Your Rights Under the FTC Funeral Rule

You have more say over a funeral bill than many people realize. A federal regulation called the Funeral Rule, in force since 1984 and enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), gives you the right to see prices up front, pick items one by one, and turn down what you don't want. It applies to a funeral arranged today and to one planned years ahead.

Below is what the rule requires, in plain terms, and what it leaves out. It's a federal floor: states add their own rules on top, and your state's funeral board or a lawyer can say what applies where you live.

Who has to follow the Funeral Rule?

Any business that sells both funeral goods (like caskets) and funeral services (like caring for the body or running the ceremony) is a "funeral provider" under the rule. That includes funeral homes. It doesn't have to be a licensed funeral home to be covered, and a cemetery or crematory that sells both goods and services is covered too.

The rule doesn't apply to businesses that sell only goods, such as casket stores and monument dealers, or to cemeteries without a funeral home on site. It also doesn't apply to insurance.

Your rights, one by one

You can get prices over the phone

A funeral home has to answer price questions on the phone, using the information on its price lists. You don't have to give your name, address or phone number first, and it can't make you come in to get prices. It doesn't have to mail or email you its price list, though many will.

You get a General Price List to keep

When you start talking about arrangements in person, the funeral home must hand you a General Price List (GPL). That's a printed list of everything it sells and the price of each item, with the date the prices took effect. It's yours to take home, and it's free. This applies wherever the conversation happens, including your own home.

The GPL has to show certain items separately when the home offers them, including transfer of the body, embalming, use of the building for a viewing or ceremony, the hearse, direct cremation and immediate burial (burial soon after death with no viewing).

You see casket and vault prices before the merchandise

If casket prices aren't on the GPL, the funeral home must show you a separate casket price list before it shows you any caskets. The same goes for outer burial containers, the grave liners and vaults some cemeteries require. Seeing the full list first lets you ask about lower-priced models that may not be on display.

You buy only what you want

You don't have to accept a package. Funeral homes can offer packages, but they must also offer each item separately. The only fee you can't decline is the basic services fee, which covers the funeral director's planning, permits, notices and coordination, unless state or local law requires something else. A second fee everyone must pay, like a "casket handling fee," isn't allowed.

You can bring your own casket or urn

You can buy a casket or urn online, from a store or anywhere else. The funeral home can't refuse to use it, can't charge a fee for using it, and can't require you to be there when it's delivered.

You don't need a casket for cremation

No state or local law requires a casket for cremation. A funeral home that offers direct cremation (cremation without a viewing or ceremony with the body present) must tell you that alternative containers are available and must have them. These are simple containers made of unfinished wood, pressed wood, fiberboard or cardboard.

You can say no to embalming

No state law requires embalming for every death. Some states require embalming or refrigeration if burial or cremation is delayed. A funeral home can't embalm for a fee without permission, except in narrow cases, and can't say embalming is needed for direct cremation or immediate burial. Many homes require it for a public viewing, but you can ask about a private family viewing without it, or about refrigeration.

You get an itemized statement before you pay

When you finish making arrangements, the funeral home must give you a written statement listing everything you chose, the price of each item and the total. If it buys things for you from others, such as flowers or death certificates, those must be itemized, with a good faith estimate if the cost isn't known yet. If it marks those items up, it has to say so.

If the funeral home says the law, a cemetery or a crematory requires you to buy something, it must explain that requirement in writing on the statement.

You won't be told things that aren't true

A funeral home can't say a casket or vault will preserve a body for a long time, or claim protective features a product doesn't have. It can't say the law or a particular cemetery requires something when it doesn't.

What the Funeral Rule doesn't cover

Situation	Covered?
Funeral homes, at need or planned ahead	Yes
Cemeteries and crematories that sell funeral goods and services	Yes
Cemeteries with no funeral home on site	No
Casket stores and monument dealers	No
Funeral or burial insurance	No

Two other gaps are worth knowing. The rule doesn't require funeral homes to post prices online. And it doesn't set protections for prepaid funeral contracts: the FTC says those come from state law and vary widely.

How do you complain if a funeral home breaks the rule?

Try the funeral director first. If that doesn't work, you can:

report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov
contact your state attorney general
contact your state's funeral licensing board

The FTC says it can't resolve individual complaints, but it can act against a business when it sees a pattern of possible violations. Your state board or attorney general may be able to help with your own case. Our funeral law by state pages list state rules, and our list of lawyers by state is there if you need one.

Frequently asked questions

Does a funeral home have to post its prices online?

Not under the federal rule. It must give prices by phone and hand you a General Price List in person. Some states have their own rules on price lists, so check your state.

Can a funeral home charge me for using a casket I bought elsewhere?

No. The funeral home has to accept a casket or urn from another seller, and adding a handling fee for it is a violation of the rule.

Does the Funeral Rule apply to prepaid funerals?

Yes. The rule applies when you plan ahead, and again after the death if survivors change the plan or are asked to pay more. How the money you prepaid is protected is a matter of state law.