What Is a Home Funeral?

July 9th, 2025

Written by: Kathleen Clohessey, RN
End-Of-Life Content Writer

Professionally reviewed by: Heidi Boucher
Home Funeral Guide and Educator

a woman lays with flowers around her at a home funeral

Also called a family-directed funeral, a home funeral occurs when the family and loved ones of a person who has died choose to hold a funeral in the home rather than at a funeral home. The process may include preparing the body (a process we refer to as “natural death care” to differentiate it from the “unnatural” way bodies are cared for in a commercial funeral home) as well as some or all of the following:

Holding a visitation or viewing in the home
Performing personalized rituals and celebrations
Completing necessary paperwork, such as the death certificate (see specific question for more information)
Building or purchasing a coffin
Transporting the body to the crematorium or burial site

In some cases, a family will hold a funeral in the home and enlist the aid of a funeral home in completing the paperwork and transporting the body to the place of rest. Additionally, in cases where a body has been transported to a funeral home by a hospital or nursing home, the funeral home can bring the body to the home for a home funeral.

How much or how little you and your loved ones choose to do is always a personal choice.

A home funeral is often followed by a green or natural burial.

Jump ahead to:

The History of Home Funerals

Although the idea of a home funeral seems foreign to many of us in modern-day North America, it was the norm until the latter part of the 19th century. People usually died at home, and the family prepared the body and laid it out in the parlor where friends and relatives would come and pay their last respects. The family would then either build a simple coffin or hire a local carpenter to build it for them and bury their loved one on the family property or a community cemetery.

This changed after the Civil War, when embalming became popular, and after-death care evolved into an ever-growing commercial enterprise. Sadly, this change also contributed to a cultural shift towards a death-averse mindset that persists to this day. Americans, by and large, have little contact with death, and view caring for the dead as something frightening or even macabre. The home funeral movement, which began in the 1960s (1980s) and has been growing steadily ever since, seeks to counter this mindset and re-educate the public about the many benefits of caring for our own dead in the home.

Why Have a Home Funeral?

A home funeral, especially when preceded by natural death care, is a very personal way of saying goodbye to someone you love. Your loved one’s body stays in the family home rather than being carried away by strangers to be cared for in a funeral home. This affords those present the opportunity to spend time with their loved one and begin the process of mourning their loss. It also provides mourners the chance to connect with each other and share their grief in a deeply meaningful way. Spontaneous discussions about the nature of life and death and deeply held values and beliefs are also far more likely to occur when loved ones gather with the body of their loved one in the comfort of their own home.

From a practical standpoint, home funerals are also usually far more affordable than a funeral arranged and organized by a funeral home. This is especially true if you are planning a direct cremation, which requires only an inexpensive burial container such as a cardboard box. Even if your loved one will be buried, you can save hundreds and even thousands of dollars by purchasing a casket from a casket retailer versus buying one from a funeral home. You can also choose to build your own casket or burial container or buy a simple inexpensive coffin and decorate it yourself.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly, home funerals are a way for each of us to reconnect with the universal and unavoidable realities of dying, death, loss and grief. In our death-averse culture, these profoundly important topics have been almost entirely removed from the public sphere, leaving many of us completely unable to confront our own mortality or that of the people we love. When death arrives, we are often caught by surprise, as if we truly believed it would never happen to us. Taking back some of the rituals around caring for the dead can help us remember that we are all mortal, and develop a healthier and more accepting attitude towards that truth.

What Is a Home Funeral Like?

Although the term “home funeral” implies that the friends and family take on all of the tasks and responsibilities involving the care of a loved one who has died, that is not always, or even usually, the case. When a person dies at home, the family may choose to care for the body after death and engage in personalized rituals to honor their life, but then involve a funeral home to file the death certificate, store the body and then transport the loved one to a crematorium or cemetery. On the other hand, the family may wish to keep the body at home for several days in order to allow friends and loved ones to visit and say their final goodbyes. Some families choose to transport the body to the crematorium or burial ground themselves, while others enlist a funeral director to take on this task.

In other words, a home funeral is, to a very great extent, whatever the family and loved ones want it to be.

With that being said, a home funeral typically requires a certain amount of advance knowledge and preparation. Although it’s possible to hold a spontaneous home funeral, it will generally go more smoothly if you plan some aspects in advance. Some things you should try to do ahead of time include:

Gather required documents and the information you will need for the death certificate
Compile a list of who to notify when death occurs. This may include the hospice provider or attending physician, the funeral service provider (if there is one involved), the coroner or local fire department, and friends, family and loved ones.
Compile a list of friends or relatives who can help with natural death care. A dead body can be difficult to move, so you will most likely need at least two or three strong adults to assist.
Purchase and gather supplies for natural death care: Cooling gel packs or dry ice; a wash basin, washcloths, towels, waterproof pads, soap, shampoo, comb, nail clippers and other bath supplies.
Decide on final disposition if your loved one hasn’t already done so. Call service providers (e.g. crematory, cemetery, natural burial ground etc.) as necessary.
Decide on memorial options. If your dying loved one is still able to participate, ask them what their preferences are.
Decide where you will keep your loved one’s body when guests arrive.
Determine how the body will be transported to its final resting place and by whom.

