Your rights at a funeral home.

Under the Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule, you can buy only what you want, see every price in writing, and bring a casket or urn from anywhere.

Before you choose

• Ask for prices by phone. A funeral home must tell you, and you don't have to give your name.
• Take a price list home. You're entitled to an itemized General Price List to keep.
• See casket prices first. In writing, before you're shown the caskets themselves.
• See container prices first. The same goes for outer burial containers.

When you decide

• Buy only what you want. You never have to take a package.
• Use a casket or urn from anywhere. A funeral home can't refuse it, or charge you a fee to use it.
• Choose a simple container for cremation. No law requires a casket, and the funeral home must offer an alternative.
• Say no to embalming. No state requires it for every death. Refrigeration is often an option.

Before you pay

• Get a written statement of everything you chose, with each price and the total.
• See any requirement explained. If a cemetery or crematory requires something, the statement must say so.

Read more: what the rule doesn't cover

The rule applies to funeral homes. It doesn't cover casket or monument sellers, or cemeteries that don't have a funeral home on site, so ask those for written prices too.

Source: the Federal Trade Commission's guide to the Funeral Rule, consumer.ftc.gov.