I have cemeteries, and relatives will place the grave stone there shortly after the death. Then spirit will be released the year after (ref Seasons). I think it gives the family enough time to moan, and the dead sims' name will still be on the grave, just not the ghost. I never resurrect or add ghosts to my households,. so when they die they are gone anyway.
I also like to set up a will/testament, this would normally be an automatic thing as it would refer to the laws/rules I have in my game. I always did this in TS2, not so much in TS3 and found it difficult in TS4 because I play rotationally, but I like the challenge and drama that might occur when other families are affected by inheritance. A child would for instance need to pay out siblings when taking over the only house or receiving other big values that can not be split. This opens for loaning money that might add even more challenges because a loan needs to be paid back on time :)
I wish we had tools in game for all this :smile: