Every year, bereaved Americans find themselves confronted with the task of organizing a loved one's funeral.

Many of us fail to make arrangements with respect to our own death, even though we may have contemplated what we would like to have happen when we die.

People who die without either planning their funerals or making their final wishes known leave their friends and family with the responsibility of making numerous decisions within a very short time frame -- a task made all the more difficult by their grief.

There are more than 22,100 funeral homes in the U.S., and these businesses are offering an expanding range of services, such as grief counseling and personalized caskets. The funeral home industry has undergone a consolidation in recent years, and many local funeral homes are actually owned by a large national corporation. Increasingly, the services of funeral homes and cemeteries have become integrated as the industry moves towards full-service funeral businesses.

Our preferences are changing. Led by those who live in the western regions of the country, the trend is to cremation rather than earth burial. Of the roughly 2,345,702 deaths in 1999, a quarter resulted in cremation, a 5% increase over the previous five years. The Cremation Association of North America forecasts that that number will rise to 36% by 2010.

Funeral homes are responding to this trend, as well as to shifting demographics influenced by immigration. Cultural, religious and family traditions as well as financial considerations are determining factors when it comes to planning a funeral and any subsequent gathering.

There are a variety of options available for the necessary, and strictly regulated, task of disposing of human remains, ranging from earth burial to cremation to burial at sea. Cremated remains may be kept in an urn, which is interred or placed in a columbarium, they may be scattered on land or water, they may be sent to the ocean's depths in a weighted container, or even sent into space. Some people, seeking an altered lifespan, may choose to have their bodies cryogenically preserved in the hope of one day being restored to life.

Whether planning your own funeral ceremony, or that of another, you'll need to understand the choices available, as well as your rights.

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