What if I'm being challenged on having a home funeral?

We don’t find that hospice nurses, hospital staff, and funeral directors are maliciously giving misinformation to families. Often, they simply don’t know the laws and rights regarding home funerals and keeping a body at home. Don’t let someone in a position of authority tell you you can’t keep a loved one at home.

Our friends at the National Home Funeral Alliance have created some excellent resources to help you if you feel your rights are being obstructed.

The ability and the opportunity to spend time with the body of your loved one after they've died is so profound, but it's also very foreign in this culture. Many people in places of authority, like within a hospital or nursing home system, even within a funeral home system, sometimes even though they're more aligned, they often assume it's not possible, without actually knowing whether it is or is not possible. They just say, "No, you can't." And it's really often just a lack of education. 

The easiest, most direct and effective way is to connect either with the National Home Funeral Alliance or the Funeral Consumers Alliance. They are two nonprofit groups who've done an enormous amount of research, learning about what's possible in each jurisdiction, province and state. They can give you resources to support your family and help you prepare in advance the most successful way to have a home funeral. 

If you have the option and it's not a sudden death, have all the things set up in advance so that you're not trying to have that conversation in that really stressful time between death and funeral. Have the conversation as far in advance as you can so people are prepared. If they're prepared, usually they can find a way to make it work.