Publishing an obituary to formally announce a loved one’s passing is a crucial responsibility. But how late is too late for an obituary? 

With the many aspects of funeral planning, it can be hard to carve out time to publish the obituary. With this list of helpful steps to take during the process, you’ll know what to expect regarding the best timeline.

Key Takeaways

• Before worrying about the obituary, give yourself time to process and connect with family and friends. It’s never too late to write it.
  
  

• When you feel the time is right to publish the obituary, coordinate with the funeral home or service provider for the announcement. 
  
  

• Depending on the service you choose, it can take days or weeks for your obituary to appear. If you share it on social media, it will be posted immediately.

When to Publish an Obituary

Typically, obituaries are published as soon as possible following someone’s death. An ideal timeline is the week following the passing. However, there is no “late” date for an obituary. 

If you’re worried about publishing an obituary on time while juggling the other responsibilities involved with a loved one’s death, take a breath. Processing what’s happening should come first instead of rushing things. Take the time you need and know the obituary can come afterward. 

6 Steps to Take Today for the Obituary

1. Communicate With Immediate Family and Close Friends

Don’t take on the challenge alone. The pressure to capture who your loved one is and tell their story in the right way for all to see can make it especially challenging.

Family relationships are not always easy, but we recommend contacting anybody in your immediate family to ask for help. Having others around can be comforting and sometimes necessary during periods of grief.

Along with their companionship, family members may also have known your loved one just as well. You can combine your shared experiences with the deceased family member to help you write the obituary and ensure you capture their story in the best way possible.

You can also reach out to close friends. Any companionship can help during this difficult time to relieve any pressure you may be feeling. 

2. Gather Essential Information

Carefully gather the precious details you need to write your obituary. 

It’s helpful to contact relatives if your loved one’s documents, photos or other information are spread among family members. Handling your loved one’s documents after their passing is another important process. It’s best to learn about proper disposal and handling of any documents you have or use while writing the obituary. 

Keep track of all your documents with Trustworthy. The Trustworthy Family Operating System® helps you organize your documents in one secure digital vault. The easy-to-use collaboration features make sharing and collecting documents seamless. 

If you’re publishing the obituary in the newspaper, ensure your facts and dates are correct to avoid any trouble later on in the process. 

3. Draft an Obituary

Gather the necessary information and decide what you want to share about your loved one in the obituary. The draft does not have to be perfect, but it can help you organize your thoughts and feelings. 

Brittney D. Greene, a funeral director in Maryland, advises: “The most honest and potent impact you can make when drafting an obituary is by writing the way you speak. Skip the flowery language and clichés. Instead, keep it real. If you make your obituary open, honest, and respectful, you can’t go wrong.”

Feeling stuck on what to write? Trustworthy's guide to writing an obituary can help. It gives several examples of the information you might want to include and how to organize it effectively. 

Request help from friends and family during the drafting process. They can share their own stories and experiences with your loved ones and help you capture them in the best way possible. 

4. Review and Edit the Obituary

A final review and edit of the draft can help you decide if you included any unnecessary information and fix simple mistakes like spelling or grammar.

Editing the obituary is an important step, as you want to ensure you only publish your best work for all to see. You don’t have to be a professional writer, but you will feel better about the work knowing you reviewed it thoroughly before publishing.

Close relatives and family can also greatly help during the editing process. It’s always beneficial to have a new set of eyes look over your writing. In addition, they can contribute their experiences with your loved one to make suggestions for how you tell their story. 

5. Choose Appropriate Platforms for Sharing

The best place to publish differs for everyone, and there is no one right answer. It depends entirely on what you and your family feel is best. 

If you have a personal reason to publish it in the newspaper, there will be a determined publishing fee (sometimes charged by word) and certain timelines/requirements to meet.

Other platforms include social media, your or other family’s blog sites, and sites dedicated specifically to memorials. Most online platforms offer a free option to publish and share your loved one’s memory. 

If your loved one had a special connection to a specific organization, you can also request that they publish a copy of the obituary in their newsletter or website. Some examples of places your loved one may have had a lot of connections or memories of include their church, university, or place of work. 

Online and more personal platforms also offer the additional benefit of having no timeline or restrictions on what you can write. 

Want to learn more? How to Post an Obituary on Facebook: Step by Step Guide

6. Coordinate With Funeral Homes & Service Providers  

Most funeral homes and memorial services have announcement options available.

These announcements typically contain important information regarding your loved one’s passing, funeral date/time/place, and additional ceremonies.

In preparation for any ceremonies, you can use our guide and list of templates to help you request off from work. You can also share these templates with family in announcements to relieve their stress of taking off work.

Instead of having to contact your entire family one by one, announcement services can take care of notifying relatives. By entrusting the announcement service, you won’t have the additional responsibility and can dedicate more time to writing the obituary. 

Consider using Trustworthy to handle the sharing of information. The access permissions let you choose and keep track of who has access to certain documents, like the funeral home. 

Advantages of Publishing an Obituary Earlier

Obituaries contain important information regarding funeral services, including dates and locations. Publishing an obituary sooner can give other families time to make necessary arrangements.

Another reason to publish an obituary as soon as possible is to receive family support during this time of need. It’s a way to notify all family members at once instead of contacting them individually.

If you plan to publish the obituary in the newspaper, the verification and payment process can require some time. Start as soon as possible to compensate for the additional time the process adds. 

Can I Publish an Obituary a Long Time After a Death?

There is no specific rule that requires you to publish an obituary right away. In most cases, people aim to publish an obituary 1-2 weeks following the passing of a loved one.

However, publishing it months or even a year after a loved one’s death is completely okay. In fact, there are many reasons why you might want to wait.

The passing of a loved one is a personal event, and their obituary is just as personal. You and your family can decide on the right time to write and post it. 

If your family does not feel ready to publish the obituary or nobody feels they can write well enough at the time, that’s okay. It can be difficult to publish it right after a death, and you and your family’s grief and processing should always be the priority. 

Newspapers may sometimes decide not to publish an obituary if the death was too long ago. However, your family can still publish online on social media so people can learn about and remember your loved one. 

How Long It Takes for an Obituary to Appear

The time it takes for the obituary to appear will vary depending on where you decide to publish. If you decide to publish online, the obituary will appear almost instantly as soon as you post. 

The times will vary for special memorial services and sites that handle their own posting. Each site will likely have its own timeline for officializing an obituary. Some sites may only take a few days, while others could take up to a week.

If you decide to publish your obituary in the newspaper,  it will appear on the specific date(s) you requested. However, publishing in the newspaper requires you to pass the verification and complete your payment. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Where should I publish an obituary?

You can publish an obituary wherever you and your family feel is best. Publishing it in the newspaper is a common platform but requires a fee and additional verification steps to be accepted.

Free, more personalized options include social media, memorial sites, churches/universities and blogs. 

Are obituaries free?

The cost of an obituary depends on where you decide to post it. Newspapers will charge you depending on which publication, the length, and the content of the obituary. The cost can range from $100-$750. 

Online memorial sites typically charge less, anywhere from $25-$100. At the same time, social media or personal blogs are entirely free.

Why does it cost so much to put an obituary in the newspaper?

Newspapers charge a lot to publish an obituary because they essentially sell you space in their paper. Depending on the obituary’s length and if you use photos, they will charge more as they take up more space. 

Bigger city papers also charge more because they have more readers and value their space more.

Why would someone not publish an obituary?

There are several reasons why someone would not publish an obituary. If the family does not have enough money to cover the expenses, if the family is small, or if their loved one does not have many close friends who need to be informed, an obituary may not be necessary.