For the first time in over 120 years there will soon be a new choice of funeral wishes and how a body can be disposed of. 

For those supporting people to make a will, asking people if they have any funeral wishes is a routine question - some people say nothing, some people simply indicate between burial or cremation and some choose to provide significantly greater detail about the service they wish to have and how they would like the end of their life to be marked.

Going forward, we will all need to make an adjustment to enquiries - do you wish to be buried, cremated or have a water cremation (also known as resomation)? It will be a big change after such a long time but one that I am sure will be embraced and become more commonplace, especially given the indicated 'green credentials' of a water cremation - creating one-third less greenhouse gasses than cremation and only one-seventh of the energy.

With limited locations as a starting point, it will be interesting to see how people's preferences and expressed wishes change - and given that funeral wishes as expressed in wills are not legally binding, whether executors and family members making funeral arrangements also make a shift to this new method.