Florida Funeral Laws and Rules: Pricing, Cremation, and Preneed

Florida funeral laws live mainly in Chapter 497 of the Florida Statutes, and they cover who can make decisions about a deceased person, how quickly a body must be embalmed or refrigerated, what a funeral home must disclose about pricing, how cremations and cemeteries are regulated, and what rights you keep when you buy a funeral in advance. The rules matter most in the first day or two after a death, when choices are being made quickly and families sometimes disagree. What follows is what Florida actually requires.

Who Has Legal Authority to Decide

Funeral homes in Florida must follow a fixed priority list when identifying who can authorize arrangements. Written directions the deceased left during their lifetime come first. For a service member who died in military service, the person named on the DD Form 93 is next. After that, authority passes through family in this order: surviving spouse, adult child (18 or older), parent, adult sibling, adult grandchild, grandparent, and then the next degree of kinship.¹

If no one on that list is available, authority can pass to a guardian, personal representative, attorney-in-fact, health surrogate, or a friend willing to take responsibility. Anyone arrested for domestic violence against the deceased, or for any act that contributed to the death, is barred from making these decisions.¹

Within a class, one person can act. When an adult child authorizes cremation, for example, the funeral home may rely on that authorization as long as the person representing the family states they have no reason to believe another sibling or anyone in a higher-priority class objects. A single adult child does not need to track down every sibling, but the representation must be honest.

Your Pricing Rights at the Funeral Home

The federal FTC Funeral Rule applies to every funeral provider in Florida and gives you specific protections when you sit down to plan.² The funeral home must hand you a written, itemized General Price List as soon as you begin discussing arrangements, and the list is yours to keep. It has to show separate prices for the basic services of the funeral director and staff, embalming, use of facilities for viewing or a ceremony, transportation by hearse, caskets, and outer burial containers.

A few rights catch families off guard:

You can buy only what you want. A funeral home cannot force you into a package; you have the right to select individual goods and services.
You can bring your own casket or urn. If you buy one online or from another retailer, the funeral home cannot refuse it or charge a handling fee.
You can get prices by phone. Funeral directors must give price information over the telephone without first asking for your name, address, or phone number.³

The General Price List must also state that embalming is not required by law in most situations and that you have the right to choose alternatives such as direct cremation or immediate burial that don’t involve embalming.

The 24-Hour Rule and Embalming

Florida does not require embalming in every case, but it does set a firm timeline. A body cannot be held for more than 24 hours after death unless it is embalmed, refrigerated at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or below, or preserved by another method approved by the licensing authority.⁴ Families planning a viewing or ceremony more than a day after death effectively have to choose between embalming and refrigeration.

Funeral homes must obtain explicit consent before embalming and disclose the cost upfront. Florida law also recognizes religious and cultural alternatives such as washing and shrouding, provided they meet public health standards. Embalming without authorization violates both state law and the FTC Funeral Rule.

Cremation Rules and Timing

Cremation requires written authorization from a legally authorized person, following the same priority order above, and the authorization must include specific instructions about handling remains, such as removing jewelry or medical devices. Only licensed facilities may perform cremations, and a burial-transit permit from the local registrar of vital statistics is required before cremation can proceed.⁵

Once cremation has been authorized and a time has been agreed on in writing, the crematory must perform it within 48 hours of that agreed-upon time.⁶

Traveling With Cremated Remains

If you fly with cremated remains, TSA requires the container to be made of a material that allows a clear X-ray image, such as wood or plastic. Metal or stone urns that show as opaque on the scanner will not pass the checkpoint, because TSA officers will not open a cremation container under any circumstances, even at your request. Check with your airline first, since some carriers do not allow cremated remains in checked baggage.⁷

Scattering Cremated Remains

Scattering is permitted in Florida, with rules that depend on location. Federal law requires ocean scattering to take place at least three nautical miles from land.⁸ Inland waters like lakes and rivers are not regulated at the federal level but fall under Florida state environmental rules. Contact the Florida Department of Environmental Protection before scattering in any inland waterway to confirm what’s allowed at that location.

Preneed Contracts and Your Right to Cancel

Preneed contracts let you lock in arrangements and pay in advance, and Florida law gives you cancellation rights that sellers don’t always volunteer.

