How to Choose a Funeral Home will guide you through your legal rights and offer tips to help you save money on funeral costs.

Thanks in large part to the Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule, choosing a funeral home doesn't have to be a difficult or overly-stressful endeavor.

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  (Photo by Niels Rameckers)

• You are not legally obligated to work with a funeral home or director, but most people find it easier to have a professional help them deal with the logistics surrounding a death.

• A funeral director will walk you through the entire funeral procedure. Funeral directors can help procure copies of the deceased's death certificate, write an obituary, help you follow any religious observances, contact social security, make arrangements with a crematorium, etc. The funeral home, itself, is where the body is prepared and is often times the site of the actual funeral service.

• Unless you've made arrangements beforehand, you will probably be forced to choose a funeral home quickly and under great emotional duress. Hopefully, you will be able to get a recommendation from a trusted friend or clergy member. Whether you are working with a recommended mortuary or not, it's crucial that you understand your rights when entering into a relationship with a funeral home.

• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the nation's consumer protection agency and enforcer of the Funeral Rule. The Funeral Rule allows consumers to compare prices between funeral homes and select which of the home's services you wish to use without being pressured into buying a "package" of any kind.

• The Funeral Rule entitles you to the following:

1. Buy Only the Funeral Arrangements You Want: You do not have to purchase a "package" of goods and services from a funeral home. You can purchase funeral goods, such as a casket, from an outside vendor, and the funeral home has to use it. You can pay for a memorial service and direct burial, but not embalming. It's up to you.
2. Get Prices on the Phone: Funeral directors must give you pricing information on the phone if you ask for it. This makes comparing prices between multiple providers much easier. The mortuary cannot demand your name, address or phone number before giving you the prices.
3. Get a Written, Itemized Price List: If asked, funeral homes must give you a General Price List, an itemized list of all the services and merchandise sold by the home with their associated costs. If a service you have to pay for is required by law, the funeral home must give you a written explanation of the law or crematory requirements before charging you.
4. Get a Written Casket Price List Before Seeing the Caskets: Caskets are expensive, and less scrupulous funeral homes will pressure you into buying the most elaborate one. They often won't display cheaper caskets on the sales floor. This is why you should ask to see a price list before looking at the display.
5. Receive a Written Statement Before You Pay: Once you've decided on the goods and services you'll be utilizing, the funeral home must provide you with a list of the items you've chosen and the total cost of the arrangements.
6. Use an Alternative Container for Cremation: According to the FTC, no state or local law requires you to use a casket for cremation. Funeral homes and crematoriums must provide alternative containers made of pressed wood, fiberboard or cardboard for the cremation process. They also cannot require you to buy an urn from them. You can bring in your own container for the remains.
7. Make Funeral Arrangements Without Embalming: According to the FTC, no state law requires embalming. Some states do require that a body be embalmed or refrigerated if it is not buried or cremated in a certain amount of time. Refrigeration is a cheaper and acceptable alternative to embalming if you are having a closed casket funeral.

• Whether you're choosing a funeral home well in advance of someone passing or are forced to find a mortuary on the spot, you'll want to take the following into consideration:

1. Convenience: While you shouldn't choose a funeral home on the basis of convenience alone, location may be a factor for you and your family.
2. Previous Experiences and Relationships: Obviously, if you know a funeral provider or a funeral provider is recommended by your friends, family or a clergy member close to the deceased, you should consider their services.
3. Price: Funeral and burial costs can easily reach close to $10,000. Cost is a consideration, but, thanks to the Funeral Rule, morturaries must give you itemized prices for their services over the phone.

(Photo by Erica Burrell)

• Funeral costs are divided into three basic categories:

1. Basic Service Fees for the Funeral Director: There is a basic servie fee which funeral homes are allowed to charge and you cannot decline to pay. This fee includes the cost of securing copies of the deceased's death certificate, preparing death notices, sheltering the remains and coordinating with any third parties like cemetaries or crematories.
2. Services and Merchandise: These are optional funeral-related costs and include things like caskets, embalming, transporting the remains or using the funeral home for a memorial service or viewing, use of a hearse, etc.
3. Cash Advances: These fees are charged by the funeral home for goods and services bought from outside vendors on your behalf. These include things like flowers, obituary notices and an honorarium for the officiating clergy. If the funeral home cannot provide you with an exact cost for these services upfront, they must provide you with a "good faith" estimate.

• The FTC provides a printable checklist to have with you when you call funeral homes to ask for prices. They recommend that you take the following items and services into consideration:

• Disposition of Remains Costs:
  • Immediate Burial
  • Immediate Cremation
  • Donation of Body to Medical School or Hospital
• Traditional Full Service Burial or Cremation Costs:
  • Basic Services Fee
  • Pickup of Body
  • Embalming
  • Other Body Preparation Costs
  • Least Expensive Casket
  • Visitation/Viewing Staff and Facilities
  • Funeral or Memorial Service Staff and Facilities
  • Graveside Service Staff and Equipment
  • Hearse
• Other Services:
  • Forwarding Body to Another Funeral Home
  • Receiving Body to Another Funeral Home
• Cemetery-Related Costs:
  • Cost of Cemetery Plot or Crypt
  • Perpetual Care
  • Opening and Closing of Grave or Crypt
  • Grave Liner or Burial Vault (Required by cemeteries to prevent the ground from sinking after the burial.)
  • Marker or Monument

• One way to save money on funeral costs is to join one of the 110 memorial societies affiliated with the nonprofit Funeral Consumers Alliance. These societies act as co-ops which arrange affordable funerals with local mortuaries.

• Federal Trade Commission: Funerals: A Consumer Guide

• Federal Trade Commission: Paying Final Respects: Your Rights When Buying Funeral Goods & Services

• International Cemetery and Funeral Association: Consumer Resource Guide

• AARP: Funeral Arrangements and Memorial Services - Final Details: A Checklist

• VideoJug: Funeral Planning Videos

• MSN Money: How to Plan an $800 Funeral

• MSN Money: Steps You Must Take When Someone Dies

• Colorado Bar Association: What to Do When Someone Dies

• NOLO: Planning Your Funeral or Memorial Services

• Green Burial Council: Frequently Asked Questions

• The Neptune Society: Frequently Asked Questions

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