Planning Ahead in Ireland: A Practical Guide to Getting Your Affairs in Order
Planning ahead for the end of life isn't something most of us look forward to. But making a few decisions now can make things considerably easier for ourselves and the people closest to us.
You don't have to be elderly or seriously ill to put your affairs in order. Many people begin planning after getting married, having children, buying a home, experiencing a bereavement or simply deciding that it's time to get organised.
In Ireland, there are several ways to prepare, from making a will and recording healthcare preferences to organising important documents and planning your funeral.
This guide explains the main things worth considering, where to find reliable information and how to get started.
1. Make a will or review the one you already have
A will sets out what should happen to your property, money and possessions after your death. It also allows you to appoint an executor, the person responsible for administering your estate.
Without a valid will, your estate is distributed according to Irish succession law, which may not reflect your personal wishes.
If you already have a will, consider whether it still reflects your circumstances. Marriage, separation, the birth of children, changes in property ownership or the death of someone named in your will may mean it needs to be reviewed.
Although it is possible to make your own will in Ireland, there are legal requirements for it to be valid. A solicitor can help ensure your wishes are properly recorded and advise you about inheritance rights and more complicated family or financial circumstances.
For further information, see Citizens Information's guide to making a will.
2. Think about your future healthcare wishes
One of the most important parts of planning ahead is considering what you would want to happen if you became seriously ill and could no longer communicate or make certain decisions for yourself.
You might have preferences about medical treatment, the people you would like involved in discussions about your care or what matters most to you if your health deteriorates.
You don't have to make every decision immediately. Starting a conversation with your family or GP can be a useful first step.
The Irish Hospice Foundation's Think Ahead resources
The Irish Hospice Foundation provides Think Ahead resources to help people consider and record their preferences for future care.
These cover personal wishes, important information, healthcare decisions and matters that may arise at the end of life or after death.
The resources can help you think about questions you might not otherwise have considered and provide a starting point for discussions with family members and healthcare professionals.
You can find more information through the Irish Hospice Foundation's Think Ahead resources.
3. Understand advance healthcare directives
An advance healthcare directive is different from a general statement of personal wishes.
In Ireland, an advance healthcare directive allows an adult with decision-making capacity to record decisions about healthcare treatment for a future time when they may no longer be able to make those decisions.
For example, it can specify particular treatments you would refuse in particular circumstances.
A valid and applicable refusal of treatment in an advance healthcare directive is legally binding. Requests for particular treatments are not legally binding, although they must be taken into consideration.
You can also appoint a designated healthcare representative to help ensure your directive is understood and respected.
There are formal requirements for making an advance healthcare directive, including signing and witnessing. It is important to follow the correct process rather than relying on an informal note.
The Decision Support Service provides official guidance, explanatory materials and forms.
4. Consider an enduring power of attorney
An enduring power of attorney is another arrangement worth understanding when planning for the future.
It allows you to appoint someone you trust to make certain decisions on your behalf if you lose the capacity to make those decisions yourself.
Depending on the authority granted, this can include matters relating to your property, finances and personal welfare.
An enduring power of attorney does not give someone authority to make healthcare treatment decisions for you. Those decisions are dealt with separately through the appropriate healthcare and decision-making arrangements, including advance healthcare directives.
The process of creating an enduring power of attorney in Ireland includes legal safeguards and registration requirements.
You can learn more through the Decision Support Service and its enduring power of attorney information at MyEPA.ie.
5. Organise your important documents
Even when someone has made all the necessary arrangements, their family may struggle if they don't know where important documents are kept.
A little organisation can save considerable time and uncertainty later.
Consider putting together a record of where to find:
- Your will and solicitor's contact details
- Birth and marriage certificates, where relevant
- Property deeds, mortgage information or tenancy documents
- Bank, credit union and savings account information
- Pension and life insurance details
- Insurance policies
- Details of loans or other financial commitments
- Information about any business interests
- Funeral plans or other pre-arrangements
- Contact details for your solicitor, accountant or financial adviser
You don't need to keep every original document in one folder. A simple list showing where the documents are held can be just as useful.
Keep sensitive information secure. Rather than writing passwords or PINs in a document that might be shared, consider how a trusted person could obtain appropriate access when necessary.
6. Make arrangements for your digital affairs
An increasing amount of our personal information is stored online.
Email accounts, photographs, social media profiles, online subscriptions and digital documents can all be difficult for family members to manage after a death.
