What Is a Home Funeral Guide?

According to the founder of Final Passages, Jerrigrace Lyons, a home funeral guide is a trained professional whose role is to “educate and empower families to exercise the innate right of caring for their own dead.” A home funeral guide is a non-medical provider who lends an additional layer of support for families who wish to care for their loved ones after they die. Lyons emphasizes that a home funeral guide does not care for the body of a person who has died, but rather supports and educates the family so they can do so themselves. They are knowledgeable about natural death care, as well as state and local laws and ordinances that impact a family’s right to care for a loved one who has died. They also act as liaisons between funeral service providers, vital records departments, coroner’s offices, and the like. 

Unlike end-of-life doulas, who work with families (or chosen families) throughout the dying process, a home funeral guide helps families plan for and manage the tasks involved in caring for their loved one after death occurs. They serve as an important resource in helping families navigate the practical aspects of caring for a body, such as gathering necessary supplies, assembling a team of people to help, and slowing decomposition so that a home vigil can occur. In states where a funeral director must be involved in after-death care, they will also work with those providers to streamline the process of obtaining and filing a death certificate and a burial transit permit, and transporting the body to its final resting place.

Like all service providers, home funeral guides typically charge a fee. However, because they are not (as a rule) licensed funeral directors, they are not covered by the FTC Funeral Rule and are not required to provide consumers with a written price list or estimate for their services in advance. For this reason, it’s always a good idea to enter into a written contract with the funeral guide that details what services they will and will not provide. 

If you need a home funeral guide, you can search for one by name, location, or area of expertise in the NHFA directory linked below.

Sources

“The role of a home funeral guide.” Final Passages. https://finalpassages.org/the-role-of-a-home-funeral-guide/ 

International End of Life Doula Association. https://inelda.org/ 

“Home Funeral Laws”. NOLO. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/home-funeral-laws 

“NHFA Directory”. National Home Funeral Alliance. https://www.homefuneralalliance.org/directories.html#!directory