Legalities

Imagine...

• Facing death with far less fears, knowing what to do and who to call
• Creating instructions that allow loved ones to care for you personally after death
• Your body being touched with respect and caring
• Family and friends constructing or decorating a wooden/cardboard casket or urn as a healing act of closure
• Ceremony being held in a private, intimate, de-institutionalized setting
• Children learning that death is a natural part of the life cycle by being part of a home funeral
• Ecologically conscious disposition (cremation or burial)
• Your death as a heart felt story that will change cultural beliefs for future generations

Little Known Facts

• Caring for your own dead and creating a home or family-directed funeral is completely legal in most states
• Embalming is not required
• A family member, agent holding a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care (DPAHC) or designated agent can:
  • Act in lieu of a funeral director to orchestrate all arrangements and carry out all decisions
  • Fill out and file end-of-life documentation
  • Transport deceased in any type of vehicle to:
    • A home
    • The funeral celebration location
    • The place of final disposition (crematory or cemetery)
• Retail casket businesses exist in many areas and offer caskets for less than you would pay through a funeral home
• A loved one can lie-in-honor in the home of family or friends (1 to 3 days is usual)
• Anyone can build and/or decorate a wooden casket or cardboard cremation casket
• Friends and family can create an atmosphere that reflects cultural and personal beliefs, including ritual, storytelling and casket decoration
• Non-profit consumer advocacy funeral and memorial societies exist throughout the United States
  • Contact FAMSA, Funeral and Memorial Society of America
• The average cost of a funeral nationwide is about $5000 to $8000 - you do not need to spend a lot of money to honor your dead meaningfully

A memorial in which friends and family celebrate
Donna's life in a rented community hall

In Our Local Area

The California Department of Consumer Affairs licenses and regulates the California funeral industry, crematories, and the nearly 200 private cemeteries in the state. The Department also investigates complaints against funeral homes, state-licensed cemeteries and crematories. The Department has published a Consumer Guide to Funeral & Cemetery Purchases. Included in this guide is a paragraph about:

Home Funerals

"The law allows consumers to prepare their own dead for disposition. If you choose to do this, you must provide a casket or suitable container and make arrangements directly with the cemetery or crematory. A properly completed Certificate of Death, signed by the attending physician or coroner, must be filed with the local registrar and a Permit for Disposition obtained before any disposition can occur."

For a free copy of this guide, contact:
California Department of Consumer Affairs
Cemetery and Funeral Program
400 "R" Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
800-952-5210 or TDD 800-326-2297

Your Participation

To move in a direction of a more natural, economical and conscious choice for after-death care and not fall prey to an increasingly expensive and impersonal funeral industry, one that is being taken over by three huge conglomerates, we offer these suggestions:

• Start talking to one another about the subject of death
• Pre-plan your own home or family directed funeral - Info
• Open a funeral trust account or Pay-on-Death account in your own name versus purchasing a pre-need package from a mortuary or funeral home
• Inform yourself about the laws in your state concerning home or family directed funerals by calling your local public health office or Office of Vital Records or purchase Lisa Carlson's book, "Caring For the Dead, Your Final Act of Love," which cites laws and regulations for all 50 states. To order: Kristen@upperaccess.com
• Form a group interested in advocating for consumer's last rights/rites
• Ask your local cemetery if a burial can be completed in a shroud, cardboard box or a home built wooden casket
• Hold the vision of collectively owned crematoriums and cemeteries that are ecologically harmonious
• Start looking at ways you can reclaim your individual right to a natural, humane, sensible and economical after-death care choice