Home Funerals 101: What’s Legal, What It Costs, and When to Use a Funeral Home

A home funeral is one of those ideas that can feel both surprisingly simple and emotionally enormous at the same time. In the first hours after a death, families often find themselves thinking, “Do we really have to hand everything over right away?” If you’ve been searching home funeral, DIY funeral, or can you have a funeral at home, you’re usually looking for two things: permission (is this allowed?) and clarity (what would we actually have to do?).

A home funeral—sometimes called a family directed funeral or funeral without a funeral home—means the family takes an active role in caring for the person who died, holding time and ceremony at home (or another private space), and coordinating disposition (burial or cremation) in a way that fits their values and budget. It can be deeply meaningful, and it can be lower-cost than a full-service funeral. But it also comes with real logistics: paperwork, timing, transportation, and caring for a body at home in a way that is safe, respectful, and legal.

Is a home funeral legal?

In most cases, yes—home funerals are legally possible across the United States, but the rules are shaped state-by-state. The National Home Funeral Alliance explains that keeping or bringing a loved one home after death is legal everywhere in the U.S., while also noting that a subset of states may require a funeral director to be involved in specific steps. To see the fine print where you live, the National Home Funeral Alliance’s state-by-state legal quick guide is a practical starting point, because it focuses on the exact tasks states regulate—like who may file a death certificate, who may obtain a burial-transit permit, and who may transport a body.

It’s also helpful to understand what “a funeral director may need to be involved” can mean in real life. In some states, involvement might be as small as signing a permit or completing a filing step you’re not legally allowed to do yourself. In other states, families have broad latitude to handle everything from vigil to transportation. The point is: the home portion—time at home, bathing and dressing, gathering family, saying goodbye—can still be possible even when a state has a narrow administrative requirement.

What a home funeral actually involves (in plain English)

Most home funerals follow a simple arc: you bring your person into care (often at home), you create time for family to be together, and you coordinate the final disposition—burial, cremation, or transfer to a cemetery or crematory. The details vary, but the core questions tend to be the same.

Paperwork and permissions

After a death, someone must handle the legal record: the death certificate and, when disposition happens, the permit that authorizes burial, cremation, or transport. Even families who want a very hands-on home funeral often choose to outsource just this narrow slice to avoid stress. If you want a consumer-friendly overview of what you can and cannot be required to purchase, the Federal Trade Commission explains your rights under the Funeral Rule, including the right to buy only the goods and services you want.

Timing, cooling, and care

When people worry about caring for a body at home, what they’re usually worried about is preservation. You don’t need to become a medical expert. What matters is understanding that every state has rules about how long a body can be kept without refrigeration or embalming, and how transportation must be handled. Many families who choose a home vigil use professional support for transport or cooling equipment, while still keeping the heart of the ritual in the family’s hands.

It’s also worth saying plainly: embalming is not automatically required. The biggest drivers are your timeline, your local requirements, your climate, and whether you plan public viewing. If your plan is simple and soon—home vigil, then disposition—refrigeration or dry ice may be the practical tool, not embalming. When you’re talking to any provider, ask what is legally required in your state and what is simply their policy.

Home funeral costs: what you can save, and what you’ll still pay

Families are often drawn to home funerals because of cost. And it’s true that choosing a funeral without a funeral home for the ceremony portion can reduce major line items: facility fees, staffing, embalming, limousines, packaged “service” costs, and other add-ons that don’t fit every family.

But it’s also important not to romanticize “free.” There are still baseline expenses tied to disposition and legal compliance. Think of home funeral costs as two buckets: “disposition costs” (burial or cremation itself) and “support costs” (the help you choose for paperwork, transport, cooling, or coordination).

To ground expectations in national benchmarks, the National Funeral Directors Association reports a 2023 national median of $8,300 for a funeral with viewing and burial, and $6,280 for a funeral with cremation. Those numbers aren’t what every family pays, but they help explain why so many families look for alternatives when budget and simplicity matter.

If your plan includes cremation, many families compare costs by looking at “direct cremation,” meaning cremation without a funeral service beforehand. Funeralocity reports a national average direct cremation cost of $1,924 (as of December 10, 2025). You can read their methodology and summary in their direct cremation overview here: Funeralocity. Another useful point of reference is After.com’s state-by-state pricing guide, which describes common direct cremation costs by location: After.com. Even if you don’t use those providers, these ranges can help you recognize when a quote is unusually high and prompt the right follow-up questions.

So where does a home funeral save money? Often in the “service” layer. A family may choose a simple disposition option and then create a meaningful gathering at home—food, photographs, favorite music, letters read aloud—without paying facility fees. For some families, that’s not just a budget decision. It’s a values decision. It can feel more honest, more intimate, and less performative.

When using a funeral home makes sense (even if you want a home funeral)

One of the biggest misunderstandings is that you must choose either “all DIY” or “all funeral home.” In real life, many families create a hybrid that protects the parts that matter most while getting professional help where it truly reduces stress or risk.

