Editorial
Funeral and cremation guides
Clear answers to the questions families ask after a death or when planning ahead: what to do first, what things cost and how to choose a funeral home. Written for people, reviewed for accuracy.
Funeral Costs
- How Much Does a Funeral Cost?National median prices from the NFDA, a line-by-line breakdown of funeral home charges, and the costs that come from the cemetery and other vendors.
- How Much Does Cremation Cost?Direct cremation, cremation with a memorial service and cremation with a viewing compared, plus the fees that are easy to miss.
- How Much Does a Headstone Cost?Flat markers, upright headstones and monuments, what drives the price, cemetery setting fees, and free markers for veterans.
- How to Pay for a FuneralLife insurance, payable-on-death accounts, the estate, veterans and Social Security benefits, assistance programs and ways to lower the bill.
Cremation
- Direct Cremation ExplainedWhat direct cremation includes, what it leaves out, how the process and paperwork work, and how to compare providers.
- What Happens During Cremation?Step by step from identification and authorization to the cremation chamber, processing and the return of the remains.
- Burial vs CremationCosts, timing, religious views, environmental impact and memorial options compared side by side.
- Pet Cremation ExplainedCommunal, partitioned and private pet cremation, how to tell them apart, what to ask, and what happens to the remains.
Planning a Funeral
- How to Preplan a FuneralRecording your wishes, prearranging versus prepaying, how preneed contracts and trusts work, and the questions to ask first.
- How Long After Death Is a Funeral?Typical timelines for burial and cremation, religious requirements, and the paperwork and scheduling that can cause delays.
- Viewing vs Visitation vs WakeWhat each gathering means, how they differ from the funeral service itself, and how families decide which to hold.
- Embalming ExplainedWhat embalming is, when it is and is not required, your right to decline it under the FTC Funeral Rule, and the alternatives.
- How to Write an ObituaryWhat to include, a simple structure, privacy cautions, and where and how obituaries are published.
After a Death
- What to Do When Someone DiesA practical checklist for the first hours, the first days and the weeks that follow a death.
- How to Get a Death CertificateWho files it, who can order certified copies, how many you need and where to request them in each state.
- Transporting a Body Across State LinesPermits, air and ground transport, receiving funeral homes, and traveling with cremated remains.