Where the information comes from.

Federal Trade Commission — Funeral Rule

The Funeral Rule (16 CFR Part 453) is the federal regulation that governs what funeral homes can charge for and how they must disclose pricing. It is the legal basis for the General Price List, the right to bring an outside casket, the prohibition on casket-handling fees, and the requirement of written consent for embalming. We cite it across the cost pillar, the casket guide, the cremation guide, and the dedicated FTC Funeral Rule guide. The FTC reportfraud.ftc.gov portal is where consumers report violations.

Social Security Administration

SSA publishes the rules for the $255 lump-sum death benefit, survivor benefits, and the dependent’s eligibility criteria. Form SSA-8 (lump-sum) and Form SSA-1724 (survivor) are the canonical filings. We cite SSA on the dedicated SSA $255 guide and across the cost pillar.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

VA publishes burial benefit amounts (annually adjusted), eligibility, and the rules for national cemetery interment, government-furnished headstones, the burial flag, and military funeral honors. We cite VA on the dedicated VA burial benefits guide. VA Form 21P-530EZ is the burial-allowance application; VA Form 40-1330 is the headstone application.

Internal Revenue Service

IRS Publication 525 describes how personal gifts (including crowdfunded donations toward funeral costs) are treated for tax purposes — generally not taxable to the recipient, not deductible to the donor. We cite IRS on the funeral crowdfunding guide.

FDIC — Payable-on-Death account rules

FDIC publishes the rules for Payable-on-Death (POD) bank accounts, including how the deposit insurance limits are calculated when there are named beneficiaries. We cite FDIC on the funeral trusts and POD accounts guide.

Truth in Lending Act

15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq. requires every consumer loan to disclose APR, finance charge, total payments, and payment schedule before signing. We cite TILA on the funeral loans guide.

National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA)

NFDA publishes the most-cited industry pricing data — the General Price List Survey, the Cremation and Burial Report, and consumer behavior research. The 2023 median traditional-funeral cost of $9,995 (excluding cemetery) comes from NFDA. We cite NFDA across the cost pillar, the cremation guide, and the cheap-funeral tips.

National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)

NAIC publishes consumer guides on final-expense insurance and preneed contracts. State insurance commissioners regulate the products in each state; NAIC coordinates and standardizes. We cite NAIC on the funeral insurance and preneed vs. final expense guides.

A.M. Best

A.M. Best is the rating agency that assigns financial strength ratings to insurance carriers. We use A.M. Best ratings as the threshold for whether a carrier is worth considering — A or A+ is what to look for, B or below is a yellow flag.

Funeral Consumers Alliance (FCA)

FCA is a 501(c)(3) consumer advocacy non-profit that has tracked funeral industry practices since 1963. They publish state-by-state guides, run a complaint program, and advocate for stronger consumer protections. We cite FCA across the FTC funeral rule guide and the casket guide.

Cremation Association of North America (CANA)

CANA publishes industry guidance on cremation practice, alkaline hydrolysis (water cremation) regulations by state, and consumer-facing FAQs. We cite CANA on the cremation cost guide.

State Vital Records offices

Each state issues its own death certificates through a state vital records office, often delegated to county registrars. Most use VitalChek for online ordering. Costs vary by state (typically $10 to $30 per certified copy). The death certificates guide cites state-level pricing.

State Medicaid offices

Medicaid look-back periods, asset thresholds, and irrevocable funeral trust treatment vary by state. We cite Medicaid.gov for federal-level rules and route readers to state Medicaid offices for state-specific guidance on the funeral trusts and POD accounts guide.

State Departments of Human Services / Social Services

State and county indigent burial programs are administered at the local level. The state burial assistance guide points readers to county social services offices, with examples for California, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.

State Attorneys General

State AGs enforce consumer-protection statutes that mirror or extend the federal Funeral Rule. We point readers to state AGs as a complementary complaint channel to the FTC on the FTC Funeral Rule guide.

Pricing data

• NFDA 2023 General Price List Survey
• NFDA 2023 Cremation and Burial Report
• Funeral Consumers Alliance state-by-state survey
• Costco, Walmart, Amazon, Trusted Caskets, Best Price Caskets, Titan Casket — current online retail pricing

Insurance carrier landscape

Carrier-by-carrier facts (sales channel, A.M. Best rating, graded vs. level benefit, target demographic) sourced from public NAIC filings, A.M. Best, and the carriers’ own consumer materials. Lincoln Heritage’s captive-agent model is documented in their public marketing materials and FCA reports.

FDA Funeral Rule history

The Funeral Rule was adopted in 1984 (49 Fed. Reg. 30168). The FTC’s Funeral Rule Offender Program (FROP) results are published annually.

Cremation by state

Water cremation (alkaline hydrolysis) legality by state: Cremation Association of North America. As of 2026, roughly 25 U.S. states allow it.

When we recommend a product or service we earn a commission on, the article carries a disclosure at the top, and each affiliate link is flagged with rel=“sponsored”. The full list of partner programs we work with (or are applying to) is published below for transparency.

Insurance and benefits

• Choice Mutual — final expense brokerage
• Funeral Funds — final expense brokerage
• Policygenius — multi-carrier life insurance marketplace
• Ethos Life — direct-to-consumer life insurance

Personal loans

• LendingTree — loan marketplace
• Credible — loan marketplace
• SoFi, Upstart, LendingClub, OneMain Financial, Best Egg — direct lenders
• Engine by MoneyLion — loan-matching platform

Cremation and funeral merchandise

• Tulip Cremation, Solace Cremation, Smart Cremation, Cremation Society of America — direct cremation providers
• Trusted Caskets, Best Price Caskets, Titan Casket — specialty online casket retailers
• Walmart Affiliate (Impact), Amazon Associates — general merchandise including caskets and urns

Estate planning and end-of-life

• Trust & Will — estate planning platform
• LegalZoom, Rocket Lawyer, Nolo — legal services
• Ever Loved, GiveButter — funeral crowdfunding platforms

We do not earn a commission on every link. Editorial links to federal sources, state sources, public-interest non-profits, and competitors carry no compensation.

• Federal sources first. When the FTC, SSA, VA, IRS, or FDIC publishes a rule or amount, we cite that directly — not a secondary source.
• State variation is named. When something varies by state, we say so and route readers to the relevant state office.
• Pricing is dated. NFDA pricing data is cited with the year of the survey. Insurance and loan figures are typical ranges as of the article’s review date, not pinpoint quotes.
• Every guide carries a “Last reviewed” date in the page header. When we revise a guide materially, the date is bumped.
• Mistakes get fixed in place. If you find a factual error, email us at hello@sowhenyougo.com. We correct inline and add a brief note at the bottom of the affected page.