The Funeral Rule, and what you are allowed to refuse

Before and after · 8 min read

The Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule gives you enforceable rights in every state. A funeral provider must give you a written general price list when you visit and ask about arrangements, must give you prices over the telephone if you ask without requiring your personal information first, must let you buy only the goods and services you want rather than a package, and must give you an itemized written statement before you pay. It may not refuse to handle a casket or urn you bought somewhere else, and it may not charge you a fee for doing so. No state law requires routine embalming for every death.

Why it exists

The rule exists because of a specific, documented problem. Funeral arrangements are bought once or twice in a lifetime, under time pressure, by people who are grieving, from a seller who knows far more about the product than the buyer does. Almost every consumer protection that normally comes from experience and comparison is absent.

The Federal Trade Commission's answer was to legislate the information rather than the price. The rule does not cap what a funeral home may charge. It requires that you be told, in writing, what everything costs before you commit, and that you be allowed to decline anything you do not want.

That distinction is worth holding onto. Prices vary widely between providers in the same town for identical services. The rule gives you the tools to find that out. It does not do the finding for you.

How it actually works

The general price list is the central document. When you visit a funeral home and ask about arrangements, the provider must hand you a written list of all the items and services offered with the cost of each, and it is yours to keep. If state or local law requires the purchase of any particular item, the provider must disclose that on the price list. The right to select only the goods and services you want must itself be stated on the list.

There are two further lists. Before you are shown actual caskets, you are entitled to see a written casket price list, which is how you find out about lower priced options that are not on display. If the provider sells outer burial containers and their prices are not on the general price list, you are entitled to a separate container price list before you view them.

By telephone, the rule is simple. Funeral directors must give you price information over the phone if you ask for it, and they may not require your name, address or telephone number first. This is what makes comparison possible without visiting four premises in a week.

Before you pay, you must receive an itemized written statement showing exactly what you are buying and the cost of each item. Read it against the general price list. This is the moment when items nobody discussed tend to appear, and the statement exists so that they can be questioned.

Where you stand

You are entitled to buy goods and services separately. Packages may be offered and may be cheaper, but they may not be required. You may decline a viewing, a ceremony, a casket, transportation, or any other single item on the list.

You are entitled to buy a casket or urn elsewhere. The provider may not refuse to handle it and may not charge you a fee for handling it. Providers offering cremation must also make alternative containers available rather than requiring a casket.

You are not required to embalm. The Federal Trade Commission states plainly that no state law requires routine embalming for every death, and that alternatives including direct cremation, immediate burial, and refrigeration without embalming are available. A provider may not tell you embalming is legally required when it is not. Specific circumstances, such as certain transportation across state lines or a delay before viewing, may trigger a requirement, and those rules vary by state.

You are entitled to complain, and complaints are acted on. The Funeral Rule is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, and states separately license and discipline funeral establishments through a state funeral board or equivalent. If a provider refused a price list, refused to handle an outside casket, or charged for items you declined, both routes are open to you.

What to do

The mistakes that cost people

Visiting only one funeral home. Prices for identical services vary considerably in the same area, and the telephone disclosure rule exists precisely so that you can find that out in an hour.
Accepting a package without seeing the itemized alternative. Packages are lawful and sometimes cheaper, and you are entitled to see both before choosing.
Believing that embalming is required. It is not required as a routine matter anywhere, and being told otherwise is a reason to ask which law is being referred to.
Signing the itemized statement without reading it against the price list. Items that were never discussed most often appear at this stage.

Words you will meet

general price list: The written list of every item and service a funeral provider offers with its price, which must be given to you when you ask about arrangements.
basic services fee: The non-declinable fee covering a funeral provider's overhead and the arrangement of services, which appears on the general price list.
cash advance items: Goods and services the funeral home buys on your behalf from third parties, such as flowers, obituaries or clergy honoraria.
outer burial container: A grave liner or vault placed around a casket, sometimes required by a cemetery rather than by law.
direct cremation: Cremation shortly after death without embalming, viewing or a preceding ceremony, which providers must offer as an option.
immediate burial: Burial shortly after death without embalming or a preceding ceremony, which providers must also offer as an option.

What this does not cover

This module does not cover cemetery contracts, which the Funeral Rule does not reach, or preneed and prepaid funeral plans, which are regulated state by state and need separate treatment.

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