Are Home Funerals Legal in Florida?

A home funeral is a family-directed after-death care arrangement: family and friends care for the body at home, hold a vigil or visitation there, and may handle some or all of the paperwork and transportation themselves. Some families also work with a funeral home for part of the process.

What Florida law says

Florida’s death certificate statute gives the filing responsibility to the funeral director who first takes custody of the body, and provides that in the absence of a funeral director, the certificate is filed by the physician or other medical professional involved, or the medical examiner (Fla. Stat. 382.008). That suggests family-directed care is contemplated in some situations, and Florida is not among the states the Funeral Consumers Alliance lists as restricting families from caring for their own dead. However, the same legal requirements apply however the arrangements are made:

• The death certificate must be filed within 5 days and before final disposition (Fla. Stat. 382.008).
• A burial-transit permit is needed before burial or cremation (Fla. Stat. 382.006).
• The body must be refrigerated at 40°F or below or embalmed if held more than 24 hours (Fla. Stat. 497.386).
• Cremation requires medical examiner review, a 48-hour wait and a licensed crematory (Fla. Stat. 406.11, 872.03).
• Burial must take place in a cemetery or on land where burial is permitted; local rules apply.

Practical realities

Much of the death registration system is designed around licensed funeral directors, and crematories and cemeteries have their own intake requirements. Florida’s heat also makes keeping a body at home for more than a short time difficult without proper cooling. Before planning a fully family-directed funeral, contact the Division of Funeral, Cemetery, and Consumer Services for current guidance, and talk with the cemetery or crematory you plan to use.

A middle path

Many families get much of what they want from a home funeral by asking a funeral home to handle transportation, paperwork and refrigeration while the family holds a vigil or visitation at home, washes and dresses their loved one, or leads the service. Ask a funeral director what is possible.