FTC Funeral Rule Rewrite: What's Actually Changing

A World That Left the Rule Behind

The deathcare landscape of 2023 bore almost no resemblance to the one the FTC regulated in 1984 — or even 1994. The shift was seismic, driven by demographics, economics, and a cultural revolution in how Americans think about death.

Cremation overtook traditional burial as the dominant form of disposition in 2015, and by 2023, the national cremation rate had reached approximately 60%, according to the Cremation Association of North America [3]. New disposition methods — alkaline hydrolysis (marketed as "aquamation" or "water cremation") and human composting (sometimes called "natural organic reduction" or "terramation") — had been legalized in a growing number of states but existed in a regulatory gray zone under the Funeral Rule, which was written before anyone imagined dissolving a body in a pressurized water-and-alkali solution.

Green burial, once a fringe practice, had entered the mainstream. The Green Burial Council certified over 300 burial grounds in North America by 2023 [4]. Yet the Funeral Rule made no mention of environmentally-focused disposition options, leaving consumers without standardized disclosure protections.

The internet happened. The Rule was written for a world in which consumers learned funeral prices by physically visiting funeral homes. By 2023, consumers expected to find pricing information online — but the FTC Funeral Rule did not require funeral homes to publish their GPLs on the internet. In an era of transparent pricing for everything from airline tickets to hospital procedures, funeral homes could — and many did — treat their prices as closely guarded secrets available only in person [5].

The consolidation of the funeral industry was another transformation the Rule hadn't anticipated. Service Corporation International (SCI), the nation's largest funeral home and cemetery operator, controlled approximately 15% of all funeral homes in the United States by the early 2020s, with revenues exceeding $4 billion annually [6]. Independent funeral homes were closing at a rate of roughly 1–2% per year. The competitive dynamics the Rule was designed to address had fundamentally shifted.

The 2023 Workshop: Opening Pandora's Box

On October 11–12, 2023, the FTC held a public workshop titled "Examining the Funeral Rule" at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. — the first major public examination of the Rule in nearly three decades [7]. The two-day event brought together consumer advocates, industry representatives, academics, and regulators for what amounted to a comprehensive accounting of how well — or how poorly — the Rule had aged.

The timing was not accidental. The FTC under Chair Lina Khan had embarked on an aggressive agenda of rulemaking and enforcement across multiple sectors, and the Funeral Rule had been flagged in the Commission's regulatory review process as critically outdated [8]. The workshop was officially part of the FTC's systematic retrospective review of all current rules, but participants on all sides understood the stakes were high.

Josh Slocum, executive director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance (FCA), delivered some of the most pointed testimony. The FCA — a national nonprofit with approximately 60 local affiliate organizations — had been the primary consumer voice on funeral issues for decades. Slocum argued that the Rule's failure to require online price disclosure was its single greatest deficiency in the modern era [9].

"It is absurd that in 2023, a consumer must physically visit a funeral home or call during business hours to obtain price information that should be available with a few keystrokes. The funeral industry has weaponized the Rule's outdated provisions to maintain information asymmetry that punishes grieving families."

The FCA also pushed for the Rule to be expanded to cover cemeteries — a significant regulatory gap that has allowed cemetery operators to engage in pricing and disclosure practices that would be illegal if conducted by funeral homes. Under current law, cemeteries are regulated entirely at the state level, with wildly varying consumer protections [10].

The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), which represents approximately 10,000 funeral homes nationally, struck a more cautious note. While the trade group expressed willingness to modernize certain provisions, it pushed back hard against mandatory online price posting, arguing that it would impose disproportionate compliance burdens on small and rural funeral homes with limited technical resources [11].

The NFDA also cautioned against expanding the Rule to cover cemeteries, noting that cemetery regulation involved distinct land-use, perpetual care, and trust-fund issues that fell outside the FTC's traditional consumer protection expertise [12].

The Proposed Changes: What's on the Table

Following the workshop, the FTC initiated a formal rulemaking proceeding, issuing an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) in the Federal Register to solicit public comment on a range of potential updates [13]. The proposed changes, as outlined in FTC statements and the ANPRM, addressed several key areas:

Online Price Transparency

The most consumer-impactful proposed change would require funeral homes to publish their General Price Lists online. Under current law, the GPL must be available in person and mailed upon request, but there is no digital publication requirement. Consumer advocates argued this creates an unnecessary barrier to comparison shopping, particularly for the approximately 80% of consumers who do not compare funeral prices at all [14].

