Editorial policy.

These are the rules our editorial team holds itself to. They exist because end-of-life topics affect real families making real decisions in tight windows, and we would rather under-publish than publish something a reader could be hurt by.

Sources

Every quantitative claim on the site — costs, timelines, thresholds, statutes — is sourced to one of the following, named inline:

  • State and federal statute or regulation, with the citation.
  • State Department of Health, state Attorney General, state Bar, or state insurance commissioner publications.
  • Federal agencies: FTC, CMS, SSA, IRS, VA, NIH, EPA.
  • Industry surveys we consider reliable: NFDA (National Funeral Directors Association) for funeral pricing; NAIC for insurance rate data; AM Best for insurer financial strength; AARP and NHPCO for consumer-facing figures on hospice and end-of-life care.
  • Direct provider price lists and rate cards, gathered by our research team within the previous six months.

We do not cite "studies show" without naming the study. We do not cite single anecdotes as evidence of pattern. We do flag opinions clearly when they are opinions.

Reviewer panel

Every page on this site that gives state-law-sensitive information is reviewed by at least one practitioner with that specific specialty before it is published, and at every annual update. As of v1, our standing reviewer panel consists of:

  • One practicing US estate planning attorney (anonymous in v1, will be bylined as the panel grows; minimum 10 years of estate planning experience).
  • One licensed US funeral director with FTC Funeral Rule expertise.
  • One US-licensed independent insurance agent specialising in final expense whole life.
  • One hospice nurse or palliative care nurse, by-line for end-of-life-care content only.

The panel is paid an hourly fee for review work. They do not receive equity in LovingPlan, do not write for the site, and do not receive bonuses tied to traffic or revenue. Their role is to flag legal or medical inaccuracies before publication.

Editorial independence

Editorial decisions are made by the editorial team, independently of provider relationships. Specifically:

  • Editorial does not see referral-fee data when picking which providers to recommend in a piece. Recommendations are made first, then operations confirms whether the recommended provider is in our paid network.
  • Editorial may recommend a provider that does not pay us, if our research finds them to be the right pick. This has happened.
  • Provider sponsorship of individual pieces is prohibited. We do not run "presented by" content.

Updates and corrections

We update each cornerstone guide twice a year, in February and August, when we re-collect provider price data and check state statutes for changes. State guides are reviewed annually after each state legislative session.

If we make a factual error and a reader points it out, we correct it within five business days, add a dated note at the bottom of the page describing the correction, and (if the error was material) email any reader who used a contact form on the affected page in the previous 30 days. Email hello@lovingplan.com with corrections.

Voice and structure

We try to write the way a thoughtful friend would talk, not the way a brochure does. Specifically: we favor short sentences over long ones (and long ones over over-clipped ones). We use plain American English. We admit limits, in a "what this guide gets wrong" section at the end of every piece. We do not use scare tactics, and we do not invent urgency.

Plagiarism, AI assistance, and originality

Every guide on this site is written by a human author, edited by a human editor, and reviewed by a human practitioner. We do use spell-check and grammar tools. We do not generate copy from AI models without rewriting it materially by hand. We do not republish other sites' work. If you find a passage on LovingPlan that appears to be lifted from elsewhere, please email hello@lovingplan.com and we will investigate within a week.

What we will not write

We do not publish content designed to scare readers into faster decisions. We do not write listicles whose sole purpose is to rank for keywords. We do not write sponsored content disguised as editorial. We do not run AI-generated state guides that have not been read line-by-line by a state-licensed practitioner.