Six Questions to Ask

In light of some unfortunate news about a local, but, out-of-state owned funeral home, we thought it was important to offer six questions to ask your funeral director:

1) Does the funeral director hold a funeral director and embalmer license?

Not all funeral directors are also embalmers therefore they do not understand or have been trained in the art of embalming.

2) Do you maintain your own refrigeration and embalming facilities on premise?

While state law does not require embalming, it is required when there is a public viewing or visitation. Many times, it is a practical necessity to embalm to disinfect and preserve the body for even a family viewing. As cremation has grown in popularity, often the body is not embalmed and will need to be held in refrigeration. Yet, many funeral homes do not have refrigeration facilities located on-site at their funeral home to handle this request.

3) Do you operate your own crematory?

Though all funeral home advertise "cremation services" or "crematory", most funeral homes do not own their crematories, but use off-site, multi-user locations. Additional questions may include, who owns it? Where is it located? When can I inspect it?

4) How do I know that the cremated remains are those of my loved one?

It is important to know the chain of custody when handling a loved one’s remains. A crematory should have detailed, exacting standards and be able to illustrate the process with family members during an inspection of the facility.

5) Does the funeral home operate its own transfer services?

The vast majority of funeral homes today outsource the transportation service to third-party companies, so the deceased could be left in the care of multiple organizations.

6) Is the funeral home locally owned?

In today's fast paced world, it is often difficult, if not impossible to know who owns the business you are dealing with. What you may not know is that not all funeral homes are owned by local families. While they may have been operating in your community for years, and their names have not changed, some funeral homes have sold out to national conglomerates.

These funeral conglomerates keep the family name on their businesses because they know that at your greatest time of need you are more likely to turn to a local family you feel you can trust, than a national chain you know nothing about. They are large corporations that are publicly traded on the stock exchange. This makes them responsible to their stockholders and board of directors to grow profits year after year. As a result you end up paying more money and receive less value for your funeral service.

Like most businesses, the best decisions can be based on the reputation of the firm. Ask your funeral director for references.