Funeral fees in the United States

The FTC Funeral Rule gives you clear rights when you arrange a funeral in the United States. The provider must hand you an itemised General Price List that you can keep when you visit and ask about arrangements. The list must show the figures for the funeral goods and services the home offers. You do not have to ask twice. The offer of the list must come when discussion of arrangements begins.

You can get figures by phone too. The Rule says funeral homes must give fee information over the phone if you ask. Use this before you visit. Call two or three homes, ask for the same items, and write down each answer. Phone answers prepare you, but the printed list you keep is the record that counts.

Buy only what you want. The Rule gives you the right to choose the goods and services you want, with narrow exceptions. The provider must state this right on the General Price List itself. Items required by state or local law can be mandatory, and the list must name the exact law. The basic services fee, which covers the director's overhead, can also be non-declinable. Everything else is your choice.

Watch the embalming line. The Rule requires a disclosure that embalming is not required by law except in certain special cases. If you choose a funeral with a viewing, embalming may be needed in practice. You do not have to pay for embalming you did not approve. Read that line of the list with care.

Ask to see the casket list before you see the caskets. The provider must show you a printed casket price list before showing the caskets themselves. The same applies to outer burial containers. This stops the showroom from steering you before you know the figures.

Note what the Rule does not do. It does not set fees. It does not require online publication, so American providers publish lists online less often than British ones. It does not cover cemeteries in most cases, so cemetery plots and digging fees follow state law instead. For those, ask the cemetery for its own written list. Keep every list you receive. If a figure changes, the paper you kept is your proof of what was offered.