Within 30 days of signing, you can cancel for any reason and get a complete refund of everything you paid, minus the value of any burial rights, merchandise, or services already used. Written notice to the preneed licensee is all that is required.⁹

After 30 days, your rights narrow but do not disappear. You can still cancel the services, facilities, and cash advance portions of the contract at any time and get a full refund of the purchase price for those items. Merchandise is different: you are entitled to a refund only if the preneed licensee cannot or does not deliver the merchandise when the time comes. The licensee can satisfy the contract by subcontracting with another provider or substituting items of equal or greater quality.⁹

If the preneed licensee breaches the contract or fails to provide the agreed goods and services, you are entitled to a full refund of everything paid. All refunds under this section must be issued within 30 days of the licensee receiving your written cancellation notice.

Cemeteries, Perpetual Care, and Veteran Burial

Florida licenses cemeteries but exempts several categories: religious institution cemeteries under five acres that provide only single-level ground burial, county and municipal cemeteries, family cemeteries under two acres that don’t sell burial spaces, and community or nonprofit cemeteries that don’t sell burial spaces or merchandise.¹⁰

Licensed cemeteries must maintain a perpetual care trust fund so that grounds maintenance continues indefinitely. The cemetery must deposit at least 10 percent of all payments received for burial rights into the fund, with a minimum of $25 per burial right. Even burial rights provided at no charge require a $25 deposit.¹¹

Veterans who received anything other than a dishonorable discharge, along with their spouses and minor children, may qualify for burial in a VA national cemetery at no cost. That includes the gravesite, opening and closing of the grave, a headstone or marker, and perpetual care. Surviving spouses remain eligible even if they remarried after the veteran’s death.¹²

For veterans buried outside a national cemetery, the VA provides burial allowances. For non-service-connected deaths occurring on or after October 1, 2025, the VA pays up to $1,002 toward burial expenses and $1,002 for a plot or interment allowance. For service-connected deaths, the burial allowance is up to $2,000. A separate headstone or marker allowance of $441 is also available.¹³ Social Security also pays a one-time lump-sum death benefit of $255 to an eligible surviving spouse or child.¹⁴

Moving or Transporting a Body

Before a body can be moved within or out of Florida, a burial-transit permit must be obtained from the local registrar of the registration district where the death occurred. The funeral director or subregistrar submits the application, and the permit confirms the death has been properly recorded and no legal holds are in place.⁵

Disinterment, meaning moving a buried body from one location to another, requires written authorization from a legally authorized person or a court order. A licensed funeral director must be physically present during the disinterment unless the reinterment takes place in the same cemetery, and the licensing authority must be notified.¹⁵

Home burial is not addressed by any single statewide statute. Whether burial on private property is permitted depends on local zoning ordinances, which vary by county and municipality. Contact your local zoning office before making arrangements for burial on private land.

Filing a Complaint

If a funeral home, crematory, or cemetery violates Florida law, or if you suspect unlicensed activity, the Division of Funeral, Cemetery, and Consumer Services handles complaints. You can download a complaint form from the Division’s website and mail it to 200 East Gaines Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0361. The Division can also be reached at 850-413-3039, or toll-free within Florida at 800-323-2627.¹⁶

1
The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 497.005 – Definitions
2
Federal Trade Commission. Complying with the Funeral Rule
3
Federal Trade Commission. The FTC Funeral Rule
4
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 497.386 – Embalming; Refrigeration; Custody of Human Remains
5
Legal Information Institute. Florida Administrative Code R 64V-1.011 – Burial-Transit Permit to Be Issued
6
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 497.607 – Cremation; Procedure Required
7
Transportation Security Administration. Cremated Remains
8
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Burial at Sea
9
Florida Public Law. Florida Statutes 497.459 – Cancellation of, or Default on, Preneed Contracts
10
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 497.260 – Cemeteries Exempt From Provisions of Chapter
11
Florida Public Law. Florida Statutes 497.268 – Care and Maintenance Trust Fund, Percentage of Payments
12
Department of Veterans Affairs. Eligibility for Burial in a VA National Cemetery
13
Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans Burial Allowance and Transportation Benefits
14
Social Security Administration. Lump-Sum Death Payment
15
Florida Public Law. Florida Statutes 497.384 – Disinterment; Transportation; Authorization and Procedure
16
My Florida CFO. Funeral, Cemetery, and Consumer Services – Consumer Help