A Practical Funeral Arrangements Checklist

You do not have to settle every detail before calling a funeral home. Start with the time-sensitive matters: follow the procedure for the place of death, identify who has authority to make decisions, find any written wishes and set a working budget. Flowers, music, a permanent marker and a larger memorial gathering can usually wait.

This checklist is for arrangements in the United States. Authority, permits, waiting periods and filing deadlines vary by state.

First calls and documents

• [ ] Follow the instructions for where the death occurred. In hospice, a hospital or a care facility, contact the designated nurse or staff member. For an unexpected death elsewhere, call 911 or the appropriate local authority and do not move the person unless instructed.
• [ ] Identify the person legally authorized to control disposition. This may be an appointed agent or a relative in the order set by state law. Tell the funeral home promptly if authority is unclear or relatives disagree.
• [ ] Look for recognized instructions and existing contracts. Check for an appointment of agent, disposition authorization, prepaid funeral contract, cemetery deed, funeral-home paperwork, obituary notes and religious or cultural wishes. Whether a document is legally controlling depends on state law.
• [ ] Mention donation plans before transfer. Tell hospital or hospice staff about an organ or tissue donor registration. If whole-body donation was planned, call the named program immediately; registration does not necessarily guarantee acceptance at death, so keep a backup disposition plan. Organ and tissue donation are separate from whole-body donation and may affect what a particular program can accept. One university program illustrates why families must confirm eligibility at death rather than assume acceptance (University of Minnesota Anatomy Bequest Program).
• [ ] Gather essential information. The funeral home may ask for the person’s legal name, address, birth information, Social Security number, parents’ names, marital status and occupation. It will tell you what the state requires for the death certificate.
• [ ] Locate a recent photograph and clothing if there will be identification, dressing or viewing.
• [ ] Set a working budget. Note what is available now, ask when payment is due and do not assume an insurance policy or estate account will be immediately accessible.

For a Veteran, locate the DD214 or other discharge record early. When no pre-need eligibility decision exists, the VA says checking eligibility may take several days without discharge documents. Either the family or funeral director can request burial in a VA national cemetery through the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 800-535-1117 (VA scheduling guidance).

Choose and compare funeral providers

• [ ] Call two or three funeral homes if time permits. Ask each for prices for the same arrangement, such as direct cremation, immediate burial or a funeral followed by burial.
• [ ] Ask for prices by telephone. Funeral homes must provide price information over the phone when asked. You do not have to give your name or contact details first.
• [ ] Get the General Price List when meeting in person. The funeral home must give you a written GPL that is yours to keep. You may select individual goods and services rather than accept a package (FTC Funeral Rule). A home may voluntarily send or post its list, but the federal rule does not require that.
• [ ] Confirm transfer charges and the service area. Ask what removal from the place of death costs during business hours, after hours and beyond the home’s stated radius.
• [ ] Check availability before announcing a date. Coordinate the funeral home, venue, cemetery or crematory, officiant and key family members first. See what can affect the funeral planning timeline.
• [ ] Keep every document. Save the price lists, estimates, contract and receipts together.

The federal Funeral Rule covers funeral providers. It does not cover cemeteries without an on-site funeral home or independent casket and monument sellers. Obtain the cemetery’s own price list and rules where applicable.

Decisions for the arrangement meeting

Care and disposition

• [ ] Choose burial, cremation, entombment or another lawful option available locally. If pursuing whole-body donation, confirm acceptance and what will happen to the remains afterward.
• [ ] Decide whether there will be identification, a private viewing, a public viewing or no viewing.
• [ ] Ask whether refrigeration or embalming is proposed, why and what each costs. Routine embalming is not required by state law for every death. Some states require embalming or refrigeration after a specified time, and a funeral home may have a policy requiring embalming for public viewing. Ask about private viewing without embalming and available alternatives (FTC guidance).
• [ ] If choosing cremation, confirm who must authorize it, whether a waiting period applies and who will receive the cremated remains.
• [ ] Choose the final destination: a cemetery plot, mausoleum crypt, columbarium niche, keeping cremated remains at home, an authorized scattering location or another arrangement.

Service and gathering

• [ ] Choose a funeral, memorial service, celebration of life, graveside service, committal or no ceremony.
• [ ] Set the date, time and location only after the necessary parties confirm availability.
• [ ] Choose the officiant or service leader, speakers, readers, musicians and pallbearers if needed.
• [ ] Draft the ceremony sequence. A simple funeral order of service can track readings, music, remarks and the committal.
• [ ] Plan accessibility, livestreaming, interpretation or other accommodations.
• [ ] Decide whether guests need transportation or written directions. If several vehicles will travel together, prepare a funeral procession plan.
• [ ] Decide whether to hold a reception and who will manage food, setup and cleanup.

Merchandise and outside charges

• [ ] Select only the casket, urn or cremation container needed for the arrangements. No state or local law requires a casket for cremation, and a funeral home offering cremation must make an alternative container available. Compare the main cremation container choices.
• [ ] For burial, ask the cemetery whether it requires an outer burial container. State law does not require a vault or grave liner, although many cemeteries require one. Ask for the least expensive option that meets the cemetery’s rules (FTC cost checklist).
• [ ] Confirm cemetery charges for the grave or crypt, opening and closing, weekend service, equipment, marker installation and care.
• [ ] Price optional items separately: flowers, programs, obituary placement, musicians, clergy honoraria, keepsakes and catering.

Funeral homes may pay outside vendors and list those expenses as cash advances. Ask whether the home adds a service fee. The Funeral Rule requires written disclosure when it does, although it does not require disclosure of the markup amount. The provider must also disclose supplier refunds, discounts or rebates on cash-advance items (FTC cost checklist).

Before approving the arrangements

• [ ] Check names and dates in the death-certificate information, obituary, program and marker order.
• [ ] Estimate how many certified death certificates are needed. First ask each bank, insurer or agency whether it needs a certified copy or will accept a photocopy. The vital-records office in the state where the death occurred provides ordering methods and prices (USAGov death-certificate guidance).
• [ ] Review the written statement line by line. After you choose the goods and services—and before payment—the funeral home must provide a statement showing every selected item, its price and the total. An unknown cash-advance amount must appear as a written good-faith estimate (FTC cost checklist).
• [ ] Ask which amounts can change and when payment is due.
• [ ] Confirm cancellation, refund and transfer terms in writing; these terms and applicable state protections vary.
• [ ] Name one family contact and one funeral-home contact so instructions do not conflict.
• [ ] Get the final schedule, addresses, arrival times and after-hours number.

Keep a short not decided yet list. A permanent marker, final inscription, later memorial gathering and the eventual placement of cremated remains often allow more time than transportation, authorization and immediate care. Separating urgent choices from later ones makes the first arrangement meeting easier to manage.