February 27, 2009
New Page on State Laws
We've just added a new page on resources for researching laws and regulations in each state that pertain to home funerals. It is a work in progress; in particular, we need to add departments of vital records that regulate the filing of death certificates. We also welcome additional resources from our readers, particularly papers for each state that summarize the state laws affecting home funerals for each location.
February 22, 2009
Finding a Flexible Funeral Director
I'm starting to have conversations with other home funeral advocates in my town about how we might go about identifying funeral homes and FDs who would be flexible about working very minimally with a family that wants to direct its own funeral but wants just a bit of assistance with an item or two.
I'm wondering if others on this list have deliberately sought out such FDs and, if so, I'd love to hear from them about how they went about it.
It seems that one of the key steps to take is to clarify what it is we want to know and which questions would get at the information we'd need. It's challenging, because the needs and preferences of families directing their own funerals are so diverse.
One area of inquiry might be the basic services fee. In almost all of our funeral homes here, it is obviously discounted for immediate burials, direct cremations and receiving and forwarding of remains, although only one of our funeral homes actually states on its GPL that the basic services fee is discounted for these services. I wonder if the FTC has commented on this practice of discounting -- and whether it might be used to the advantage of family-directed funerals where such common basic services as securing the death certificate and sheltering the body aren't even necessarily provided by the funeral home?
If others have approached funeral homes in their areas on behalf of family-directed funeral fans, I hope you'll share here about your experience, how you went about it, what you learned, and what came of it. Did you do it in person? Did you issue any sort of survey? What reactions did you get? Did you do any follow up? Was it a valuable process?
I'm wondering if others on this list have deliberately sought out such FDs and, if so, I'd love to hear from them about how they went about it.
It seems that one of the key steps to take is to clarify what it is we want to know and which questions would get at the information we'd need. It's challenging, because the needs and preferences of families directing their own funerals are so diverse.
One area of inquiry might be the basic services fee. In almost all of our funeral homes here, it is obviously discounted for immediate burials, direct cremations and receiving and forwarding of remains, although only one of our funeral homes actually states on its GPL that the basic services fee is discounted for these services. I wonder if the FTC has commented on this practice of discounting -- and whether it might be used to the advantage of family-directed funerals where such common basic services as securing the death certificate and sheltering the body aren't even necessarily provided by the funeral home?
If others have approached funeral homes in their areas on behalf of family-directed funeral fans, I hope you'll share here about your experience, how you went about it, what you learned, and what came of it. Did you do it in person? Did you issue any sort of survey? What reactions did you get? Did you do any follow up? Was it a valuable process?
February 18, 2009
State Listings Updated
We've now update our state-by-state listings of home funeral law resources to include the departments of health in all 50 states.
Also, we have posted to the Michigan listing a Q&A on that state's funeral consumer laws by Erika Nelson, a home funeral advocate who also happens to be a funeral director licensee in her state. If you're from Michigan, check it out! We'd love to receive links to similar resources for other states.
Also, we have posted to the Michigan listing a Q&A on that state's funeral consumer laws by Erika Nelson, a home funeral advocate who also happens to be a funeral director licensee in her state. If you're from Michigan, check it out! We'd love to receive links to similar resources for other states.
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