Home Funeral & Green Burial Services

What You Can Expect From Your Home Funeral Guide

Home Funeral Guides may charge for any of the following services:

Educational Services

• Teach/show/demonstrate to the family how to care for a body after death

• Public presentations about family-directed funerals

• Teaching in a classroom setting

• In-service training for medical professionals and others

• Community and spiritual care group training

• Training other home funeral guides/workshops

Consulting Services

• Family consultations about natural death care

• Planning details of a home vigil with the family

• Skype or phone coaching of family during the home funeral

• Coordinating services when funeral firms are involved

• Coordinating services when clergy, celebrants, spiritual or community groups and organizations are involved

• Assisting individuals in completing advance directives

Celebrant Services

• Assisting in organizing or planning the memorial service

• Coordinating or facilitating a ceremony at a home vigil, funeral, memorial, graveside, church, life celebration rituals, ceremonies or services with prayer/song

• Providing emotional and spiritual support to the family prior to, during, or after the death

• Coordinating church and/or graveside funeral services

Facilitation Services

• Time spent locating caskets, urns, shrouds, or other products

• Time spent coordinating or confirming disposition in states where a licensed funeral director is not required by law to do so

• Time spent coordinating family logistics, including pick-ups of travelers, meals, containers, prior to and/or during the funeral period

• Travel expense reimbursement for services such as picking up and delivering cremated remains, running errands

Support Services

• Acting as a liaison for the family as needed

• Providing follow-up support after final disposition

• Support with house preparation for home vigil

• Overseeing/providing the food or flowers for home vigil

Voluntary Home Funeral Guide Services

Home Funeral Guides provide support by invitation of the family but may not charge for any or all of these services:

• Any and all hands-on preparation of the body (bathing, use of essential oils, dressing)

• Providing and/or monitoring the cooling technique at the home vigil

• Contacting the crematory or cemetery

• Filing the necessary paperwork for the family

• Helping the family move the body from car to the grave or crematory

• Using own private vehicle to transport the body for the family

• Mediating family decisions regarding care and responsibilities

• Offering grief counseling (must have a license to practice)

• Acting as durable power of attorney or designated agent (written, available depending on your state)

Family Responsibilities

With or without voluntary support by a Home Funeral Guide, the person acting as Funeral Director/Agent is responsible for:

• Providing appropriate space for the family to tend to the loved one for the duration

• Filing and procurement of all legal documents with support as needed

• Providing items for the personal care of the loved one

• Notifying all parties as is legally necessary

• Making all decisions regarding the handling and disposition of their loved one

• Purchasing containers and final disposition plots

• Paying for all goods and services pertaining to the death and disposition

• Hiring of any additional services, including a funeral home for partial services

• Bathing, handling, and transporting the body

• Enlisting 4-6 people to help with moving the body

• Creating and organizing funeral or memorial plans with or without the help of a Home Funeral Guide

Disclaimer:

• The information provided using this web site is only intended to be general summary information to the public. it is not intended to take the place of either the written law or regulations. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them. 

• Home Funeral Guides empower and educate families to conduct after-death care themselves as their state law allows. They may charge for educational and consultative services only; all voluntary services are performed free of charge and at the request of the family.

• Home Funeral Guides do not arrange funerals; they support the family in their own efforts to plan and make connections to goods and services.

• Home Funeral Guides who offer both goods and services are subject to the Federal Trade Commission’s Funeral Rule and must provide a written General Price List upon request.