Could Somebody Four Hours Away Find It Today?
Most households have the documents. Fewer have them somewhere a second person could get to on a Tuesday, which is the only version that helps.
Washington
Funeral cost planning for Washington families
For families who wrote something down years ago, and have not read it since. What goes out of date, and how anyone would notice.
Statewide, virtually
Funeral cost planning in Washington at a glance
- 1377429
- Washington WAOIC number
- No figures
- No prices quoted, here or on the call
- Virtual only
- No Washington office, and no claim of one
- Unhurried
- Nothing is decided on the call
Washington
A plan written once, and left alone
Households are encouraged, reasonably, to write this down. Far less is said about what happens to that page over the following fifteen years, which is that the world it describes slowly stops existing while the page stays exactly the same.
Nothing dramatic goes wrong. A number changes, a person moves, a company is bought, a relative who agreed to something is no longer able to. Each is small and none of them announces itself.
What goes stale first
- Telephone numbers and email addresses, which change more often than anything else on the page.
- Where the records are kept, particularly after a move or a tidy up.
- Who has been told, and whether they still remember being told.
- Who was informally asked to do something, and whether that is still realistic.
- Preferences, which do change, and the assumption that they have not.
Why people ask
Why a plan drifts out of date
- 01Finished feels permanent
- The relief of having written it down is real, and it is also why almost nobody reads it again. A completed task does not ask to be revisited.
- 02The people change
- Somebody named fifteen years ago may have moved, become unwell or simply not be the person you would name today. Nothing prompts that update.
- 03The paperwork moves
- Records shift during a move, a clear out or a change of bank, and the description of where they live is the part that never gets amended.
- 04Nobody is checking
- There is no renewal notice for a family plan. If the household does not schedule a look at it, no one else is going to.
01
The fifteen minute review
Reading it is most of the work. A household that opens the page once every year or two and corrects what has changed will never have to rebuild it, which is the alternative and a much larger job.
The single most useful addition is a date on the page. Without one there is no way to tell whether it is current or a decade old, and a page whose age is unknown is treated as unreliable by everybody who finds it.
- Every contact detail on the page, checked rather than assumed
- Where each record now actually is
- Whether anybody named has moved or changed circumstances
- The date it was last read, written on it
02
The people who agreed to something years ago
This is the part that most often goes unexamined. Somebody was asked, in passing, to handle something. They said yes. That was eleven years ago and neither party has mentioned it since.
Checking is a short and unremarkable conversation. It also gives them a chance to say that their circumstances have changed, which is much easier to hear now than to discover at the time it matters.
- Who was asked, and what they were asked to do
- Whether they still remember agreeing
- Whether it is still realistic for them
- Who else knows they were asked
Also available
The same subject, elsewhere
The general guidance, and the same subject written for the other states.
Categories of guidance rather than products. Nothing on this page is a recommendation.
Verifiable
Licensed in Washington, and based elsewhere
What governs this is where you live rather than where anybody else does. Washington residents need a Washington licensed producer, and the WAOIC number below is Arsine's.
Washington publishes that register through the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, so the number can be checked before any conversation happens.
- Licensed name
- Arsine Topanian
- Washington WAOIC
- 1377429
- Regulator
- Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner
Worth being clear about
What this page is, and what it is not
- 01
Whether a document still stands is not answered here
Put that to whoever prepared it. This page is about the detail inside a plan, which drifts out of date whether or not the paperwork does.
- 02
Reading it is usually the whole job
Correcting what has changed is very different from starting again, and starting again is almost never what is needed.
- 03
Money is not discussed in numbers
Costs sit with providers and with choices, so no figure appears on this page or in a conversation.
- 04
A call carries no obligation
Nothing is submitted and nothing is agreed. Finishing one without deciding anything happens often and is fine.
Next step
Talk it through, anywhere in Washington
An unhurried conversation on the same clock as here. No cost, no figures quoted, and nothing decided on the call.
Questions
Questions from Washington families
Five that come up about a plan written some time ago.
Is Arsine licensed in Washington?
Yes. The Washington WAOIC number is 1377429 and it is published on this site, in the footer and on the About and Contact pages. The Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner holds the record.
How often should a family plan be reviewed?
Every year or two is ample, and the trigger matters more than the interval. A move, a change in who is nearby, or anybody named becoming unwell are all reasons to read it sooner.
Is a document we wrote years ago still valid?
That depends on the document and is a question for whoever prepared it. Nothing on this site can answer it. What this page is about is the practical detail inside it, which goes out of date whether or not the document itself does.
What goes out of date first?
Contact details, by a wide margin, followed by where the records are kept. Both are small corrections and both are the difference between a page that works and one that sends somebody in the wrong direction.
Do we need to start again?
Almost never. Reading what exists and correcting what has changed is the work, and it usually takes a quarter of an hour rather than an evening.
Further reading
Reading for Washington families
Telling Your Adult Children What You Have Arranged
Most of what is written about this assumes an adult child raising it with a parent. Rather less is written for the parent who has done the work and now has to mention it.
Deciding What One Person May Settle Alone
Most family disagreements at a difficult time are not about what should happen. They are about who was entitled to decide it without asking.
Request a consultation
Start with a conversation
Choose a time that suits you, anywhere in Washington. Availability and options depend on individual circumstances.