. It does not arrange anything and it is not a binding instruction - say it out loud to somebody as well.