Families arranging a funeral do not have to accept a bundled package. Under the Federal Trade Commission’s Funeral Rule, they can buy only the goods and services they want, and every funeral home has to hand over an itemized price list. The same rule says a casket bought somewhere else cannot be refused or charged extra.

The FTC lays out those rights on its consumer page on the Funeral Rule. Among them: buy only the arrangements wanted, get prices by telephone, get a written, itemized price list on a visit, and provide a casket or urn bought elsewhere.

What the price list has to show

The rule is a federal regulation, and its text is in 16 CFR Part 453. Section 453.2(b)(4) requires a funeral provider to give a printed or typewritten price list for the family to keep when a person inquires in person. That means the family can take the list home, compare it with another funeral home and read it away from the arrangement room.

The same section covers the phone. Under 453.2(b)(1), a provider must give accurate information to people who ask by telephone about its offerings or prices. A family does not have to walk in to start comparing. A few calls on the first day can show which homes charge more for the same basic service.

Funeral homes also have to make an alternative container available for direct cremations, according to section 453.4(a)(2). It is a small detail, but it matters to families choosing the lowest-cost option, who may be shown only the more expensive containers first.

Anyone arranging a funeral for a parent or spouse who was getting Social Security is holding two questions at once: what can be refused, and what happens to the last Social Security payment. The first is answered by the price list and the rule. The second has its own rule, covered below, and it decides whether a deposit that just arrived can be spent on funeral bills.

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Choosing only what is wanted

The FTC’s guidance for funeral providers says consumers must be able to choose only the goods and services that they want, with certain limited exceptions. The agency does not treat a package as the only path. A family can say yes to the service and no to the embalming, the extra limousine or the upgraded vault, as long as no law requires the item.

The same guidance says a funeral home cannot charge an additional fee or surcharge to consumers who purchase a casket elsewhere. That one point matters because caskets are often among the largest single charges on a funeral bill. A family can shop online or at a retailer and the funeral home must accept the casket without a handling fee.

If a home says an item is required, the family can ask which law requires it. The simplest approach is to ask for the price list, mark what is wanted, and cross out what is not.

What happens to the last Social Security payment

Funeral costs are the first bill. Social Security is the second thing to deal with when the person who died was getting benefits. The agency’s booklet on what to do when a family member dies says the family must return the benefits received for the month of death and any later months.

The booklet says to give the deceased person’s Social Security number to the funeral director, because the funeral home usually reports the death. For a payment made by direct deposit, it says to ask the bank to return it. A paper check should not be cashed.

The booklet also notes that a one-time $255 payment can go to a surviving spouse who was living with the person who died. That is a separate matter from the returned deposit, and it is not the same as survivor benefits that may continue on the deceased person’s record.

Social Security’s booklet for people getting retirement or survivors benefits gives the timing. It says the agency can’t pay benefits for the month of death, so if a person died in July, the check received in August, which is payment for July, must be returned. Families sometimes spend that deposit on funeral bills without knowing it has to go back.

Keeping the two decisions apart

A funeral home is a private business, and it does not handle Social Security paperwork for the family beyond reporting the death. The money for the funeral should come from sources the family controls. A deposit from Social Security that arrives after the death should not be counted among them.

That is where careful planning pays off. A family that knows its rights under the Funeral Rule can bring the cost of the service down. A family that knows the Social Security rule can keep from spending money that has to be sent back. The two rules are unrelated, but they land in the same week.

Calling Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 is the way to ask about a specific payment, according to the death booklet. The FTC’s consumer page is the place to check what a funeral home must provide. Between the two, a family has an official answer for each question.

Arranging a funeral for someone on Social Security?

The cost of getting the order of events wrong is real. A grieving spouse can spend the deposit for the month of death on the funeral, and then face a request to send it back while still paying the bills.

For a family sorting out a funeral, The Social Security Check Protection Kit lays out a first-week checklist for when a spouse dies, starting with leaving the month-of-death payment untouched. It also holds an overpayment response worksheet and the three SSA forms that stop or pause collection (SSA-561, SSA-632, SSA-634), which matter if Social Security later asks for money back.

Get the first-week checklist for a spouse’s death and the last Social Security payment →

More Financial Reading

• 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
• 15 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
• 15 Steps to Stop the Scams That Took $7.7 Billion From Seniors

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.