FTC Funeral Rule compliance checklist.
Every requirement of 16 CFR Part 453 that touches your General Price List, with the citation next to it and the question to ask of your own document. Print it, walk your GPL line by line, and mark what you can't answer.
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1. The General Price List (GPL)
The document itself — when it must be handed over, and what has to be on it.
The GPL is offered, in writing, for the family to keep at the beginning of any in-person discussion of arrangements, prices, or goods and services.
§ 453.2(b)(4) · Is the GPL handed over before you talk price — not after?
The GPL shows the name of the funeral provider, the effective date, and a caption identifying it as a General Price List.
§ 453.2(b)(4)(i) · Does your list carry a visible effective date?
Every good and service is itemized with a retail price, so families can select only what they want.
§ 453.2(b)(4)(iii) · Any bundled line that hides an individual price?
Casket and outer burial container price ranges appear on the GPL when a separate CPL/OBCPL is not shown first.
§ 453.2(b)(4)(iii)(A) · Are both ranges printed and current?
2. Required disclosures and exact wording
Five disclosures the Rule specifies almost word-for-word. Paraphrasing is the single most common violation we grade.
Basic Services of Funeral Director and Staff — the non-declinable fee disclosure, including that it is already included in the price of the funerals you offer.
§ 453.2(b)(4)(iii)(C) · Is the non-declinable fee explained, not just listed?
Embalming disclosure: embalming is not required by law except in certain special cases.
§ 453.5(a) / § 453.3(a) · Is the embalming sentence present and unedited?
Alternative container disclosure for direct cremation, including that an unfinished wood box or alternative container may be used.
§ 453.2(b)(4)(iii)(D) · Does your direct cremation line carry this disclosure?
Casket-for-cremation disclosure: no casket is required for direct cremation.
§ 453.4(b)(2)(ii) · Present wherever cremation is priced?
Outer burial container disclosure: state law does not require a container, but a cemetery may.
§ 453.2(b)(4)(iii)(E) · Is this on the GPL or the OBCPL, as applicable?
3. Casket and outer burial container price lists
Separate lists, shown before the merchandise itself.
A Casket Price List is offered before caskets are shown, listing each casket and its retail price with enough description to identify it.
§ 453.2(b)(2) · Do your CPL descriptions match what's in the selection room?
An Outer Burial Container Price List is offered before containers are shown.
§ 453.2(b)(3) · Is the OBCPL current and dated?
Caskets and containers purchased elsewhere are accepted without a handling fee.
§ 453.4(b)(1) · Any 'casket handling' line still on your list?
4. Statement of Funeral Goods and Services Selected
The itemized statement, given before payment.
An itemized written statement is provided at the end of the arrangement conference, before payment is due.
§ 453.2(b)(5) · Is the statement generated before, not with, the invoice?
The statement lists each item selected, the total, and cash advance items separately.
§ 453.2(b)(5)(i) · Are cash advances broken out rather than absorbed?
Where a legal or cemetery requirement forces a purchase, the statement names the specific law or requirement.
§ 453.3(d) · Does the statement cite the actual requirement by name?
5. Telephone, misrepresentation, and tying
Conduct rules that live outside the paperwork but get graded with it.
Price information is given over the telephone on request, without requiring the caller's name or address.
§ 453.2(b)(1) · Does your phone script gate prices behind a name?
No misrepresentation of legal, cemetery, crematory, or preservation requirements.
§ 453.3 · Any 'required by law' language you can't cite?
No conditioning the sale of any funeral good or service on the purchase of another, outside the Rule's narrow exceptions.
§ 453.4 · Any package that can't be unbundled on request?
6. Recordkeeping and currency
What survives an FTC undercover shop.
Price lists and statements are retained for at least one year after distribution.
§ 453.6 · Do you keep superseded GPLs on file?
The GPL in the arrangement room matches the GPL you hand out and the one you publish.
§ 453.2(b)(4) · Same effective date across every copy in the building?
Couldn't answer a few of these?
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This checklist summarizes the FTC Funeral Rule (16 CFR Part 453) and the FTC's compliance guide, "Complying with the Funeral Rule." It is informational and is not legal advice. Section citations are provided so you can read the source text at ftc.gov.