A funeral home can be especially helpful when time is tight, travel is complex, or family dynamics are fragile. You might consider professional support if any of these are true:

• You need transportation across county or state lines and you don’t want to manage permits and vehicle requirements yourself.
• You want a public viewing or an extended timeline that makes refrigeration/cooling logistics complicated.
• Your state requires a funeral director for filing, permits, or transport, and you want those steps handled cleanly.
• You’re managing a difficult death investigation or medical examiner involvement and you need someone who does this paperwork every day.
• You feel emotionally maxed out and the “project management” side of a home funeral would add stress rather than meaning.

On the other hand, a home funeral may be a good fit when your family is aligned, your timeline is manageable, and you want the comfort of doing things slowly—washing and dressing, setting a room with flowers, letting children say goodbye in an unhurried way, and creating ceremony that feels like your person rather than a template.

How cremation fits into home funerals (and why urn decisions can wait)

Home funerals are often paired with cremation, because cremation can reduce certain cemetery costs and allow families more flexibility with timing and ceremony. This is also where today’s disposition trends matter. The National Funeral Directors Association projects a U.S. cremation rate of 63.4% in 2025, compared with a projected burial rate of 31.6%. The Cremation Association of North America reports a U.S. cremation rate of 61.8% in 2024. That growth helps explain why so many families are trying to build more personalized, home-centered rituals around cremation rather than relying on older, one-size-fits-all models.

If you’re planning cremation, you’ll eventually face the practical question of what to do with the cremated remains—what many families search as what to do with ashes. The good news is that you do not have to decide everything immediately. Many people receive remains in a temporary container and choose a permanent memorial later, when the first wave of grief has softened enough to make decisions feel possible.

When you are ready, urn choices tend to feel easiest when you name the job the urn needs to do. If you want a classic home memorial, start with cremation urns for ashes, then narrow by size and style. If you want something compact for a small space or for sharing, browse small cremation urns for ashes. If multiple relatives want a portion, keepsake cremation urns for ashes can make that sharing feel respectful instead of improvised.

If you want guidance that walks you through materials, placement, and cost decisions in a calm way, Funeral.com’s Journal guide How to Choose a Cremation Urn is a helpful companion. And if your big question is keeping ashes at home, the Journal article Keeping Cremation Ashes at Home covers practical household realities—humidity, safe placement, and how to avoid the common mistakes that create anxiety later.

Pet loss, home goodbyes, and choosing pet urns

Even when the article you’re reading is about human home funerals, pet loss is often part of the same season of life. Families sometimes create a home vigil for a person while also holding the grief of a beloved dog or cat who died earlier—or they want a gentle, home-centered goodbye for their pet because it feels less clinical.

If you’re choosing pet urns or pet urns for ashes, the same “name the job” approach helps. A central display urn is different from an urn meant to be shared among siblings. Funeral.com’s pet cremation urns for ashes collection shows the full range of sizes and styles. For families who want something decor-forward—an urn that feels like a small sculpture—the pet figurine cremation urns for ashes collection can be especially comforting. And if sharing is the plan, pet keepsake cremation urns for ashes are designed for small portions in a way that feels intentional, not like you’re dividing something you shouldn’t have to divide.

Water burial and burial at sea: what families should know

Home funerals can lead into many kinds of disposition plans, including water burial or scattering at sea. This is one area where it’s worth following federal rules closely. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency explains that cremated remains may be buried in or on ocean waters of any depth, as long as the burial takes place at least three nautical miles from land, and it also explains that EPA notification is required within 30 days after the event.

When families are comparing “scatter” versus “contained water burial,” the emotional difference is often the point: scattering can be quick and wind-sensitive, while a biodegradable vessel can create a calmer, more visible ceremony window. If you’re weighing these options, Funeral.com’s Journal article Water Burial vs. Scattering at Sea can help you picture what each choice feels like in practice.

Funeral planning that protects the people who are still living

Whether you choose a full-service funeral home arrangement, a pure home funeral, or a hybrid, the goal is the same: a plan that honors the person who died and doesn’t break the people left behind. In that sense, funeral planning is not just paperwork. It’s deciding what you can carry.

A gentle way to approach this is to separate the “legal must-do” from the “meaning-making.” The legal side is the death certificate, permits, and disposition. The meaning-making side is everything else: the stories, the photos, the song you play when everyone needs to breathe, the way a child touches a hand goodbye, the food you set out because your person always fed people. A home funeral is one way to center that meaning-making in the place where your life actually happens.

And if your plan includes creating a tangible memorial afterward, don’t underestimate the comfort of choosing something that feels steady and right. For some families, that’s a classic set of cremation urns. For others, it’s a small shareable keepsake and one central urn. For others, it’s cremation jewelry—a discreet way to carry someone into ordinary days. If you’re exploring wearable keepsakes, Funeral.com’s cremation jewelry collection and cremation necklaces collection are good starting points, and the Journal guide Cremation Jewelry 101 can help you understand filling, sealing, and what “safe for daily wear” really means.

FAQs about home funerals, costs, and cremation planning