What the FTC Funeral Rule gives you, and what it does not
When someone has just died, families often decide quickly, in an unfamiliar office, with a person selling to them. The Funeral Rule (16 CFR 453, enforced by the US Federal Trade Commission) exists for that moment. It is about information and choice. It does not set prices.
What you are entitled to
An itemized General Price List you can keep, handed to you when you start talking about arrangements, in person.
Prices by phone. A home must give prices over the phone to a caller who asks, without requiring your name or address first.
Only what you choose. You may buy individual items rather than a package, with one exception below.
An outside casket or urn. A home must accept a casket or urn you bought elsewhere, and may not charge a handling fee for it.
An alternative container for cremation. A home that offers direct cremation must offer a plain container, so no casket is needed.
No false claims of legal requirement. A home must not say embalming, a particular casket or a vault is required by law when it is not, and must tell you what is actually required.
Permission before embalming in most cases, and a clear explanation of what it is.
What it does not give you
A cap on prices. The same service can cost very different amounts at two homes a few miles apart, which is why comparing is worth an afternoon.
The right to decline the basic services fee. It is the one fee a home may require. It is also where homes differ most in what they put inside it.
Rules for cemeteries or crematories. A cemetery can require an outer burial container or sell its own plot rules, and the Rule does not cover cemeteries that are not also funeral providers.
Five questions that save money
What exactly is in the basic services fee, and what is the total for exactly the choices I have made?
Which of these lines does a law require, and which law?
What would this cost with a plain container, or a casket I bought elsewhere?
Which of the cash-advance items do you add a charge to?
Can I have this quote in writing, and the same quote from your other price tiers?
Use the checker
Paste the lines of a price list or quote into the checker. It sorts each priced line into what you cannot decline, what is usually needed and what is your choice, flags the charges above, and lists the questions to put to the home. Paste a second home to compare them line by line.