# Sharing with the family

> How to invite a family to their own case, exactly what they can and cannot see, and what they can do once they are in.

The Family Portal gives a family their own view of their case: what is arranged,
when it is happening, and the documents that concern them. It exists to stop the
same three questions arriving by phone on a Tuesday afternoon.

It is a separate door from the staff sign-in, and it is deliberately narrow. A
family sees their case and nothing else.

## Inviting a family

From the case, use **Invite Family**. The button only appears once the portal is
turned on for your firm, under [Family portal
settings](/docs/setup/family-portal-settings/).

If the primary contact on the case has an email address, Lethra emails them the
invite straight away. If there is no email yet, Lethra copies an invite link
instead, so you can send it yourself inside a message you have already written.
That is why the contact email matters so much when you are [creating a
case](/docs/getting-started/first-case/).

The family member then creates their own account with their own password, or
signs in with a link emailed to them.

(Screenshot: The Family Portal sign-in screen, showing email and password fields under a Family Portal heading.)

> **Caution:** The portal is a different sign-in from yours. If a family member says the site
> will not let them in, the usual cause is that they are trying the staff sign-in.
> Send them the portal address again.
You can invite more than one person. In the portal, each person is either the
**Decision-maker** or a **Family member**. Everyone can share thoughts and
documents. The decision-maker is the one who confirms choices. You choose who
that is on the case's **Family notebook** tab, with **Make decision-maker**,
which is useful when the person who decides is not the person you speak to
most.

(Screenshot: The bottom of the Family notebook tab: the documents asked of the family with their status, and Family in the portal, with Anneke as decision-maker and Make decision-maker next to Bart.)

## What the family sees

Once signed in, a family member lands on **Your loved ones**, where their case
is listed under **Current arrangements**. Next to it is **Your planning**, a
private place for their own wishes.

Inside a case there are five tabs.

| Tab | What is on it |
| --- | --- |
| Overview | Where things stand: the next service, up to three things that need their answer, what is new since their last visit, the schedule, the people in the portal, and a box to message you. |
| The farewell | A shared farewell note, organised by topic such as music, readings and flowers, with where each part stands. Proofs of the mourning letter and printwork to review, condolences, and the services you offer. |
| Details | The deceased's details, which the family can help complete: family, wishes on record and practical matters. |
| Documents | What you need from them, what you prepared for them, and anything else they upload. |
| Conversations | Meetings and family talks they recorded, and what was picked out of them. |

(Screenshot: The family portal view of a case, with Your loved ones and Your planning at the top, the Overview, The farewell, Details, Documents and Conversations tabs, a summary of where things stand, and the schedule with Add to calendar buttons.)

## What the family cannot see

This is worth knowing precisely, because it is the question every funeral
director asks first.

They never see:

- Your other cases, or any other family
- Your inbox, or any conversation you have not sent to them
- Your internal notes
- Prices
- Anything in Growth, Leads, Ads or Calls

A family sees their own case and nothing else.

## What the family can do

**See the schedule.** Services with dates and places, so the details are
somewhere they can check at midnight without ringing you. **Add to calendar**
puts a service in their own calendar.

**Share their thoughts.** A song she loved, who should speak, the flowers.
Lethra files each thought under the right topic. You reply and set where each
part stands on the case's **Family notebook** tab.

(Screenshot: The Family notebook tab on a case: a recorded arrangement conference, and the family's thoughts per topic, such as the viewing and the music, each with where it stands and a reply from the funeral home.)

**Review proofs.** When you share the mourning letter or other printwork, they
can confirm it or ask for a correction.

**Read and upload documents.** They see what you shared, and what you asked them
for. You ask from the **Family notebook** tab, for example with **Add the
standard document checklist**, then approve what arrives or ask for another
copy. This replaces the "can you email that again, it did not come through"
loop.

**Record a conversation.** A family talk or a meeting can be recorded or
uploaded as a voice memo. Lethra picks out the wishes, decisions and open
questions, and the family reviews them before anything is added.

**Message you.** What they send lands in your
[inbox](/docs/getting-started/the-inbox/) as a message from the family.

**Ask about services.** They can show interest in services you offer. You see
the request on the case.

**Plan ahead.** **Your planning** is where someone can record their own wishes in
a guided conversation, and invite people they trust to help. That is separate
from an active case, and from the chat on your website: someone who chooses to
plan ahead there is handed over to **Your planning** (see [First
Call](/docs/communication/first-call/)).

## Your planning

**Your planning** is a quiet, private conversation with your funeral home's
planning guide. It goes through your **Planning questions** one at a time, at
the person's own pace, and saves each answer in their own words. What is saved
so far is shown next to the conversation, so they can read along and correct
anything.

(Screenshot: Your planning in the portal: the conversation on the left, and on the right what the person has shared so far, such as the type of funeral, the music and the flowers.)

Saved wishes are their wishes, not bookings: nothing is ordered or confirmed by
being saved. If something urgent happens while they are planning, **Need help
now?** at the top gives them your phone number and a direct way to tell you,
through First Call's urgent path.

(Screenshot: The Need help now? menu in Your planning: a call button with the funeral home's number, and Tell the funeral home now.)

## Getting the most out of it

- **Invite early.** The portal is most useful in the first days, when the family
  has the most questions and you have the least time.
- **Add services as soon as they are fixed.** The schedule is only reassuring
  when it is current, and an empty one prompts a phone call.
- **Tell them what it is for.** One sentence when you send the invite, saying
  they can see the arrangements and upload photos there, gets far more families
  using it than an invite arriving with no explanation.

## Where to go next

That is the whole of getting started. The rest of this help centre covers
setup, daily work, communication, documents, growth and the eLys integration for
Flanders in more depth.

If you are stuck, ask the Assistant inside Lethra, or reply to any email from
us.

Source: https://lethra.ai/docs/getting-started/family-portal/