It may be helpful to make a list of your important digital accounts and consider what you would like to happen to them.
Some services allow you to nominate a legacy contact or set preferences for what happens to an account after your death.
You might also want to ensure that important family photographs and documents are backed up somewhere accessible.
As with financial information, keep account security in mind. Sharing passwords informally is not always appropriate and may conflict with a service provider's rules.
7. Talk to your family about your wishes
Having conversations about illness, death and funeral arrangements can feel uncomfortable, particularly if your family would rather avoid the subject.
But written documents don't always explain the reasons behind a person's decisions.
A conversation can help your family understand what matters to you, whether that's remaining at home for as long as possible, having a particular type of funeral or ensuring that certain personal belongings go to particular people.
You don't need to cover everything in one discussion.
You might begin by telling someone that you've made a will, explaining where your important documents are kept or mentioning that you've started thinking about your funeral arrangements.
The aim isn't to make every decision for your family. It's to give them useful information and reduce uncertainty where possible.
8. Record your funeral wishes
Funeral arrangements are another area where planning ahead can help.
In Ireland, families often have to make decisions about a wake, burial or cremation, the funeral ceremony and a range of practical details within a relatively short period.
If you've never discussed your preferences, your family may be unsure what you would have wanted.
You might already know that you would prefer burial in a family grave, cremation, a particular church or a non-religious ceremony.
Writing these wishes down gives your family a useful starting point.
You don't need a special form to do this. You can create your own document covering the main decisions.
Our guide, Funeral Wishes Template Ireland: A Simple Guide to Writing Your Own, explains the headings and information you can include.
You can also read How to Record Your Funeral Wishes in Ireland for more information about recording and sharing your preferences.
9. Choose a funeral director and consider the costs
Many people don't realise that they can contact a funeral director and discuss their own funeral arrangements while they're alive.
You don't have to wait until someone has died to ask questions or explore the options available.
A funeral director can explain the different arrangements for burial and cremation, the facilities available for a wake or reposing, and the likely costs of the funeral you would prefer.
This can be particularly useful if you have specific wishes or would like to know what is practical in your local area.
You may also want to consider how the funeral will be paid for.
Some people set money aside in savings, while others prefer to make arrangements through a funeral pre-planning service.
There is no requirement to pay for your funeral in advance simply because you want to plan it.
Funeral pre-planning with My Farewell Wishes
My Farewell Wishes works with participating funeral directors throughout Ireland to help people record their funeral preferences and make arrangements in advance.
You can choose a participating funeral director, discuss the type of funeral you would like and obtain an estimate of the costs.
If you wish, you can also arrange to put money aside towards those costs. Payments made through the My Farewell Wishes pre-planning service are held in Trust, separately from the funeral director's business accounts.
The service allows you to plan with the funeral director who would be responsible for carrying out your arrangements when the time comes.
You can find out more through My Farewell Wishes or call 042 6039990.
10. Make sure someone knows where to find everything
Once you've made arrangements, one of the most useful things you can do is tell a trusted person where the information is kept.
You might have a valid will, an advance healthcare directive, insurance documents and detailed funeral wishes, but these will be much less helpful if nobody knows they exist.
Consider creating a simple contact and document list that identifies:
- The solicitor holding your will
- Where your healthcare planning documents are kept
- Your preferred funeral director
- Any funeral pre-planning arrangements
- Where important financial information can be found
- The people who should be contacted in an emergency
Keep the list somewhere safe but accessible, and review it when your circumstances change.
Do you have to do everything at once?
No. Preparing for the future doesn't have to become a major project.
You might begin by making an appointment with your solicitor, having a conversation with your family or writing down a few funeral preferences.
Other decisions can follow over time.
Some arrangements, such as wills, enduring powers of attorney and advance healthcare directives, have specific legal requirements. It is worth getting the appropriate advice and completing those documents correctly.
For other matters, a straightforward written record may be enough.
The important thing is to begin with the decisions that matter most to you.
Planning ahead can make things easier for everyone
Preparing for end of life in Ireland involves more than making a will or deciding what kind of funeral you would like.
It can include future healthcare decisions, financial arrangements, important documents, family conversations and practical preparations.
Not every arrangement will be relevant to everyone, and you don't need to make every decision immediately.
By taking care of a few things in advance, you can make your own preferences clearer and give the people closest to you a better understanding of what needs to be done.
If funeral planning is one of the things you'd like to organise, My Farewell Wishes can help you take that next step with a participating funeral director in Ireland.