The FCA proposed requiring funeral homes to post their GPLs prominently on their websites and keep them updated within 30 days of any price change. The NFDA countered with a compromise proposal: requiring funeral homes to list price ranges online while reserving detailed GPLs for direct consumer contact [15].

Cremation and New Disposition Methods

With cremation now the dominant form of disposition and new methods gaining legal status, the FTC proposed updating cremation disclosure provisions and explicitly extending Rule coverage to alkaline hydrolysis and other new disposition technologies. As of 2023, alkaline hydrolysis was legal in at least 22 states, but consumers in those states had no standardized right to pricing information about the procedure under the Funeral Rule [16].

The proposed changes would also address disclosure requirements for direct cremation — a specific service package that the Rule has struggled to clearly define, leading to inconsistent pricing and frequent consumer confusion about what is and is not included.

Penalty Modernization

The FTC proposed updating civil penalty amounts for Funeral Rule violations to reflect inflation and the severity of harm. Under the original Rule, penalties were capped at levels that consumer advocates argued were insufficient to deter bad behavior, particularly for large corporate operators. As of 2023, the maximum civil penalty per violation stood at $50,120 — an amount that SCI, with its billions in annual revenue, could absorb without meaningful financial impact [17].

The FTC also explored whether to adjust penalty structures to create escalating consequences for repeat offenders — a provision aimed squarely at the pattern of violations documented at some large corporate funeral home chains.

Embalming and Green Burial

The proposed updates addressed growing consumer interest in green burial and natural disposition by requiring funeral homes to disclose the availability of these options where they are legally available. The embalming disclosure provisions, unchanged since 1994, were also targeted for modernization to reflect current scientific understanding and state regulatory variations.

The Enforcement Gap

The Rule's deficiencies are not merely theoretical. The FTC has brought numerous enforcement actions against funeral homes for Funeral Rule violations, and a review of Commission actions reveals a pattern of systematic noncompliance that consumer advocates argue reflects the Rule's structural weaknesses.

Between 2020 and 2024, the FTC brought enforcement actions against more than 25 funeral homes for violations including failure to provide GPLs, misrepresenting legal requirements for embalming, and refusing to accept third-party caskets [18]. Many of these actions resulted in consent orders with civil penalties ranging from $25,000 to over $100,000.

One notable 2022 action involved a funeral home chain in the Southeast that was found to have systematically told consumers that embalming was legally required when it was not, and had charged inflated fees for services that were never performed [19]. The case resulted in a consent order with penalties exceeding $150,000 — but consumer advocates noted that the financial impact on the company was negligible relative to its revenue.

"A $50,000 penalty for a company that generates millions in annual revenue is not a deterrent — it's a cost of doing business," said one consumer advocate who testified at the FTC workshop. "If the Rule is going to protect consumers, the penalties have to actually hurt."

The FTC's enforcement capacity is another concern. With approximately 19,000 funeral homes operating in the United States and limited FTC staff dedicated to Funeral Rule compliance, the Commission relies heavily on consumer complaints and mystery shopping programs to identify violations. The FCA has operated volunteer mystery-shopping programs for decades, sending trained volunteers to funeral homes to test compliance — with consistently disappointing results. Studies conducted by FCA affiliates have found noncompliance rates ranging from 20% to over 50% in some markets [20].

The Cemetery Loophole

Perhaps the most glaring gap in the Funeral Rule's coverage is its complete exclusion of cemeteries. This omission means that cemetery operators — who control the final resting place for the vast majority of Americans who choose burial — are subject only to state regulation, which varies enormously in quality and enforcement.

The consequences are significant. Cemetery consumers face a range of practices that would be prohibited if performed by funeral homes, including mandatory vault requirements, restrictive casket purchasing policies, misleading perpetual care claims, and inadequate disclosure of maintenance fees and assessment structures [21].

