Who Funeral Guide is Aimed At

Funeral Guide is a South African initiative.  Plenty of the information, e.g. the poetry, quotes, coping with grief pages, etc, is useful internationally, however, it has been put together from a South African perspective aiming at the South African public.  Please note: The legal information on Funeral Guide is only relevant to people domicilled in South Africa. 

Why We Are Here

Even though death is a natural part of life, it somehow always seems to happen unexpectedly and too soon.  Death is a subject most of us don't talk about enough or plan for sufficiently.  When death inevitably occurs, many are unprepared for the event.   While dealing with the shock and grief of a death, one can become overwhelmed by the duties that need to be carried out on behalf of the deceased.  This can be even worse if the deceased hadn't spend sufficient time planning their estate, e.g. getting financial advice, drawing up a valid will, etc.

It is hard enough to have to deal with the death of a family member.  Added to that, the consequences of improper estate planning can be devastating.  Funeral Guide is therefore attempting to improve awareness in the simplest possible language to prevent this unnecessary additional burden on families when a death occurs.

In the same way as one would plan a fire drill in the work place, we want to encourage families to openly discuss what should be done in the event of a death. 

What We Do

Funeral Guide provides information on the steps that need to be taken when a death occurs, including basic information on administering a deceased estate and help with the grieving process.  We also offer free tools to help with estate planning which is vital if one has dependants and should be considered by all of us the moment we start to acquire assets.

The tools and information offered on Funeral Guide are intended to cover the most basic simple cases.  If one has a large amount of assets or relatively complex circumstances we strongly recommend taking legal/financial advice.  The long term financial implications of good estate planning will make the fees you pay thoroughly worthwhile.

In addition, Funeral Guide is building up a directory of funeral related products and services which can be called upon to help deal with all matters relating to death.  This directory offers funeral and related businesses a platform to market their services where the public can see various options and choose accordingly.

Religion?

In the spirit of our rainbow nation and diverse religious beliefs, Funeral Guide is gathering products and services in our directory to cater for all religious needs. The items in our directory that are religion specific will be labelled as such for your convenience.