What you don't have to buy.
Some things are a choice, not a requirement. Knowing which is which keeps a plan simple, and its cost honest.
About 2 minutes to read
Under the Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule, you can buy only what you want. Many things families assume they need are optional, and a few are never required by law.
Never required by law
- A package. You can choose items one at a time from the funeral home's price list.
- A casket for cremation. A simple container of wood or cardboard is enough, and a funeral home that offers cremation must have one.
- Routine embalming. No state requires it for every death. Some ask for embalming or refrigeration only if burial or cremation is delayed.
- An outer burial container. No state law requires one, though many cemeteries do, so the ground doesn't settle.
Yours to buy anywhere
- The casket or urn. Buy it online, from a local store, or anywhere else. The funeral home can't refuse it, or charge a fee to use it.
- Flowers, printing and keepsakes. Family and friends often handle these themselves.
Read more: what can be required, and by whom
A cemetery may require an outer burial container or a certain marker. A crematory may require a rigid container. A state may require a permit, or a waiting period before cremation. If anything is required, the funeral home's written statement must say what, and why.
Your plan lists only what you chose.
So your family can ask any funeral home to price just that.
Source: the Federal Trade Commission's guide to the Funeral Rule, consumer.ftc.gov.