Plan from Home: Funeral Planning Notes and Price Request

Plan from home

A calm place to gather your thoughts before you speak with a funeral home. Choose your options a step at a time, then get a one-page plan, a message you can send from your own email app, and a script for a phone call.

If someone may still be alive or needs urgent help, or if the death was sudden or unexpected, call 911 now. If the person was in hospice care, call the hospice.

This is a planning aid, not legal advice. We are not a funeral home, funeral director, cremation provider or broker. We don't arrange funerals, contact funeral homes, recommend any provider or receive any payment from them. You decide what to send and who to send it to.

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Your plan

Check details before you send or print this. Prices, rules and availability vary. Get the final prices in writing from the funeral home.

A price-request message

Copy it into your own email or text app, or open it in your email app. We never send anything for you, and we do not know who you write to. You choose who to send it to.

Check details before you send or print this. Prices, rules and availability vary. Get the final prices in writing from the funeral home.

A phone script

Good to know: what the federal rule says

These plain-language statements are drawn from the FTC's Funeral Rule and the FTC's consumer guidance. Each shows its source and when it was last checked.

If you ask by phone, funeral providers must give you accurate price information from their price lists, and other readily available information that reasonably answers your question.

Source: 16 CFR 453.2(b)(1). 16 CFR 453.2 (Legal Information Institute). Last checked 5 November 2026.

When you meet in person and start discussing arrangements or prices, they must offer you a General Price List that you can keep.

Source: 16 CFR 453.2(b)(4); FTC guide. 16 CFR 453.2 (Legal Information Institute); FTC consumer advice: The FTC Funeral Rule. Last checked 5 November 2026.

The federal rule doesn't require them to mail or email it, though some states require mailing a price list on request, so they may ask you to call or visit.

Source: FTC guide (the Rule text doesn't address email). FTC consumer advice: The FTC Funeral Rule; FTC business guidance: Complying with the Funeral Rule. Last checked 5 November 2026.

They must show you a casket price list before showing caskets, and an outer burial container price list before showing those.

Source: 16 CFR 453.2(b)(2)–(3). 16 CFR 453.2 (Legal Information Institute). Last checked 5 November 2026.

You may choose only the items you want, but a funeral provider may charge a basic services fee that can't be declined, and some items may be required by law.

Source: 16 CFR 453.4(b); 453.2(b)(4)(iv). 16 CFR 453.4 (Legal Information Institute); 16 CFR 453.2 (Legal Information Institute). Last checked 5 November 2026.

At the end of the arrangements discussion, they must give you an itemized written statement of what you chose and the prices.

Source: 16 CFR 453.2(b)(5). 16 CFR 453.2 (Legal Information Institute). Last checked 5 November 2026.

Except in certain special cases, embalming is not required by law. It may be necessary if you choose certain arrangements, such as a funeral with viewing.

Source: 16 CFR 453.3(a)(2)(ii). 16 CFR 453.3 (Legal Information Institute). Last checked 5 November 2026.

A casket isn't required for direct cremation. Providers who arrange direct cremations must make an alternative container available.

Source: 16 CFR 453.3(b); 453.4(a). 16 CFR 453.3 (Legal Information Institute); 16 CFR 453.4 (Legal Information Institute). Last checked 5 November 2026.

Direct cremation means cremation without a formal viewing, visitation or ceremony with the body present.

Source: 16 CFR 453.1(g). 16 CFR 453.1 (Legal Information Institute). Last checked 5 November 2026.

Rules vary by state

Rules vary by state. Your state decides who has the legal right to make these decisions and sign the forms, including for cremation. Many states set an order of priority, such as a person named in writing, then a spouse or next of kin, and some set deadlines. Ask the funeral home or your state's funeral board what applies.

Permits, death certificate steps, embalming exceptions, waiting periods before cremation, and transport across state lines also vary. The funeral home can usually tell you what's needed, including whether you must sign anything in person.