Printables for Hospice and Funeral Home Families: What a License Should Cover

Staff find a good planner or funeral program template online, buy one copy, and start printing it for every family. It feels harmless, and it is usually not allowed. A personal-use download is meant for one household. Handing copies to the people you serve needs the owner's permission, and a clear written license makes that permission easy to check.

This page is for hospice, funeral home and care organization staff. It is general information, not legal advice. For a question about your own situation, ask a lawyer.

Why can't an organization just copy a printable it bought?

The U.S. Copyright Office explains that copyright protects original works as soon as they are written down, and that the owner has the exclusive right to reproduce the work and distribute copies, and the right to authorize others to do so (U.S. Copyright Office: What is Copyright?). Buying one copy is not the same as permission to make many. Many shop printables state their terms on the listing or inside the file. Read them before you print for others.

The Copyright Office also notes that some uses fall under exceptions such as fair use, and that public domain works are free to use. Don't rely on an exception for routine handouts to every family. A license is simpler.

What should an organization license spell out?

Look for these in writing before you buy:

• Who is covered: your organization by name, and how many locations. A second branch or a sister company may need its own license.
• How copies may go out: printed copies, email to your own families, or both, and whether there is a limit on numbers.
• Branding: whether you may add your name, logo and contact details, and whether the maker's name has to stay on.
• What is not allowed: reselling, posting the file publicly for download, or passing it to another organization are the usual limits.
• Updates: whether you get corrected or revised versions, and for how long.
• Refunds and contact: what happens if the files turn out not to fit, and who to ask about the terms.

Which handouts do families actually use?

Families tend to keep what solves a problem they have that week:

• Before a death: a planner for accounts, contacts, medical choices and final wishes, and plain-language information about CPR and DNR decisions.
• Just after: an obituary guide and a funeral program template, since families often have only a few days to write and print both.
• The months after: short grief letters or check-ins. Medicare hospice rules require an organized bereavement program, with bereavement services available to the family for up to one year after the patient's death and a bereavement plan of care (42 CFR 418.64, via Cornell LII). Printed material can support that program. It does not replace the counseling the rule describes.

How do you hand printables to families well?

• Keep one master copy and check it is the latest version before a print run.
• Give one item at a time. A thick folder at the bedside often goes unread. A single planner or one-page sheet, offered when it fits, gets used.
• Put your contact details on it if the license allows, so families know who to call with a question.
• Say what it is not. A planner is not a will or an advance directive, and a template is not legal or medical advice. Point families to their doctor, a lawyer or official state forms where those apply.
• Review it once a year for changed phone numbers, staff names and local rules.

Can you make your own handouts instead?

Yes. Your own staff can write a short welcome letter, a contact sheet or a checklist, and your organization will own it if it is written as part of their jobs. Building a 50-page planner or a full set of program templates takes much longer, which is where a licensed set saves time. Our free one-page printables, such as the Obituary Fact Sheet and Questions to Ask About CPR and a DNR Order, may be printed and shared freely as long as our footer stays on.

If you want a licensed set ready to hand out: our organization licenses let one location of a hospice, funeral home or care organization print or email unlimited copies to its own families, add its name, logo and contact details, and get free updates for 12 months. Reselling, public posting and sharing with another organization are not allowed. Each extra location is 50% of the price. The Just-in-Case Planner organization license is $129. The Complete Set organization license is $349 and covers five products: the Just-in-Case Planner, Is a DNR Right for Me (or My Parent)?, the Two-Home Co-Parenting Planner, the Funeral Program Full Set and the Moving Box Labels kit. A Funeral Program Full Set license ($129) is also in our Gumroad store.

General information. Not legal, medical, financial or tax advice. Our license terms are a plain-language product license, not legal advice. Planners and templates are not wills, advance directives, medical orders or official state forms.

Updated 2026-10-21.