FUNERAL PRICE LIST CHECKER · RUNS IN YOUR BROWSER

Which funeral charges are required, and which are your choice?

Paste the lines from a funeral home's General Price List or quote. Each priced line is sorted into the fee you cannot decline, what is usually needed, what is your choice and what is paid to someone else, with charges the FTC Funeral Rule speaks to flagged. Paste a second home to compare line by line.

Nothing is uploaded. The page makes no network calls. It is a reading aid and not legal advice.

Home A: paste a price list or quote

Compare with a second home (optional)

Paste a list and click Check the list.

Run it from the command line

node cli.mjs quote.txt
node cli.mjs --compare home-a.txt home-b.txt
node cli.mjs --example

Get cli.mjs and funeral.mjs from the repo. Node 18+, no dependencies.

Common questions

What is the FTC Funeral Rule?

A US federal rule (16 CFR 453) that requires funeral homes to give you an itemized General Price List to keep, quote prices by phone, let you buy only the items you want, accept a casket or urn you bought elsewhere without a fee, and not tell you a service is required by law when it is not. It does not cap prices.

Is embalming required by law?

Not by federal law. A few states require it in narrow cases, such as certain kinds of transport or a long delay before burial or viewing. A funeral home may not say it is required unless a law says so, and needs your permission before charging for it. Ask which law applies and whether refrigeration would do.

Do I have to buy a casket for cremation?

No. No casket is required for cremation. A home that offers direct cremation must offer an alternative container, such as unfinished wood or heavy cardboard.

Can a funeral home charge a fee because I bought the casket elsewhere?

Under the FTC Funeral Rule, no. A home must accept a casket or urn you bought elsewhere and may not charge a handling or inspection fee for it. The checker flags any line that looks like one.

Which fee can I not decline?

The basic services fee. It is the one charge the Rule lets a funeral home require, and what it covers differs by home, so compare it across homes.

Does the checker tell me what a fair price is?

No. It sorts each priced line into what it is, adds up each group and compares two homes line by line, so you can see which items are your choice. Prices differ by region and home, and the tool is not legal advice.

Is my price list uploaded anywhere?

No. Everything runs in this page and the page makes no network calls.

More: What the FTC Funeral Rule gives you, and what it does not