Guide
The General Price List
A General Price List is the funeral home’s own price sheet. Under the FTC Funeral Rule, the home must give it to anyone who asks, in person, about funeral goods, funeral services, or the prices of those goods and services.
What has to be on it
- The non-declinable basic services fee, if the home charges one.
- Embalming, with the disclosure that the law does not always require it.
- Direct cremation, with the prices for a container you buy and a container the home provides.
- Immediate burial, on the same two-container basis.
- Forwarding remains to another funeral home, and receiving remains from one.
- Itemized prices for the other services and merchandise the home offers.
The direct cremation and immediate burial prices already include the basic services fee. If you buy only that package, the home should not add the basic services fee again. If you add a viewing or a ceremony, those are separate lines.
What the list does not settle
Cemetery plots, opening and closing a grave, monuments, flowers, clergy honoraria, and obituary notices are often cash advances. They can be larger than the funeral home’s professional charges, and they are not the direct cremation price.