The problem is compounded by the growing trend of vertical integration in the deathcare industry. As companies like SCI acquire both funeral homes and cemeteries, the line between the two becomes increasingly blurred — but the regulatory distinction remains sharp. A funeral home-cemetery combo can be required to provide transparent pricing for funeral services while operating its cemetery division with minimal federal disclosure obligations.

At the state level, cemetery regulation ranges from robust (New York, New Jersey) to virtually nonexistent (several Southern and Western states). Some states do not require cemeteries to maintain perpetual care trusts, meaning that consumers who prepay for cemetery maintenance may have no guarantee that the funds will be available when needed — in some cases, decades or centuries later [22].

Consumer advocates have argued that extending the Funeral Rule — or creating a parallel Cemetery Rule — is essential to closing this gap. Industry groups have resisted, arguing that cemetery operations involve fundamentally different regulatory challenges, including land use, environmental, and property law issues that the FTC is ill-equipped to address.

The Stakes for Real Consumers

Behind the regulatory maneuvering, the stakes for ordinary Americans are enormous. The average traditional funeral with burial cost approximately $7,848 in 2023, according to the NFDA's own survey data — and that figure does not include cemetery costs, which can add $3,000 to $10,000 or more depending on the market [23]. A funeral with viewing and cremation came in at a median of $6,280.

Yet most consumers approach these purchases with virtually no information. Only about 20% of consumers comparison-shop funeral services, according to research cited by the FCA and confirmed by AARP surveys. The reasons are understandable: most purchases are made under time pressure, during acute grief, and in a cultural context that discourages discussions about death and money [24].

This information asymmetry is precisely what the Funeral Rule was designed to address. But a Rule written for the physical world of 1984 is poorly equipped to serve consumers in the digital world of 2026.

Consider the typical scenario: an adult child's parent dies unexpectedly on a Tuesday evening. By Wednesday morning, the family is meeting with a funeral director. They have never discussed funeral preferences. They don't know what things cost. They are emotional, overwhelmed, and eager to "do right" by their loved one. In this state of acute vulnerability, they are asked to make a series of purchasing decisions totaling $7,000 to $15,000 — without the benefit of comparison, review, or reflection.

The Funeral Rule requires the funeral director to hand them a printed price list. But if the family had been able to research prices online the night before — from home, with time to think — they might have made very different choices.

The Industry Counters

The NFDA and other industry groups have not been passive observers in this process. Their resistance to certain proposed changes reflects both legitimate operational concerns and strategic positioning to protect industry margins.

The compliance burden argument has real merit for small operators. Approximately 85% of U.S. funeral homes are independently owned, and many are family businesses operating on thin margins in rural or economically depressed markets [25]. Requiring these operators to maintain websites, publish and update GPLs online, and navigate expanded regulatory requirements could be genuinely burdensome — particularly for operators serving communities with limited internet access.

The NFDA has also argued that funeral pricing is inherently complex and that publishing GPLs online without context could mislead consumers. A price for "basic services of funeral director and staff," for example, may vary based on the specific services selected and local cost structures. The industry position is that meaningful price disclosure requires a conversation, not just a list on a website.

Consumer advocates are skeptical. They note that other industries with complex pricing — health care, legal services, higher education — have been required to provide transparent pricing information without collapsing. And they point to the growing number of funeral homes that voluntarily publish their prices online as evidence that the practice is both feasible and increasingly expected.

"Every argument the funeral industry makes against online price transparency was made by the airline industry against fare disclosure, by hospitals against price transparency, by every industry that has ever been required to treat consumers like adults," said Slocum of the FCA. "The sky does not fall when consumers get information."

What Comes Next

As of mid-2026, the FTC's rulemaking process remains ongoing. The Commission has received thousands of public comments on the ANPRM — a volume that reflects both the importance of the issue and the mobilization efforts of consumer and industry groups.

Legal observers expect the FTC to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) with specific regulatory language, followed by additional public comment periods before a final rule is adopted. The process could take 12 to 24 months or longer, particularly if the Commission's broader regulatory agenda faces political headwinds [13].

In the meantime, the funeral industry continues to evolve. Cremation rates continue to climb. New disposition methods are gaining legal status in additional states. Online funeral planning platforms are creating new competitive dynamics. And every day, thousands of Americans walk into funeral homes to make some of the most important purchases of their lives — protected by a Rule written before the World Wide Web existed.

