General price list

How to read a funeral home general price list

A general price list is the written menu of funeral goods and services a funeral home offers, with prices and an effective date. Under the FTC Funeral Rule, a provider must give you that list when you ask in person about prices or arrangements, and must give price information by phone. The home may not charge you for the list. Primary source: FTC Funeral Rule guidance.

Arrangement File uses GPLs and cemetery sheets as sources. We do not rewrite them into advice.

What must be identifiable on a GPL

The Rule expects the business name, a caption that it is a general price list, and an effective date. If you cannot see the date, you cannot tell whether you are holding this year’s list.

Lines families mix up

Basic services of funeral director and staff

Overhead, planning, permits, staff availability. Often non-declinable if you use that home.

Transfer of remains

From the place of death to the funeral home. Mileage outside a stated radius is often extra.

Embalming

Optional in most situations. The list must say embalming is not required by law except in special cases. Massachusetts consumer material is on Mass.gov.

Facilities and staff

Viewing, ceremony, memorial, graveside — separately priced if offered.

Direct cremation

A simple cremation arrangement without viewing or ceremony at the home. The printed number may or may not include the crematory and the medical-examiner fee. Those two questions change the comparison. See direct cremation.

Immediate burial

Burial without a funeral-home ceremony. Cemetery charges are still separate unless the list says otherwise.

Forwarding / receiving remains

When death and services are in different places.

Cash advances

Death certificates, obituaries, clergy, flowers, cemetery charges paid through the home. Ask whether the home adds a service charge.

Casket and outer burial container

Often a separate list. The cemetery, not the GPL, usually decides whether a vault or liner is required.

Packages vs items

A package can be lawful. It is not a substitute for itemized prices. If you only compare packages, you cannot see which home posts a lower figure on the one item you actually need.

What a GPL will not settle

Cemetery lot, opening and closing, foundation, winter or Saturday differentials, and many crematory invoices. See cemetery fees.

What this does / does not tell you

This page explains the document type. It does not tell you what to buy. It does not turn a package advertisement into a GPL line.

Massachusetts note

Western Massachusetts has a public comparison table built from requested GPLs by the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Massachusetts, including notes on what is included. Their method page is worth reading: Using the price chart. Arrangement File is a statewide desk and also files cemetery sheets. It does not replace a volunteer table for the four western counties.

FAQ

• Can a funeral home refuse to give me a GPL?

  The Funeral Rule requires the list in the situations the FTC describes. Read the FTC page. Arrangement File is not your lawyer.

• Do I have to buy a package?

  The Rule is built so you can select item by item. Packages are optional offerings.

Last reviewed: 2026-10-26. If a posted figure looks wrong, check it against the source named on the row. Arrangement File records what a source printed, or marks the row blank. How we cite.