Cremation Explained Death in One State, Burial in Another Earth Burial How to Shop for a Simple Cremation How to Plan a Memorial Service How to Write an Obituary Organ & Body Donation Veterans Funeral & Burial Benefits What To Do When Death Occurs Away From Home   Consumer Bill of Rights

Your Consumer Bill of Rights!

• Prices for all funeral-related products offered for sale by a vendor must be disclosed to the consumer in writing on a standardized Price List. (i.e., a Funeral Service Price List, Cemetery Price List; Monument Price List; a Casket Price List; an Outer Burial Container Price List, etc.).


• Before a contract is signed, all services, products and costs must be disclosed on the contract and in plain language.


• Vendors selling funeral-related products to a consumer may not misrepresent legal, crematory, and burial requirements. Vendors may not require consumers to buy certain funeral-related products as a condition for furnishing other funeral-related products; Vendors may not require a consumer to pay a basic services fee, or processing fee, as a condition of the contract, or engage in other deceptive or unfair trade practices.
  
  

• No false claims may be made for any funeral-related products offered for sale to a consumer.
  
  
• No false claims may be made about the availability or sufficiency of veteran's benefits. Any contract for the sale of a burial plot must disclosure the exact location of the burial plot based on a current survey of the cemetery.


• Vendors may not make any false representations to consumers about delaying the decomposition of human remains represent that any funeral-related products (such as caskets or vaults) will protect the body from gravesite substances.

• Finance charges should be prohibited on a cemetery or funeral preneed contract paid in installments.


• No cemetery or its agent may require that cremated human remains be interred in any specific type of container or in an outer burial container.


• No vendor of funeral-related products may require the purchase of a casket for direct cremation or mislead the consumer about any aspect of cremation.


• No vendor of funeral-related products may require consumers to buy any funeral-related product as a condition for furnishing other funeral-related products.


• If the operational and/or maintenance requirements (e.g., rules and regulations) of a cemetery change after the date a contract is signed for the purchase of funeral-related products, the cemetery may not require the consumer, purchaser, or such person's relative or representative to purchase any good or service not included in the original contract or in the rules and regulations in existence when the contract was entered.


• No funeral or cemetery vendor may engage in other deceptive or unfair practices.

• Before any contract for the purchase of funeral-related products is agreed to, consumers must be advised in writing that they may supply any merchandise or service directly or through a third-party vendor of the consumer's choice without incurring a penalty or additional charge.


• If an inspection fee is charged by a cemetery vendor for a third party installation of a marker or vault, the cemetery or its agent may charge only the actual cost of the inspection and disclose this charge on the appropriate Price List.
  
  
• Charges for installation of markers, monuments, and vaults in cemeteries must be the same without regard to where the item is purchased.
  

• A cemetery or its sales agent must disclose in writing what services are included when a consumer is charged a fee for, or is promised, memorial or perpetual care.
  
  
• Before a prepaid contract for funeral-related products is agreed to, a vendor must disclose what goods and services are not or cannot be included in the contract.
  
  
• No funeral or cemetery vendor, or their agents, shall misrepresent the benefits, advantages, conditions, or terms of any preneed contract.

• The constructive delivery of preneed funeral-related products, or the delivery of funeral-related products prior to need, is prohibited.
  
  
• Any cemetery and/or agent of a cemetery that sells a burial plot must repurchase any unused burial plot at the request of the original purchaser, or the purchaser's agent, heir, or assign, at 100% of the purchase price plus 50% of the plot's appreciated value.

• Any vendor of funeral-related products shall disclose on its Price Lists any affiliation or relationship with another entity that has any control over, or benefits from, its operations.
  
  
• Vendors of funeral-related products or their agents may not refer, direct, or steer consumers to cemeteries in which they have a financial interest without disclosing the interest in writing.
  
  
• Any merchandising, sales, rebate, or income-sharing agreements between vendors of funeral-related products and nonprofit entities must be fully disclosed to a consumer in writing at the beginning of any sales meeting or arrangements conference with the consumer.

• In order to promote organ/tissue donation and body donation, no funeral industry employee may disparage or discourage any proposed donation and must make every reasonable effort to support and facilitate any such donation.
  
  
• To promote organ/tissue donation and body donation, every funeral industry licensee must provide to consumers a brochure about organ donation and a brochure about tissue donation supplied by area organ and tissue procurement organizations, and a brochure about Texas' Willed Body program promulgated by the Texas Anatomical Board or the Texas Department of Health.
  
  
• Reimbursement of actual costs incurred by a funeral industry licensee as a result of an organ, tissue, or body donation may be made by an organ or tissue recovery agency, but no funeral industry licensee may assess an organ, tissue, or body donor family or person making funeral arrangements any additional charges as a result of an organ, tissue, or body donation.

• Preneed cemetery sales and the scheduling of appointments for such purposes, may not be solicited over the telephone or in person unless

  the solicitation is requested intentionally and knowingly by the consumer.
  
  
• Follow-up contacts are prohibited with consumers who have entered into a preneed contract for the purchase of funeral-related products by or on behalf of a vendor of such items or their agents concerning, directly or indirectly, the offering of additional funeral-related products, unless the consumer has knowingly and voluntarily signed a statement which clearly requests such follow-up contacts.
  
  
• Names and contact information obtained from a person attending a funeral may not be used to solicit that person, unless that person has knowingly and intentionally indicated their willingness to be solicited.

• Complaints about the provision of funeral-related products may be brought by a consumer or the consumer's agent appointed for that purpose, and shall be resolved promptly, thoroughly, and fairly on behalf of the consumer by a Consumer Representative provided by the regulatory agency that registers and/or licenses vendors of funeral-related products.
  
  
• The failure of a vendor of funeral-related products to cooperate fully with a Consumer Representative shall be subject to losing the vendor's license to operate for a minimum of thirty (30) days and a maximum of one (1) year upon a finding of non cooperation by the regulatory authority.
  
  
• In any case where a Consumer Representative does not resolve the complaint within sixty (60) days, the complainant may bring suit in a court of competent jurisdiction for violation of the regulatory authority, and shall receive reasonable attorney's fees if the complainant substantially prevails.
  
  
• Records pertaining to complaints made shall be maintained by the regulatory agency in a form which reflects the nature of the complaint, the date of the complaint, the outcome of the Consumer Representative services, the outcome of appeals and the outcome of any lawsuits filed which result from unresolved complaints.
  
  
• From and after the date Consumer Representative services have concluded, all records pertaining to the complaint are deemed public records.

"This document was originally drafted by Lamar Hankins, a
public-interest lawyer in Texas, revised by Texas representatives of
AARP and Consumers Union, and submitted to the Sunset Review Commission
of the Texas Legislature. It has been further revised and adapted to
the situation of consumers in Florida."