We know the pain you experience after losing a loved one is indescribable. On top of grieving and remembering their love, it can be challenging to plan a service or memorial and take care of additional assets, not to mention writing the perfect words to sum up their legacy. As many free options across the web seem attractive, you do need to be cautious of sources providing obituary assistance. Duplicated obituaries can be found across the web with conflicting information and in a field that is unfortunately driven by the dollar.
Your neighbors and friends here at Adrian Durban Florist, work closely with every funeral home, cemetery, and church in the greater Cincinnati area. As a result, we have come to acquire great knowledge about obituaries and how to make the process of finding the right one for your loved one a little easier. Below you will find our guide to sharing the right obituary, creating your own eloquent words, and other things to be aware of during the process.
How to Find the Right Obituary:
To begin, we recommend working with the most reliable source, which is the funeral home’s website. You will often be met with a page devoted to the most updated obituary listings with viewing times, availability, and other public information. Please don’t be alarmed if a viewing time is changed, as this is actually common and something we consider while processing any sympathy orders here at Adrian Durban Florist. Our team is in constant communication with the funeral home to ensure service times are accurate.
How to Make an Obituary:
If you do not plan to utilize funeral home services, you can still create a lovely tribute in memory of your loved one on free sites like Facebook or a new website you create. Here, you can also share any information you believe to be important and relevant, such as viewing date and times with friends and family. If you do choose to create your own website, you have the ability to moderate any posts or comments from the public to ensure their legacy is preserved and kept in good spirits. However, please be aware that some websites do require a domain fee.
In the event a death notice needs to be published by legal obligation, this differs from a traditional obituary and other guidelines should be followed. As an obituary is a memorial to those who have passed, a death notice is typically required when assets are to be distributed to beneficiaries, or if creditors need to file a claim against the estate.
How to Avoid a Bad Obituary:
Unfortunately, obituaries have proven to be a big business and you do need to take precautions when utilizing outside sources other than your own funeral home, personal Facebook page, or custom website. In addition to the fee charged for setting up your loved one’s obituary, these sources sometimes obtain a profit from selling flower arrangements via a “send flowers” link. These links send users to the Sympathy Store, which turns out to be a wire-out network utilizing Teleflora and Bloomnet. The money from these specific flower orders is split between Teleflora or Bloomnet, the website owner, and the florist fulfilling the order.
To make matters worse, your loved one’s obituary may not last on these sites forever, can be quite expensive to maintain, and may even contain inaccurate information by scrapers.
While ethical sources, like your trusted funeral home, seem to be secured, these outside sources might also scrape obituary information from here as well in an attempt to urge you, your friends and your family to click their “send flowers” link. To avoid your loved one’s memory from getting taken advantage of, it is important to clearly communicate with your family and friends and direct them to the correct web address where they can find your original words and the most accurate information. It is never a bad idea to do a few routine Google searches to protect your loved one’s memory. There are honest sites that will respond quickly and remove the duplicated obituary free of charge.
Modern-day technology and websites can add an extra layer of stress and worry when it comes to protecting the legacy of your loved ones. While we hope you never have to experience this type of loss, the easiest and best way to ensure your loved one is remembered with honor and respect is by way of working with a reliable funeral home. If you are concerned with scrapers and other outside websites, quick Google searches can help protect your loved one’s obituary as well as avoid conflicting information, through removal requests. Of course, memorializing your loved one on Facebook or by creating a personal tribute website is an economical and beautiful option as well.
For funeral home-specific obituaries, read our list of funeral homes in Cincinnati that we work with, trust, and can recommend to lovingly assist you during these hard times.
