Every link on this page goes to an official source: a federal agency, a state or city government, the text of a law, or the association of state insurance regulators. No funeral homes, no sellers and no directories. Links were last checked on September 24, 2026.
Jump to: Your rights when buying a funeral · The first days after a death · Death certificates and vital records · Federal benefits that help with funeral costs · Local burial and cremation assistance · Debts, bank accounts and the estate · Life insurance · State-by-state guides
Your rights when buying a funeral
The Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule applies to every funeral home in the country. These are the FTC's own guides and the text of the rule.
- FTC: The FTC Funeral Rule: Your right to prices by phone, a written price list, and to buy only what you choose.
- FTC: Shopping for Funeral Services: The FTC's consumer guide to comparing providers and prices.
- FTC: Funeral Costs and Pricing Checklist: A line-by-line checklist of goods and services and what each covers.
- FTC: Types of Funerals: Traditional, direct cremation and immediate burial explained.
- FTC: Choosing a Funeral Provider: Questions to ask before you pick a funeral home.
- FTC: Shopping by Phone or Online: What a funeral home must tell you over the phone.
- FTC: Buying a Cemetery Site: Plots, opening and closing fees, and what the Funeral Rule does not cover.
- FTC: Planning Your Own Funeral: Pre-planning and prepaying, and the questions to ask first.
- eCFR: 16 CFR Part 453, the Funeral Rule: The full text of the regulation itself.
- FTC: Complying with the Funeral Rule: The FTC's guide for funeral homes, useful for checking what a price list must include.
- FTC: Contact the FTC: How to report a funeral home that breaks the rule.
The first days after a death
Federal checklists for what to do and whom to notify.
- National Institute on Aging: What To Do After Someone Dies: A step-by-step federal guide for families.
- USA.gov: Agencies to Notify When Someone Dies: Which government agencies need to be told, and how.
- USA.gov: Report the Death of a Social Security or Medicare Beneficiary: How the death is reported to Social Security and Medicare.
- Social Security: What to do when someone dies: Reporting a death and stopping or changing benefits.
Death certificates and vital records
Certified copies come from the vital records office in the state (or, for New York City, the city) where the death happened. The state-by-state table below links each office.
- CDC: Where to Write for Vital Records: The CDC's directory of every state and territory vital records office.
- USA.gov: How to Get a Certified Copy of a Death Certificate: Who can order one and how.
- CDC: Funeral Directors' Handbook on Death Registration: How a death certificate is completed and filed (PDF).
- CDC: Foreign Birth and Death Certificates: For a death that happened outside the United States.
Federal benefits that help with funeral costs
What Social Security, the VA and FEMA can pay, straight from each agency.
- Social Security: Lump-sum death payment: The one-time $255 payment and who can receive it.
- Social Security: Survivor Benefits: Monthly benefits for a surviving spouse, children and dependent parents.
- Social Security: How Social Security Can Help You When a Family Member Dies: SSA publication 05-10008 (PDF).
- VA National Cemetery Administration: Burial and Memorial Benefits: Burial in a national cemetery, headstones and markers.
- VA: Veterans Burial Allowance and Transportation Benefits: Current allowance amounts and how to apply.
- VA: Schedule a Burial for a Veteran or Family Member: How to arrange burial in a VA national cemetery.
- FEMA: COVID-19 Funeral Assistance: The program's history and status.
- FEMA: Individuals and Households Program: Funeral help after a declared disaster (PDF fact sheet).
Local burial and cremation assistance
Many cities and counties help low-income families pay for a burial or cremation. Ask the social services office in the county where the person died. One example:
- New York City HRA: Burial Assistance: Up to $1,700 toward the funeral bill of a low-income New York City resident; apply within 120 days of the death.
Debts, bank accounts and the estate
What happens to money owed and money held after a death.
- FTC: Debts and Deceased Relatives: Whether family members have to pay, and debt collector rules.
- CFPB: Does a person's debt go away when they die?: How the estate pays debts.
- CFPB: Am I responsible for my spouse's debts after they die?: Including community property states.
- CFPB: Can a debt collector contact me about a deceased relative's debts?: What collectors may and may not do.
- CFPB: Joint bank accounts after a death: What happens to money in a shared account.
- FDIC: Death of an Account Owner: How deposit insurance treats a deceased owner's accounts.
- Medicaid.gov: Estate Recovery: When a state can recover Medicaid costs from an estate.
- IRS: File the Final Income Tax Returns of a Deceased Person: Who files and what is due.
Life insurance
Finding and claiming a policy.
- NAIC: Life Insurance Policy Locator: A free search run by the state insurance regulators' association for policies you do not know about.
- NAIC: Retained Asset Accounts and Life Insurance: What it means when an insurer pays into an account instead of by check.
- IRS: Life Insurance Proceeds FAQ: When life insurance payouts are taxable.
State-by-state guides
Death certificate offices, fees and each state’s law on who decides the funeral are in our state-by-state guides, with a clickable map and a page for every state.
If you find a link here that has moved, or an official resource we should add, tell us and we will check it. For costs and your rights with a funeral home, start with how much a funeral costs and the FTC Funeral Rule in plain English.