The Funeral.com Journal

Resources to help you create tributes as unique as the people (and pets) you love. Learn how engraving, photos, colors, and symbols add meaning; discover scattering rituals and at-home memorial ideas. We focus on the details that matter—because small choices can carry a lifetime of comfort.

Can You Scatter Ashes Anywhere? U.S. Laws, Permission Rules, and Best Practices - Funeral.com, Inc.

Can You Scatter Ashes Anywhere? U.S. Laws, Permission Rules, and Best Practices

In many places, yes—you can scatter ashes. But “anywhere” is the part that gets families into trouble. In the U.S., whether scattering is allowed (and what steps you need to...

DNA Banking After Death: How Postmortem Samples Are Collected, Stored, and Used - Funeral.com, Inc.

DNA Banking After Death: How Postmortem Samples Are Collected, Stored, and Used

The phone call nobody expects has a way of turning life into logistics. One moment you are hearing words like “sudden,” “unexplained,” and “we’re so sorry,” and the next you...

How to Travel With Cremated Remains: Flying With Ashes, TSA Screening, and Mailing Options - Funeral.com, Inc.

How to Travel With Cremated Remains: Flying With Ashes, TSA Screening, and Mailing Options

Traveling with ashes can feel intimidating because the stakes feel emotional, not just logistical. If you’re searching how to travel with cremated remains or can you fly with cremated ashes,...

Can You Bury an Urn in a Cemetery? Burial Urn Rules, Urn Vaults, and Plot Limits - Funeral.com, Inc.

Can You Bury an Urn in a Cemetery? Burial Urn Rules, Urn Vaults, and Plot Limits

Yes—most families can you bury an urn in a cemetery and do so every day. What surprises people is not whether it’s allowed, but how specific cemeteries can be about...

Cremation Urns 101: Urn vs Temporary Container, Materials, Laws, and Care Tips - Funeral.com, Inc.

Cremation Urns 101: Urn vs Temporary Container, Materials, Laws, and Care Tips

Most families don’t expect the “urn decision” to arrive in stages. You go through the hardest parts—phone calls, paperwork, waiting—and then, when the cremated remains come home, they usually arrive...

Private Autopsy Cost: What Families Pay, What’s Included, and How to Request One - Funeral.com, Inc.

Private Autopsy Cost: What Families Pay, What’s Included, and How to Request One

Most families don’t wake up expecting to learn the word “autopsy” in the middle of a crisis. It shows up after a sudden death, an unexpected collapse, a complicated hospital...

Why Toxicology Results Take Weeks After a Sudden Death: Lab Steps, Backlogs, and What to Expect - Funeral.com, Inc.

Why Toxicology Results Take Weeks After a Sudden Death: Lab Steps, Backlogs, and What to Expect

When a death is sudden, families are often asked to live with two realities at once: the emotional shock of losing someone without warning, and the practical uncertainty of not...

Who Owns Cremation Ashes? Custody Rights, Scattering Rules, and Common Legal Pitfalls - Funeral.com, Inc.

Who Owns Cremation Ashes? Custody Rights, Scattering Rules, and Common Legal Pitfalls

When families choose cremation, there’s often an assumption that the hard decisions are behind them. The arrangements are made, the paperwork is signed, and the cremated remains are returned. And...

Coroner vs. Medical Examiner: Who Investigates a Death and Why It Depends on Your County - Funeral.com, Inc.

Coroner vs. Medical Examiner: Who Investigates a Death and Why It Depends on Your County

In the first hours after a death—especially when it’s sudden—families often find themselves learning a new language they never wanted to know. Someone asks whether a coroner vs medical examiner...

Can You Bury Cremated Remains? Cemetery Rules, Home Burial Tips, and What to Expect - Funeral.com, Inc.

Can You Bury Cremated Remains? Cemetery Rules, Home Burial Tips, and What to Expect

Yes—can you bury cremated remains is one of those questions that has a reassuringly practical answer. Families bury cremated remains every day. Sometimes that means an urn placed in a...

Is It Illegal to Open an Urn? Common US Considerations, Cemetery Rules, and Safe Steps - Funeral.com, Inc.

Is It Illegal to Open an Urn? Common US Considerations, Cemetery Rules, and Safe Steps

It’s a surprisingly common moment. The urn is on the table. The temporary container is nearby. Someone in the family says, “We need to move the ashes into a different...

Living Will vs Health Care Power of Attorney: The Difference That Matters - Funeral.com, Inc.

Living Will vs Health Care Power of Attorney: The Difference That Matters

If you are doing end-of-life planning, you will almost always run into two documents that sound similar but do very different jobs: a living will and a health care power...

Is It Legal to Keep Cremation Ashes at Home? Rules, Best Practices, and How to Transfer Ashes Into an Urn - Funeral.com, Inc.

Is It Legal to Keep Cremation Ashes at Home? Rules, Best Practices, and How to Transfer Ashes Into an Urn

Families ask is it legal to keep ashes at home for a simple reason: even when keeping cremated remains feels comforting, people worry they’re breaking a rule or doing something...

Urn Burial Basics: How Deep to Bury an Urn and Can It Go Above a Casket? - Funeral.com, Inc.

Urn Burial Basics: How Deep to Bury an Urn and Can It Go Above a Casket?

Most families don’t begin funeral planning by searching measurements. It usually starts with a simpler, heavier question: where should the ashes rest? Maybe there’s a family plot that has held generations....

Advance Care Planning: The Documents, Conversations, and Decisions That Matter - Funeral.com, Inc.

Advance Care Planning: The Documents, Conversations, and Decisions That Matter

Most families do not postpone advance care planning because they don’t care. They postpone it because it feels heavy, and because the worst-case scenarios are hard to picture when life...

Can You Divide Cremation Ashes? How to Split Them Safely, Legally, and Respectfully - Funeral.com, Inc.

Can You Divide Cremation Ashes? How to Split Them Safely, Legally, and Respectfully

The question often shows up after the busiest part is over. The calls have slowed. The paperwork has been signed. The crematory container is home—lighter than people expect, yet somehow...