State rules, licensing & filing
What each state requires of a funeral home: licenses, death certificates, cremation, preneed, and recorded calls.
Other topics
- Buying & evaluating software
- Case management & operations
- Phones, answering & after-hours calls
- Documents, e-signatures & forms
- Payments, collections & accounting
- Preneed & cremation operations
- Records, security & compliance
- Marketing, SEO & growth
- Funeral home business & strategy
- Assistive AI & operational memory
- Paper, spreadsheets & your first system
- Sales, leads & growing your firm
10 articles in this topic.
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GuideUpdated Sep 2026Georgia Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)Georgia’s State Board of Funeral Service regulates funeral establishments, directors, embalmers and disposition facilities. This guide organizes the license, death record, cremation, preneed, price disclosure and recording rules an owner should verify.10 min readGuideUpdated Sep 2026North Carolina Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)North Carolina’s Board of Funeral Service regulates funeral establishments, professionals, crematories and preneed funeral contracts. This guide organizes the permits, filing deadlines, authorization rules and recurring records an owner should verify.10 min readGuideUpdated Sep 2026Michigan Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)Michigan regulates funeral homes through LARA under Article 18 of the Occupational Code, registers deaths under the Public Health Code, and holds preneed funds in escrow under the Prepaid Funeral and Cemetery Sales Act. This guide states what each section says, with a compliance calendar an owner can print.19 min readGuideUpdated Sep 2026Illinois Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)Illinois regulates funeral directors and embalmers through the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, with separate laws for vital records, crematories and preneed funds. This guide organizes the sections an owner should verify.10 min readGuideUpdated Sep 2026Ohio Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)Ohio licenses funeral homes, funeral directors, embalmers and crematory operators under Revised Code Chapter 4717. This guide sets out the licensing, death certificate, cremation, preneed, price disclosure and call recording rules, each with its section number, and ends with a compliance calendar.18 min readGuideUpdated Sep 2026Pennsylvania Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)Pennsylvania licenses the funeral director and approves the place of practice, limits who may own a funeral home, and requires all preneed money to be held in escrow or trust. This guide gives each rule with its section number and a compliance calendar to print.19 min readGuideUpdated Sep 2026New York Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)New York registers funeral firms, licenses funeral directors, and runs death registration differently inside New York City. This guide sets out the rules on licensing, death certificates, cremation, preneed, prices and recorded calls, each with its section number.18 min readGuideUpdated Sep 2026Florida Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)What Florida requires of a funeral home, with the section numbers: the establishment license under Chapter 497, director and embalmer licensing, the 5 day death certificate deadline, cremation authorization, preneed trusting, price disclosures and recorded calls. Read on the state’s own sites in September 2026.20 min readGuideUpdated Sep 2026Texas Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)Texas regulates funeral establishments and professionals through the Texas Funeral Service Commission. This guide organizes the main licensing, death certificate, cremation, prepaid contract, price disclosure and recording rules for an owner.10 min readGuideUpdated Sep 2026California Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)California regulates funeral establishments, funeral directors, embalmers, crematories, hydrolysis facilities and reduction facilities. This owner’s guide organizes the main license, death record, disposition, preneed, price disclosure and call recording rules by section.10 min read
Funeral service is regulated state by state. These guides set out what one state requires of a funeral home: the licenses for the establishment and for the people who work in it, the deadline for filing a death certificate, the waiting period and authorization for cremation, how preneed money must be held, and whether a phone call may be recorded.
Each guide is built from that state’s statutes and the pages of its licensing board and vital records office, with the date each was read. Rules change, and a guide is not a substitute for the board or an attorney. The guides are general information, not legal advice.
GuideUpdated Sep 2026Georgia Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)Georgia’s State Board of Funeral Service regulates funeral establishments, directors, embalmers and disposition facilities. This guide organizes the license, death record, cremation, preneed, price disclosure and recording rules an owner should verify.10 min readGuideUpdated Sep 2026North Carolina Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)North Carolina’s Board of Funeral Service regulates funeral establishments, professionals, crematories and preneed funeral contracts. This guide organizes the permits, filing deadlines, authorization rules and recurring records an owner should verify.10 min readGuideUpdated Sep 2026Michigan Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)Michigan regulates funeral homes through LARA under Article 18 of the Occupational Code, registers deaths under the Public Health Code, and holds preneed funds in escrow under the Prepaid Funeral and Cemetery Sales Act. This guide states what each section says, with a compliance calendar an owner can print.19 min readGuideUpdated Sep 2026Illinois Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)Illinois regulates funeral directors and embalmers through the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, with separate laws for vital records, crematories and preneed funds. This guide organizes the sections an owner should verify.10 min readGuideUpdated Sep 2026Ohio Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)Ohio licenses funeral homes, funeral directors, embalmers and crematory operators under Revised Code Chapter 4717. This guide sets out the licensing, death certificate, cremation, preneed, price disclosure and call recording rules, each with its section number, and ends with a compliance calendar.18 min readGuideUpdated Sep 2026Pennsylvania Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)Pennsylvania licenses the funeral director and approves the place of practice, limits who may own a funeral home, and requires all preneed money to be held in escrow or trust. This guide gives each rule with its section number and a compliance calendar to print.19 min readGuideUpdated Sep 2026New York Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)New York registers funeral firms, licenses funeral directors, and runs death registration differently inside New York City. This guide sets out the rules on licensing, death certificates, cremation, preneed, prices and recorded calls, each with its section number.18 min readGuideUpdated Sep 2026Florida Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)What Florida requires of a funeral home, with the section numbers: the establishment license under Chapter 497, director and embalmer licensing, the 5 day death certificate deadline, cremation authorization, preneed trusting, price disclosures and recorded calls. Read on the state’s own sites in September 2026.20 min readGuideUpdated Sep 2026Texas Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)Texas regulates funeral establishments and professionals through the Texas Funeral Service Commission. This guide organizes the main licensing, death certificate, cremation, prepaid contract, price disclosure and recording rules for an owner.10 min readGuideUpdated Sep 2026California Funeral Home Laws and Licensing: A Guide for Owners (2026)California regulates funeral establishments, funeral directors, embalmers, crematories, hydrolysis facilities and reduction facilities. This owner’s guide organizes the main license, death record, disposition, preneed, price disclosure and call recording rules by section.10 min readSee how this works in software
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