Funeral Home, Cemetery and Cremation Services Final Arrangements Preplanning Frequent Questions
The Final Arrangements Network

Concerns you may have about making such personal decisions on the Internet about Funeral Home, Cemetery and Cremation Services
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If I use the online forms, how safe is the information I give? 

How secure is your online planning form? I

 What do I do now?

Once I get my plans done then what do I do?

How safe is my Private File account, your so called "virtual safe deposit box?

Hey! I'm not going to send my account numbers or 
anything else that somebody could steal from your Library.

Then why do I need to list all that stuff I'm not sending you anyway?

What do I do with the information I'm supposed to fill out but not send, then?

What about a Safe Deposit Box or my attorney's office as a good place?

Then where do I put the work forms information I don't send to you?

Why do I even need to fax my plans at all? Why couldn't I just give the 
location of these papers and then they can go get them and use them. It would be 
simple everything would be together, right?

I'm thoroughly confused. What am I putting in
the PRIVATE FILE and what am I not putting in there?

If I use the online forms, how safe is the information I give?

When your filling out the form it is just on your machine. When you click submit it is finished and isn't stored after you leave the results page. You will then get to see the information when it is displayed on your machine, almost instantaneously. Once you have seen the results you can print a copy of your plans or email them to yourself as an attachment. Whatever you do with this results page, while you view it, once you leave the page it is destroyed. No copy of any of the information is retained. No hidden cookies, you may have heard about, no profile of you, nothing is kept. We understand the importance of privacy, especially when you are trying to put critical and very private information together to help you loved ones.

How secure is your online planning form?

There is never a total guarantee that anything you do online is totally secure, however since you will be determining the amount of exposure yourself, simply by your decision to look at your own results, you will limit any possible exposure to a minimum. Remember nothing is ever saved of these plans by us.

What do I do now?

If you feel comfortable with the security, use the online form. It is the easiest and offers great flexibility for quickly adding or changing plans. If you still have concerns see some of the answers to other questions here. Also, you can request the forms be sent to you Email or you can print them out right here at the site.

Once I get my plans done then what do I do?

Once completed to your satisfaction, we hope you will see the benefit of having a PRIVATE FILE  and open one up. If not, you should have made a copy of your online results page or the forms we Emailed or you printed out. Keep these plans somewhere safe and let your family know. You are finished and it didn't cost you anything but time. If, however, you do feel, spending less than a penny a day to insure your plans are found, so that they can be carried out, send the FAX and any work form sheets you want stored, to us for archiving in the PRIVATE FILE data library.

How safe is my Private File account, your so called "virtual safe deposit box? 

Extremely safe! We are very proud of our double password protection. It requires an initial password to get to a second password which only then allows access to our random and Zip filed data base which holds your faxed documents. If you can envision a system of safe deposit boxes, where you need an initial key, you first password, to open. In that box is a second key, the second password equivalent in our Private File System. You then need to find a third box, that's like our data base with your documents. The two passwords are verified and the documents are extracted and sent to your representative.  Most importantly, these data bases are not connected to the internet. No one can get to them trying to hack in because they don't a connection 

Hey! I'm not going to send you my account numbers or anything else that somebody could steal from your Library.

Your right! If you don't want to have certain sensitive information in your private file don't send it. What you do want to have on record are the things listed on the Fax form. Your financial and other personal information will not be needed by your loved ones in order to get your arrangements started the way you wanted them to.

Then why do I need to list all that stuff I'm not sending you anyway?

It's your insurance that everything your family needs to know about your affairs they will be able to find. They won't have to think about what you may have or not have. You will have told them what you owned and where to find it. 

What do I do with the information I'm supposed to fill out but not send, then?

Put it someplace safe but accessible in your absence. On your fax form you are asked to tell that you have prepared this information and where loved ones will find it.

What about a Safe Deposit Box or my attorney's office as a good place?

See the answer to question 4. The Private File System is basically a virtual safe deposit box. The reason you send us a Fax is because a fax is an exact copy of an original document with your own signatures and handwriting. A fax is often acceptable as a legal representation of the original document. Besides, if something happens to you while these locations are closed and there is something needed not in your PRIVATE FILE, by your loved ones, things won't be done the way you planned them, which is the whole purpose of planning.

Then where do I put the work forms information I don't send to you?

A good place would be the very place you keep that information now. A secret drawer, home safe, file cabinet, cupboard, desk, etc.. You want your family to be able to get everything they need to carry out your plans after they get the FAX you left them to use, we will be sending them on your behalf.

Why do I even need to fax my plans at all? Why couldn't I just give the location of these papers and then they can go get them and use them. It would be simple everything would be together, right?

In a perfect world you would be right. However, it could be hours and often days before loved ones can get to personal papers and property of the person who has died. There are geographical, time and emotional problems that often make it impossible to do.

Remember. You are creating final arrangements for you. You are doing this so that you can comfort your loved ones at their worst moment, the loss of you. What your plans will do are to save the stress, emotional turmoil, financial errors they will be exposed to, the confusion and terrible doubt of not knowing if they are doing what you would have wanted done.

I'm thoroughly confused. What am I putting in the PRIVATE FILE and what am I not putting in there?

If we have done your job right, you now know what has to be decided on when someone passes away in order to properly conduct a funeral, burial or cremation. This is the information you put in the PRIVATE FILE. The other critical information, like; insurance policy and bank account numbers; brokerage accounts, stocks & bonds locations, etc. you put in the work sheets. Any of this critical personal information your family won't need in those first few days don't include. In the FAX you will tell your loved ones, (A) that you have compiled this information for them & (B) where you put the information for them to find. Therefore do the following;

• Use these planning forms to compile the information. 

• Put them someplace accessible to your family in the event of your death. 

• Use the fax form to leave your final instructions for your funeral, burial or cremation.

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