By federal law, a funeral home's General Price List must itemize the retail price of each of 16 specified goods and services it offers, carry the home's name, address and telephone number, a caption identifying it as a general price list, and an effective date. The Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule also requires the home to hand you a printed copy to keep, free of charge, the moment you ask about its offerings or prices in person — before any discussion of what you might buy. The General Price List, usually called the GPL, is the one document that lets you compare funeral homes on equal terms. The Rule fixes its contents so that a $900 cremation at one home and a $3,400 cremation at another describe the same thing, and so that no provider can hide the fees that make up the real total.
Table of Contents
- The 16 items that must be priced
- The basic services fee, and why it appears on every bill
- The disclosures that must appear in specific places
- What the outer burial container disclosure has to say
- Telephone quotes, online prices, and the gap in between
- Using the list in the room
- Frequently Asked Questions
The 16 items that must be priced
The GPL must show an itemized retail price for each of 16 listed goods and services the home offers, according to the FTC's compliance guide for funeral providers. A home may leave an item off only if it genuinely does not offer it — not because it would rather quote the item as part of a package. None of the 16 may be shown as "free" or "no charge." Four of those items have to be quoted as all-in prices: forwarding of remains, receiving of remains, direct cremation, and immediate burial.
Each of those prices must already include whatever the home charges for the basic professional services of the funeral director and staff. That matters when you are comparing cremation quotes, because an unbundled cremation figure can look half the size of a complete one. The remaining items cover things like embalming, other preparation of the body, use of facilities and staff for a viewing or a funeral ceremony, a hearse, a limousine, and a basic memorial printed package. Services the home arranges but does not perform — cemetery charges, obituary fees, clergy honoraria — are cash advance items and are handled separately from this list.
The basic services fee, and why it appears on every bill
The GPL must disclose the fee for the basic services of the funeral director and staff, name the principal services that fee covers, and state in the Rule's required wording that it will be added to the total you select. This is the one services charge the Rule allows a provider to make non-declinable, unless a state or local law requires something else, under 16 CFR Part 453. Read that disclosure before anything else on the page.
It tells you the floor of your bill, and it is the number that explains why two homes with identical casket and embalming prices can still differ by two thousand dollars. Everything beyond the basic services fee is yours to decline. A home cannot require you to buy a package, and cannot refuse to sell you individual items you pick off the list.
The disclosures that must appear in specific places
Some of the GPL's required language exists because families were routinely told the opposite. The list must state that "Except in certain special cases, embalming is not required by law." The embalming price itself has to cover use of the preparation room along with the professional services, equipment and materials involved, so a separate "preparation room" charge cannot be stacked on top. A home that offers direct cremation must offer at least one alternative container — an unfinished wood box or a sturdy cardboard, canvas or composition container — and must print, immediately beside the direct cremation price or price range, a disclosure that you may use one.
No crematory requires a casket. Caskets and outer burial containers may live on separate lists rather than the GPL, but each separate list needs identifying information, an effective date, and retail prices for every item that does not require a special order. The casket price list must be offered when price discussion begins, and in any case before anyone shows you caskets; the outer burial container list must come before containers are shown.
What the outer burial container disclosure has to say
An outer burial container is the grave liner or burial vault that surrounds a casket in the ground. The container price list must carry a disclosure stating three things: that state or local law does not require a container around the casket in the grave, that many cemeteries nonetheless require one so the grave will not sink, and that either a grave liner or a burial vault satisfies that requirement.
📨 Get Free Funeral Cost Guides Alerts
Free · No spam · Unsubscribe anytime
That wording is practical, not legalistic. A liner typically costs a fraction of a sealed vault, and if your cemetery's only requirement is that the grave hold its shape, the liner meets it. Call the cemetery and ask what its rule actually says before you choose from the container list.
Telephone quotes, online prices, and the gap in between
The Rule requires a provider to read accurate prices from these lists to anyone who telephones, without demanding your name or an in-person visit first. What it does not require is posting any price list on the home's website. The FTC opened a review of that gap with an advance notice of proposed rulemaking in 2022 and held a workshop in 2023, but no final amendment has issued as of October 2026. Compliance with the telephone requirement is uneven.
FTC staff called 278 randomly selected funeral providers between February and December 2023 and reported the results in a November 2024 staff report: 21 homes (7%) would not give price information during business hours, and 73 (26%) gave none after hours. Half the homes quoted estimates or ranges instead of actual prices, and at least 37 quoted different prices for the same services on different calls. The FTC sent warning letters to 39 homes in January 2024. The lesson for a family is to get the paper. A number read over the phone is not a document you can hold a home to, and the staff report shows those numbers change.
Using the list in the room
.
- Ask for the GPL before you discuss anything else, and keep the copy — it is yours, and the home cannot charge for it or ask for it back.
- Check the effective date and the caption. A photocopied fragment, a package brochure, or a tablet screen is not a compliant GPL.
- Find the basic services fee, then read what it says it covers, so you do not pay twice for the same staff time.
- Confirm that the four all-in items — forwarding, receiving, direct cremation, immediate burial — include the basic services fee, then compare those figures across homes.
- Ask for the casket and outer burial container lists separately if the GPL does not contain them, and ask before anyone walks you into a selection room.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a funeral home charge me for a copy of the General Price List?
No. The home must give a printed or typewritten copy to anyone who inquires in person about its offerings or prices, and you keep that copy.
Does the price list have to show package prices?
The Rule requires itemized prices for the 16 specified goods and services. A home may also sell packages, but it cannot require you to buy one or refuse to sell items individually.
Is the funeral home required to put its prices on its website?
Not under the current Rule. It must read accurate prices to telephone callers, but online posting is not required, and the FTC's review of that question has not produced a final amendment.
You Might Also Like
- What to Do If a Funeral Home Won’t Give You an Itemized Price List
- What Happens to Cremation Costs if a Funeral Home Adds Fees Not on the Price List?
- How Much Does a Basic Funeral Cost Under FTC Rules?