End-of-Life Planning With No Family: Who Does Each Job

An end-of-life plan is a list of jobs with a name beside each one. Here are the five, who can legally hold each, and which guide covers each in full. Day-to-day help while you're still living has its own list, in our guide to care as you age.

The five jobs, and who can do each one

These can be five people, or one friend holding three jobs. The law treats them as separate roles, even when one person holds several.

Who notices if you stop answering (your finder)

If you fall and nobody knows, every other part of the plan waits. A 1996 San Francisco study of people found helpless or dead at home is old and local, but one number sticks. Of those helpless more than 72 hours, 67% died. Of those helpless under an hour, 12% did.

That isn't today's odds. It's a reason to shorten the gap.

1. Agree on a routine. A daily text, a call at a set time, or a check-in app.
2. Decide what counts as missed. Say how long after the set time your finder acts, and what they do first.
3. Name a main person and a backup. A neighbor two doors down and a friend from choir works well.
4. Plan how they get in legally. A spare key with your finder, or your landlord's or building manager's number.
5. Add your pets. Who feeds them, your vet's name, where the carrier is. Our pet handoff sheet has a place for each.
6. Plan for the gaps. Travel, a hospital stay, a dead battery, a muted phone.
7. Test it. Miss a check-in on purpose, with everyone in on it, and see who calls.

If someone may be in danger right now, call 911. Don't wait for the next check-in.

An alert only helps if a person follows up. A check-in app's free plan can text the contacts you choose after a missed daily check-in (at the time of checking, September 2026). Your contacts do the rest.

Paid plans that add a dispatcher cost money each month or year. The dispatcher calls your contacts and can request a wellness check. Plans often renew automatically, and local agencies decide how fast they respond.

I'd start free with a tested backup person, using our check-in plan. I wouldn't pay for extra check-ins with no dispatcher. More reminders to the same person don't add a responder.

For a no-app version, see our free daily check-in plan. For what the research does and doesn't show, see how long it takes to be found.

Who makes medical decisions if you can't (health care agent)

A health care agent is the person who can agree to treatment for you if you can't speak for yourself. The name of the role, and the document, differ by state and province.

Our Power of Attorney guides cover the forms.

I learned this one with my aunt, who had no kids and no one else. When she needed help, there was nobody the hospital had to listen to. Sign this document before you need it.

In California, this same agent ranks first to decide your funeral, under Health and Safety Code section 7100, unless you've left other directions. That agent can also owe reasonable funeral costs their decisions create if your estate can't cover them.

That's a lot to hand a friend without warning. Tell them before they say yes, and ask a California estate lawyer how it applies to you.

Who handles bills and money while you're alive (power of attorney for property)

A power of attorney for property (sometimes called a financial power of attorney) lets someone pay your bills and run your accounts while you're living. It's a different job from executor, who acts after death. If you hire a private caregiver, their pay is one of the bills your agent may handle.

One trap in California: a general money power of attorney isn't the document that controls your funeral. The health care one is. See Power of Attorney to set either up.

Who settles your estate and your home (executor)

Your executor is the person your will names to settle your estate. A non-relative can do it.

Ask them first and get a clear yes. Then make sure they can reach the will, not only know it exists.

If nobody can serve, a public administrator (a government official who settles estates when no one else is eligible or willing) may step in. Richmond County's office in New York says it does this even when the executor you named can't serve. That's a fallback, not a plan.

Who decides your funeral (funeral agent)

Default rules were written for families. In New York, a close friend sits low on the default list, behind relatives who may be hard to find or unwilling.

That's the system failing people on their own. The fix is paperwork.

Place	Who decides first	What to do
California	Your agent under a health care power of attorney	Check the document covers decisions after death
Texas	The person named in your signed appointment	Sign the state form before a notary, have your agent sign before acting, and name a first and second successor
Florida	Your own written directions, then your spouse and family. There's no agent form	Write and sign your directions. A friend can act only if no family member exists or is available
New York	A person you appoint on the state's written form	Use the form in New York Public Health Law section 4201, and name a successor agent
Pennsylvania	Your spouse, then your next of kin. There's no agent form	State your wishes in your will. Overriding relatives otherwise takes a court petition
Illinois	The agent you appoint on the state form	Sign it before a notary, have your agent sign to accept, and name successors
Ohio	The representative named in your written declaration	Sign it before a notary or 2 adult witnesses not related to you, and name a successor
Georgia	Your health care agent, or a person named in a notarized affidavit	Choose someone who can act within 2 days of notice or 3 days of death
North Carolina	The person named in your written authorization	Sign a statement before 2 witnesses, or name the person in a health care power of attorney
Michigan	Your funeral representative	Sign the designation before 2 witnesses or a notary, and have your representative accept it
Ontario	Your estate trustee (executor)	Name a willing one. They can change your written funeral plans, so talk through what you want

I'd use New York's form rather than trust the default list. A New York estate lawyer can confirm the witness rules. Other states and provinces set their own order: check the rule by state, and see whether your executor plans the funeral.

What to give each person, and where to keep it

Each person gets a copy of their own document. Add your funeral provider's after-hours number and where the originals are kept.

Keep home access and pet notes on a separate sheet from passwords and account details. The key holder needs one. Your executor needs the other.

Our free emergency contact card and next of kin organizer cover both.

You can plan without paying.

The funeral home usually reports the death to Social Security. If it doesn't, someone must call, according to Social Security's page on what to do when someone dies. Write down who will check that it happened.

End-of-life planning checklist: one name per job

• Finder and backup named, with a tested check-in routine
• Health care agent named and the document signed
• Money power of attorney signed
• Executor asked, said yes, and named in your will
• Funeral authority set up the way your state or province requires
• A backup person for each job
• Your funeral choice, plus a second choice if the first isn't possible
• Where your ashes go, and who receives them
• Who tells your friends, with their contact details
• A pet plan: food, vet, temporary home
• Copies handed out, originals somewhere reachable
• Review after a move, or when a helper drops out

For the funeral job in detail, use the full funeral planning checklist and our other funeral guides.

If nobody comes to mind for a job

Asking feels like a big favor. It's smaller when it's one job. A friend can be your finder without being your executor.

A death doula (a trained, non-medical helper for planning and the end of life) can help you plan and be present. A doula has no legal power as your executor or funeral decision-maker unless you appoint them through the proper document.

The End of Life Doula Association of Canada says its client contract ends at death.

So anything you want done afterward needs someone with authority, in writing. More in what a doula costs.

In Canada

In Ontario, your estate trustee (Ontario's word for executor) comes first for funeral decisions and will need ID and the will or a court order. Ontario also lets you record funeral plans without prepaying. In BC, the personal representative named in your will decides. In Quebec, your own written wishes come first, so make them reachable at once.

No single call reports a death in Canada. Your estate representative contacts each program separately, including the CRA, CPP or QPP, and Old Age Security. Give your executor Canada's list of who to contact after a death. We couldn't confirm paid check-in plans with a dispatcher work in Canada.

State and province rules differ on every job here. Start at United States or Canada, and have an estate lawyer (a notary in Quebec) confirm the documents for your case.

What to set up next

• Funeral agents: what one does, and how to ask a friend for the funeral job.
• Funeral instructions: what to hand the person who acts.
• Power of attorney: the health care and money documents.