Why I Visit Funeral Homes And You Should Too

I accepted an invitation, and today I will meet with other lawyers at our local law library, to discuss the laws surrounding death and dying.  I’ve become familiar with the law as an Elder Law attorney. I’ve also served on the board, and as president of our local Funeral Consumer’s Alliance.

During past week,  I’ve visited funeral homes on Lancaster Ave, Eagle Road, West Chester Pike and many other streets, and asked for a copy of their current price list.

Because of a Federal law known as the Funeral Rule, funeral directors must give a price list to anyone who visits in person to request it. You can say that you are doing research, writing an article, pre-planning or even that you are a community activist. No matter what reason, so long as you visit in person, you are entitled to a copy of the price list.

There were two reasons for my survey. First, I wanted to see how many local funeral homes complied with the Funeral Rule. A recent investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, found that not all funeral homes complied with the law, although it was enacted over twenty years ago.

More important, my survey also gave me an opportunity to meet local funeral directors. Not only to make price comparisons, but also to learn a history of their funeral home, and what they consider the greatest benefit of doing business with them. They seemed happy that I stopped in to learn about their business. After all, everyone is a potential customer.

I encourage you to collect and read price lists. Once you have collected a few price lists, you will see they all follow a standard format. That format is also required by the Funeral Rule to make easy price comparisons.  If any funeral director does not comply with your request, feel free to contact me and let me know.  If you are not shy, you may contact the FTC directly.Hopefully you will have made first contact with a local funeral director you would like to patronize in the future, for yourself or a loved one, for that inevitable expense. 

We’re all going to die eventually. What do you consider the most important feature of a funeral director? What do you think other readers should look for when shopping for a funeral director?

Stay well until the next post. 

Bob Gasparro

Bob Gasparro is an Elder Practitioner (accountant and attorney). He can be reached at Robert.Gasparro@lifespanlegal.com or (484) 297-2050. Comments to this post, and ideas for future posts are welcome.