Obituary Template

Writing an obituary is harder than most people think

I spent years helping families get these right because I run a small publishing office and we handle everything from local newspaper submissions to online memorial sites. The template itself is straightforward, but the actual work of filling it in without sounding either stiff or overly sentimental takes some practice. Here is how to do it properly. An obituary template is just a structured framework that guides you through the standard sections: the announcement, biographical details, surviving family members, service information, and a closing note. Most templates you find online are generic and will give you something that sounds like it was written by committee. That is fine if you do not care about tone, but it rarely works if you want something that reads like a real person wrote it.

Obituary Template Format You Should Start With

Here is a format that actually works in practice. I use this version with clients and have adjusted it over about eight years: Full Name (birth date – death date), age [age], of [city, state], passed away [day of week] at [location, optionally specify hospital or home]. Born in [birthplace] to [parents' names]. Married to [spouse name] for [number] years. Survived by [immediate family list]. Preceded in death by [family members]. [Brief life summary: career, hobbies, military service, community involvement]. Service details: [date, time, location]. Donations to [charity] in lieu of flowers. [Optional closing line about legacy or character]. The key thing most people mess up is the life summary section. That is where the template breaks down because it cannot tell you what to write there. I usually suggest two to four sentences maximum. More than that and the newspaper editors start cutting it anyway because they charge by the line or have strict word limits. Most local papers want between 150 and 300 words total for a standard obituary. National papers and memorial websites have different standards entirely.

I had a client last year who tried to include her father's entire military career, every award he received, and a paragraph about his work at the factory. She ended up with 600 words. The paper rejected it and told her to cut it to 250. She sent it back trimmed down to the essentials and it ran fine. The lesson is simple: decide what matters most and cut everything else. You can always add more details to an online memorial page afterward, where there is no word limit. The newspaper version is not the final word on someone's life. Another thing that trips people up is the order of the surviving family list. There is a conventional hierarchy that funerals homes and newspapers expect. Spouse first, then children and their spouses, then grandchildren, then parents if applicable, then siblings. Slightly less formal memorials sometimes list siblings before grandchildren, but the standard format is pretty universal in American English publications. If you deviate from this without a specific reason, people will notice and some will find it odd. That does not mean you have to follow it exactly, but understanding why it exists helps you decide when to break it.

Where to actually find a usable template

There is no single official source for obituary templates because no government body or professional organization standardizes them. What you find on funeral home websites, newspaper sites, and template generators like Template.net, Canva, or Everwish is all user-made content at varying levels of quality. I recommend starting with the template your local newspaper provides if they have one, because it will match their submission requirements exactly. That alone saves you a revision cycle. If you are looking for a free downloadable version, a good starting point is searching for "obituary template" on major template aggregator sites. These will give you Word and Google Docs formats that you can edit immediately. Some funeral industry sites like Dignity Memorial or Legacy.com also host editable templates that are reasonably well-structured. Here is a direct working link to one that is clean and widely used: Legacy.com Obituary Template. It is free, requires no account, and works in both Word and Google Docs. The format is standard enough to submit to most newspapers without adjustment.

Pitfalls to avoid

Spelling the death date wrong is the most common error I see. People rush through the template and type the wrong year or mix up the month and day. Always triple-check dates before submission. One newspaper I worked with had to publish a correction notice because a family member listed the death date as October 14th instead of October 4th. The family was mortified. It happens constantly. Using "passed away" everywhere is another minor issue. It is not wrong, but repeating it three times in a short piece sounds stiff. Mix in "died" or restructure the sentence so you do not need the phrase at all. The tone should match the person, not the template. Another problem is including medical details. If someone died of a specific illness, you do not need to name it unless the family wants to raise awareness. Most templates do not prompt you for this, so you have to think about it yourself. Including "after a three-year battle with cancer" is a choice, not a requirement. It is a reasonable choice, but it is worth considering whether that level of detail serves the family or just fills space.

For step-by-step guidance on the full process, including how to submit and what to expect from publishers, this guide from the Associated Press has useful details: AP Stylebook Obituary Guidelines. It covers the formal writing conventions that newspapers still follow even though many people do not realize it.

When a template does not work

Sometimes the person's life does not fit the template. Military veterans, for example, often have service details that take up more space than a normal career summary. Immigrant families sometimes need to list parents and siblings in the country of origin, which changes the standard family listing format. LGBTQ+ couples may need to navigate papers that still use outdated language around marital status. A rigid template fails in these cases and you have to adapt it rather than force the content into the wrong structure. The workaround is simple: keep the core structure but reorder or expand sections as needed. Put the military service where it belongs in the life summary, or create a separate paragraph for international family members. The goal is clarity, not conformity to a form that was written for a demographic that no longer represents everyone who dies. One more practical note. Some templates online include a line about "in lieu of flowers" donation suggestions. This is fine to include if the family wants it, but be aware that some newspapers charge extra for that line or refuse to print it at all. Check the publication's specific policy before submitting. It saves a round of revisions.