How to Have the Cheapest Funeral Possible

What is the cheapest type of funeral?

Direct cremation, then immediate burial. The FTC Funeral Rule names both, and a funeral home that offers them has to price them on its General Price List. A direct cremation is “a disposition of human remains by cremation, without formal viewing, visitation, or ceremony with the body present.” An immediate burial is the same for burial, “except for a graveside service.”

Everything else is extra and appears as its own line: embalming, a viewing, a ceremony at the funeral home, a hearse.

The table below summarizes the prices on file in our database. Use it to see what's typical, not as a quote. Prices change, and only the funeral home's current price list is binding.

How do I compare funeral home prices?

1. Call at least two funeral homes. They have to give you prices over the phone if you ask, and the FTC itself recommends comparing at least two.
2. Ask for the General Price List (GPL). It's an itemized list, and you get to keep it. Here's how to read a General Price List.
3. Compare the same line on each list. For a cremation, that's the direct cremation price. Each list has to show a separate price for a direct cremation where you provide the container, so check which container each price includes.
4. Get the written statement before you pay. The funeral home has to give you one that lists everything you picked, the price of each item and the total.

Which funeral costs can I say no to?

• Anything you don't want. You can buy goods (such as a casket) and services (such as embalming or a memorial service) one at a time.
• Embalming, in most cases. Funeral homes have to tell you that “except in certain special cases, embalming is not required by law.” It may be needed for some choices, such as a funeral with a viewing.
• A casket for cremation. A funeral home can't make you buy a casket for a direct cremation. It has to offer an alternative container, such as an unfinished wood box or another non-metal container.
• The funeral home's own casket or urn. If you buy one somewhere else, the home can't refuse to handle it or charge you a fee for using it.
• But not the basic services fee. That's the one charge you can't decline. For a direct cremation, an immediate burial, or forwarding or receiving remains, it's already built into the price.

What else keeps the cost down?

Keep any viewing short and skip the special burial clothes. The FTC suggests limiting a viewing to one day or one hour before the funeral, and dressing your loved one in a favorite outfit instead of costly burial clothing. It also says it plainly: “It's not necessary to have the fanciest casket or the most elaborate funeral to properly honor a loved one.”

Choosing direct cremation or immediate burial doesn't mean skipping a goodbye. You can hold a memorial later at home, at a place of worship or anywhere else, and you won't pay for the funeral home's rooms and staff.

The cemetery, not the funeral home, sets the price of the grave and of opening and closing it. Ask the cemetery for those prices separately.

Death certificates cost extra for every certified copy. Work out how many copies of the death certificate you'll need before you order, so you don't pay for spares nobody asks for.

Is there financial help with funeral costs?

A little. Social Security pays a one-time $255 death payment to an eligible spouse or child, and the VA pays burial allowances for many veterans. Help paying for a funeral explains who qualifies and how to claim.

Where are the cheapest funeral homes near me?

Start with your state page. It lists the funeral homes with the lowest prices on file in that state, plus the state's median prices. To see every funeral home in an area, not only the cheapest, search the FuneralUS directory.