Dealing with end-of-life planning? There’s an app for that

Before the pandemic, entrepreneurs Liz Eddy and Alyssa Ruderman had trouble getting venture capitalists to invest in their end-of-life planning app Lantern.

“We would hear, ‘Oh, this is really a niche issue,’ which I think is pretty hilarious,” Eddy says. “Death is quite literally the only thing on the planet that affects every single person.”

The past two years have highlighted the importance of such preparation, even for younger people. Abigail Henson, a 31-year-old college professor in Phoenix, says she started using Lantern about 18 months ago to plan her funeral, tell her executor where to find her passwords and explain what she wanted to be done with her social media accounts.

Planning for death and navigating life after a loss can be difficult, complex and sometimes expensive. However, several apps — including Lantern, Cake, Empathy and Everplans, among others — promise to help.

How death-planning apps work

Death-planning apps typically have free tools for consumers, and most have additional, premium services available for a fee.

For example, Empathy’s free offerings include checklists, articles and collaboration tools for family members dealing with a death. Those who pay a monthly subscription fee of $8.99 or $64.99 per year can access a document vault and automated tools to close accounts.

Everplans, a document-storage site and app, offers a free trial followed by an annual $75 subscription fee.

Lantern’s free offerings include basic preplanning tools, an after-loss checklist, document storage and collaboration tools. A one-time $149 fee provides access to more resources and the ability to create additional plans.

Cake’s free features include end-of-life planning, online memorials, a postloss checklist and document storage. A $96 annual subscription buys unlimited storage, a legal online will and one-on-one consultations with the app’s support team, says Suelin Chen, Cake’s co-founder.

Plan at your own pace

Henson says she chose Lantern because she wanted a digital solution that allowed her to complete preplanning tasks at her own pace and share them online with trusted people. That felt more manageable than tackling estate planning all at once and storing the documents in a locked filing cabinet, which is what her mother has done, Henson says.

People shouldn’t rely on apps to do all their estate planning, says certified financial planner and physician Carolyn Mcclanahan of Jacksonville, Florida. Wills and trusts, for example, are tricky to draft and best done by experienced attorneys, she says.

But Mcclanahan likes apps that help with tasks such as funeral instructions, advanced care directives, pet care plans and obituary drafts.

Thinking about your legacy

Families often spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours on postdeath tasks, says Ron Gura, Empathy’s co-founder and CEO. Those chores can include arranging the funeral, probating the estate, closing accounts, canceling services and dealing with various government agencies, including Social Security and the IRS.

Apps allow people to answer a few questions and get personalized advice.

“We can show you only the things that you need to do right now and also tell you what can wait,” Gura says.

Death-planning apps primarily focus on practicalities, such as completing tasks and uploading important documents. But many also encourage users to think about their legacies.

Everplans, for example, has a worksheet to help people create an ethical will, a document that communicates their values, life lessons and most important experiences.

Everplans also has templates and guidance for writing letters and creating videos with a legacy message.