Our role
Honest Funeral is not a funeral home.
We are a consumer advocacy service. We help families gather prices from local funeral homes, compare quotes, and prepare for the arrangement meeting. The family makes all funeral arrangements and signs all paperwork directly with the funeral home they select.
We do not make funeral arrangements. We do not sign anything on the family’s behalf. We do not take possession of remains, file death certificates, or process funeral payments. We are not licensed as a funeral establishment in any state, and we don’t need to be, because we don’t do the things that require a license.
What we do
- Gather General Price Lists from funeral homes on the family’s behalf, exercising the family’s right under the FTC Funeral Rule (16 CFR Part 453).
- Compare quotes side by side and flag line items that look out of line with regional benchmarks.
- Help schedule the in-person arrangement meeting between the family and the funeral home they select.
- Relay pre-meeting questions through an in-app messaging thread so the family’s personal contact information stays private until they attend the meeting.
- Stay on email for post-meeting disputes — for example, when the funeral home’s final invoice differs from the price they quoted.
- Provide information, scripts, and a prep kit the family can bring to the arrangement meeting.
What we do not do
- Make funeral arrangements on the family’s behalf.
- Sign authorization forms (for disposition, cremation, embalming, or anything else) — only the legal next of kin can sign those, in writing, at the funeral home.
- Negotiate or sign the contract for funeral goods or services on the family’s behalf.
- Take possession of remains.
- File death certificates or disposition permits.
- Take or process payments for funeral goods or services.
- Accept commissions, kickbacks, referral fees, or lead-sale revenue from funeral homes, cemeteries, monument companies, or any vendor.
- Act as the family’s legal agent in any fiduciary sense.
The arrangement meeting is the family’s
When a family selects a funeral home through our service, they go to the funeral home in person, meet with a licensed funeral director, make all the selections (casket or container, service format, disposition, cemetery, obituary), and sign all paperwork directly with the funeral home. The contractual and service relationship for funeral goods and services is between the family and the funeral home they select — not us.
Authorization for disposition (burial, cremation, embalming, body preparation) must be given by the legal next of kin in writing at the funeral home. We cannot provide that authorization, and we tell the family this clearly when they start using our service.
For funeral homes
When you receive an email from us on a family’s behalf, we are not a competitor and we are not a lead-sale service. We don’t take money from you, ever. The family has authorized us to gather General Price Lists from homes in their area; we present what comes back and let them decide.
If a family selects your firm, you will receive a “selected” email from us and we’ll help schedule the arrangement meeting. The family attends in person and signs all paperwork directly with you. We stay on email for scheduling, pre-meeting questions, and any disputes if the final invoice differs from the quoted price.
Questions, concerns, or you’d like to talk: arrangements@honestfuneral.co.
For regulators and press
Honest Funeral is structured as a consumer-paid advocacy service. Every tool on the site is free; the family pays a flat $49 fee only when they choose a funeral home we found through our outreach. No portion of any funeral home’s revenue flows to us. We do not hold ourselves out as a funeral establishment under the laws of any state.
Comparable consumer-advocacy precedents include the Funeral Consumers Alliance (national, non-profit), and online price comparison services like Parting.com and Funeralwise.
Press, regulatory, or legal inquiries: legal@honestfuneral.co.
For families
You don’t have to walk into the arrangement meeting cold. Look up fair prices, run a comparison, or have us contact funeral homes for you.