Legal Requirements for Home Funerals

Home funerals are legal in every state in the U.S. and throughout Canada; caring for your loved one’s body in your own home or elsewhere is every family’s right. However, some U.S. states have laws that require the involvement of a licensed funeral director at some point in the process. These include:

Connecticut: You must hire a funeral director to remove the body and file the death certificate and/or handle the disposition of any body with a communicable disease.
Florida: A funeral director must supervise final disposition.
Illinois: You must hire a funeral director to file the death certificate.
Indiana: You must hire a funeral director to file the death certificate and handle transportation of the body to its final resting place.
Iowa: You must hire a funeral director to arrange cremations. Bodies with infectious diseases must be embalmed.
Louisiana: A funeral director must perform or supervise nearly every aspect of final disposition, including arranging cremation or burial, obtaining the death certificate and transporting the remains.
Michigan: You must hire a funeral director to oversee final disposition and file the death certificate.
Nebraska: You must hire a funeral director to file the death certificate, obtain transfer permits, and oversee the interment of the body.
New Jersey: You must hire a funeral director to oversee disposition and file the death certificate.
New York: Like Louisiana, New York requires that a funeral director oversee every aspect of final disposition, including receiving a body from a hospital or nursing home, and personally supervising the funeral service and interment or cremation.

Importantly, no state in the U.S. or Canadian province requires embalming except in very specific circumstances, such as when a person died from or with a communicable disease or

If the body will be transported across state lines.

To learn more about state funeral and burial laws, see this state-by-state directory from World Population Review.

Home Funeral Paperwork

Whenever and wherever a person dies, documentation will be required by local authorities. And while filling out this paperwork should be relatively uncomplicated, in truth, it is often anything but. State laws can vary widely, and what is required may vary greatly from place to place. So it’s always a good idea to know what the requirements are in your area ahead of time.

With that being said, there are certain documents that must always or nearly always be filed when a person dies. These include but aren’t necessarily limited to the following:

Death Certificate

A death certificate is an official document that states the date, time, location and cause of death. A death certificate must be filed for every death that occurs in the United States. The original certificate must be signed by a physician or coroner, and then submitted to the appropriate government agency (usually to the state or county vital records office.) Death certificates serve several purposes. They:

Document the circumstances of a death
Serve as a legal record of a person’s demise
Serve as a source of mortality statistics used to track disease trends and causes of death
Serve as a means of prioritizing and allocating research funding

Filing a death certificate can be simple or complicated, depending on where the person who died lived. California and Florida, for example, maintain an electronic death records system that is accessible only to hospitals, funeral directors and the coroner. If a family wishes to file a death certificate, they must go to the county vital records office with a written statement from a physician attesting to the date, time and circumstances of the death and ask office personnel to file the electronic death record for them. In some cases, the office will provide a paper death certificate that the next of kin can fill out and a physician must sign, but this is not typically the case.

In other states, the Bureau of Vital Statistics will issue a paper death certificate to the next of kin that families can fill out and, after obtaining the signature of a physician or the coroner, file themselves. However, a few states (Illinois, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York) and the District of Columbia mandate that only a funeral director can file a death certificate.

Disposition permit

Sometimes called a burial transit permit, the disposition permit states how and where final disposition will occur. The office of vital records issues the permit after a death certificate is filed.

Burial Transit Permit

If a person other than a licensed funeral director, medical examiner or EMS provider takes custody of a deceased person’s body for the purpose of transporting it to its final resting place, a Burial Transit Permit is usually required. This document is also needed if a funeral service provider is transporting a body into or out of most states.

Cremation permit

A cremation permit is a document that authorizes a crematorium to cremate a body. It is a requirement in most states, and is typically issued after the death certificate is filed.

If your loved one had a pre-paid funeral or cremation contract, that information is essential as well.

Do You Need a Home Funeral Guide?

Over the past few decades, a new category of death care professionals has gained precedence in the United States: home funeral guides. Also called home funeral consultants, these individuals assist families and loved ones in planning and implementing home funerals. Closely aligned in their purpose and mission with death doulas, home funeral guides offer invaluable advice that can help ease the burden of arranging a home funeral, caring for the body of your loved one, and filing necessary paperwork. They also are generally well-versed in state and local laws around funerals and burials, and thus can act as liaisons with local authorities and a funeral director, if their services are required.

In most cases, home funeral guides are not licensed funeral directors (although some are.) Therefore, they cannot take the role of a funeral director in states where a funeral director’s participation in planning or implementing final disposition is required. However, they provide a valuable service and may ease the burden of family and loved ones at an extremely difficult time. Visit this online directory provided by the National Home Funeral Alliance to find a home funeral guide in your area.

In summary, a home or family-directed funeral is a time-honored, loving and deeply personal way to say goodbye to a loved one who has died. Home funerals are legal in every state in the U.S., and can be far more affordable than using a funeral home. If you would like to plan a home funeral for yourself or someone you love, please don’t hesitate to do so. You will undoubtedly be pleasantly surprised by how beautiful and meaningful the experience can be.

To learn more about planning a home funeral and natural death care, see SevenPonds Comprehensive Step-by-Step Planning Guide: Immediately Upon Death.

Sources:

NY Times Magazine: The Movement to Bring Death Closer https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/19/magazine/home-funeral.html

The National Home Funeral Alliance Director:

https://www.homefuneralalliance.org/directories.html#!directory

NHFA Home Funeral Guide: Updated 01/2024: https://www.homefuneralalliance.org/home-funeral-guidebook.html

World Population Review: Burial Laws by State 2024:

https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/burial-laws-by-state