Your Consumer Rights
The Funeral Rule is a set of regulations enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (the FTC). These regulations provide for the following:
- Funeral Homes must provide you with a printed General Price List (GPL) of all goods and services and their costs when requested in person.
- You may also request pricing over the telephone. You do not have to give your name, address or phone number first in order to receive pricing.
- You only need buy the goods and services you want. You do not have to accept a package that includes items you do not want.
- A written list of casket price ranges must be given to you before being shown the caskets. Similarly, price ranges of burial containers or vaults must be given before seeing them. Vaults are not required by law but may be a requirement of the cemetery.
- Immediately after you decide on what you want and before you pay, you should receive a written statement of every item and its costs.
- Any legal or cemetery requirement that requires you to purchase any goods or services should be explained in the written statement you receive.
- You may use an alternative container for cremation and a funeral home must make them available. If you buy a casket or urn elsewhere, the Funeral Home must accept it and cannot charge you for accepting its delivery.
Rules & Regulations
We hope our short compendium of links will prove helpful. We have divided the links into separate pages:
A more comprehensive list of links can be found on the website of the national Funeral Consumers Alliance, of which we are an Affiliate. See the FCA website http://www.funerals.org.
If dealing with a death of a U.S. Citizen in a foreign country, contact the Bureau of Consular Affairs (U.S. Dept. of State) or the nearest U.S. Embassy or consulate.
- “The Bureau of Consular Affairs provides information on how to make arrangements for local burial or return of the remains to the United States. The disposition of remains is subject to U.S. and local (foreign) law, U.S. and foreign customs requirements, and the foreign country facilities, which are often vastly different from those in the United States.”