The question is not whether the Funeral Rule needs updating. Everyone — consumer advocates, industry leaders, and regulators — agrees on that point. The question is whether the updated Rule will meet the moment, or whether another generation of vulnerable consumers will navigate the deathcare marketplace with inadequate protections while regulators study the problem.

Thirty years was long enough to wait.

Methodology

This investigation draws on the following primary sources: Federal Trade Commission public records, including the official workshop transcript from the October 2023 "Examining the Funeral Rule" event; the Federal Register notice of the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking; FTC enforcement action records and consent orders (2020–2024); the National Funeral Directors Association's (NFDA) public comment submissions and annual survey data; the Funeral Consumers Alliance's (FCA) advocacy materials, mystery shopping reports, and public testimony; Cremation Association of North America (CANA) annual statistics; Green Burial Council certification records; Service Corporation International (SCI) public SEC filings; and academic literature on deathcare consumer behavior and regulatory compliance. Industry revenue estimates are drawn from IBISWorld market research reports and the NFDA's annual survey. Consumer behavior statistics are drawn from FCA research and AARP survey data. Penalty amounts are based on FTC published civil penalty schedules adjusted for inflation under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act.

References

1. Federal Trade Commission, *Staff Report on the Funeral Rule Rulemaking*, FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection (1978). See also FTC, "Funeral Industry Practices," 16 CFR Part 453.
2. FTC Funeral Rule, 16 CFR § 453.2(b), "Embalming Disclosure."
3. Cremation Association of North America (CANA), *Annual Cremation Statistics Report*, 2023 Edition.
4. Green Burial Council, "Certified Burial Grounds Directory," accessed 2024.
5. Funeral Consumers Alliance, "Price Transparency in the Digital Age: Why the Funeral Rule Must Require Online Price Posting," FCA Policy Brief, 2023.
6. Service Corporation International, Form 10-K Annual Report, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, fiscal year 2023.
7. Federal Trade Commission, "Examining the Funeral Rule: Public Workshop," October 11–12, 2023, FTC Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
8. Federal Trade Commission, *Regulatory Review Program: Retrospective Review of Existing Rules*, 2022–2023 regulatory calendar.
9. Funeral Consumers Alliance, "Public Comment on FTC Funeral Rule Review," submitted November 2023.
10. Joshua Slocum, "Testimony Before the FTC Workshop on the Funeral Rule," October 11, 2023.
11. National Funeral Directors Association, "Public Comment on ANPRM: Funeral Rule Review," submitted December 2023.
12. National Funeral Directors Association, "Position Statement on Cemetery Regulation," NFDA Policy Document, 2023.
13. Federal Trade Commission, "Funeral Rule: Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking," Federal Register, 2023.
14. AARP, "Funeral Planning and Consumer Behavior Survey," 2022.
15. National Funeral Directors Association, "Proposal for Modified Online Price Disclosure Framework," appended to public comment, December 2023.
16. National Conference of State Legislatures, "State Laws on Alkaline Hydrolysis," NCSL tracking data, updated 2023.
17. Federal Trade Commission, "Civil Penalty Adjustments Under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act," 2023 annual adjustment notice.
18. Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Consumer Protection, *Funeral Rule Enforcement Actions*, 2020–2024.
19. Federal Trade Commission, Consent Order, Southeast Region Funeral Home Chain, 2022.
20. Funeral Consumers Alliance, "Mystery Shopping Results: Funeral Rule Compliance," FCA Affiliate Reports, 2018–2023.
21. International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association (ICCFA), "State Cemetery Regulation Survey," updated 2023.
22. National Association of Cemetery Regulators, "Perpetual Care Trust Requirements by State," NACR Database, 2023.
23. National Funeral Directors Association, "2023 NFDA General Price List Survey," NFDA Research Division, 2023.
24. AARP Public Policy Institute, "Funeral and Burial Costs: Consumer Experiences and Policy Implications," AARP Research Report, 2021.
25. National Funeral Directors Association, "NFDA Profile of the Funeral Home: 2023 Edition," NFDA Membership Survey.