Plan to celebrate life

Unfortunately the president was right, but whereas paying taxes is never particularly uplifting, planning your own funeral can be a positive and creative experience.

Pre-paying for your funeral can also take a lot of pressure off your loved ones while they are grieving. It also enables you to plan a ceremony that reflects your personality and celebrates your life, giving your relatives peace of mind to know exactly what your wishes are.

When someone close to you dies it is a distressing and emotional time, but it can be made easier with the help of a funeral director. Their service starts the minute you contact them and continues through the planning and carrying out of the funeral. They will take care of flowers, transport and specialist concerns such as type of funeral, coffin and burial or cremation.

If you arrange your funeral yourself, you can guarantee that all your wishes are carried out and most importantly, that your family are aware of them. Among all the grief and shock, it is easy to forget that celebrating the deceased is the most important part of a funeral.

There are lots of ways to personalise your funeral choose your favourite song to be played, poem to be read or hymn to be sung at the service. Or request a certain type of ceremony such as an eco-friendly woodland burial. If you don't want a traditional service there are many non-religious Humanist officials who can conduct funerals and places such as the Memorial Woodlands in Bristol have a multi-faith chapel to cater for all beliefs.

With so much variety now, it is best to plan ahead and give your family the security of knowing that when the time comes, they can celebrate your life in exactly the way that you'd like them to.

Writing a will is also an important part of being prepared. Nearly seven out of 10 people haven't written a will because they are worried about legal fees or unsure how to write one. Like organising your own funeral, it may seem bizarre to think about writing a will as a positive activity but the process can be very rewarding. Just think how much you enjoy choosing presents for your grandchildren or doing a charitable act, and approach it with that frame of mind.

It's important to get a lawyer to check your will as you want it to be perfect prices start from around £25 for a lawyer to review your will and from £125 for them to draft it for you.

First of all you need to work out the value of your estate, which in less fancy terms means the sum total of your possessions. As this is likely to change, you'll need to give approximate guidelines such as percentages of money that you want given to each person.

It's possible to leave individual legacies when you leave a specific amount to a certain person for a stated purpose. For example leaving your grandson money to go travelling, or give them particular possessions that would have personal significance such as giving your wedding ring to your daughter.

If you don't make a will before you die, intestacy rules will make the division of your estate more complicated.

For a start it will take much longer and other factors have to be considered. Under the intestacy laws common-law wives/husbands are not recognised and separation is different to divorce. So, in theory, your separated spouse could inherit the house that you share with your partner if you do not make a will. All relatives will have to be involved and so any long-lost family will need to be traced and contacted, which obviously takes time.

Although you can buy will-writing kits from shops it's always best to get professional help. Your lawyer will need to know what you have and where/who you want it to go to, plus who you want to be executors of your estate.

These should be people who you trust to carry out your wishes and will need to be informed of their role. You'll also need two witnesses, who can be anyone not mentioned in your will.

Once you've got your will make sure you keep it in a safe place and don't forget to let your family know where it is.