Glossary of Words You May Need to Understand

Alternative Container

An unfinished wood box or other non-metal receptacle, often made of fiberboard, pressed wood or composition materials, commonly used for cremation.

Arrangements Conference

A meeting, either at the funeral home or by phone, between the funeral director and the next-of-kin to determine what services the mortuary will perform, to obtain vital information, to sign necessary paperwork, and to arrange for payment. This meeting is often scheduled to occur the day after the deceased has been transported to the funeral home.

Basic Services Fee

The charge for services that are common to most funerals, including funeral planning, securing the necessary permits and copies of death certificates, preparing the notices, sheltering the remains, and coordinating the arrangements with the cemetery or other third parties. The fee does not include charges for optional services or merchandise. Package prices often include the basic services fee.

Cash Advances

Fees charged by funeral homes for goods and services they buy from outside vendors on your behalf, including flowers, obituary notices, officiating clergy, organists and soloists.

Casket or Coffin

A box or chest for burying remains.

Cemetery Property

A grave, crypt or niche. Also referred to as interment rights.

Cemetery Services

Opening and closing graves, crypts or niches; setting grave liners and vaults; setting markers; and long-term maintenance of cemetery grounds and facilities.

Columbarium

A structure with niches (small spaces) for placing cremated remains in urns or other approved containers. It may be outdoors or part of a mausoleum.

Cremation

Exposing remains and the container encasing them to extreme heat and flame and processing the resulting bone fragments to a uniform size and consistency.

Crypt

A space in a mausoleum or other building to hold cremated or whole remains. See also lawn crypt.

Direct Burial

The body is buried shortly after death (within a few days), usually in a simple container. No viewing or visitation is involved, so no embalming is necessary. A memorial service may be arranged separately to be held at the graveside or elsewhere.

Direct Cremation

The body is cremated shortly after death (usually within 2-10 days), without embalming. The cremated remains are placed in an urn or other container. No viewing or visitation is involved, although a memorial service may be separately arranged, with or without the cremated remains present.

Directive to Physicians (Living Will)

Authorized by state law, this document directs that life not be artificially prolonged under the circumstance of incurable conditions certified to be terminal by two physicians. The document may include personalized instructions; e.g., specifying that artificial nutrition and hydration are to be construed as life-sustaining procedures. The document must be signed by two witnesses.

Disposition

The placement of cremated or whole remains in their final resting place.

Disposition Authorization (Decedent During Lifetime)

Signing this before death avoids the necessity for next-of-kin to provide written authorization for cremation. It also allows a person to designate who is authorized to dispose of the cremated remains. A person holding a valid Power of Attorney may sign the Disposition Authorization on behalf of a person who is still living.

Durable Power of Attorney

Authorized by state law, this document allows you to designate another person (known as your "attorney-in-fact") to have powers which you specify in the document. It can be limited to health care decisions, or for general financial management, health and medical care, emergencies, etc. It can be revoked by the principal at any time while the principal remains competent. It becomes irrevocable upon the disability or incompetence of the principal. It must be notarized. The power of attorney ceases upon the death of the person signing the document.

Endowment Care Fund

Money collected from cemetery property purchasers and placed in trust for the maintenance and upkeep of the cemetery.

Embalming

Replacing the blood of the deceased with chemicals that slow down the body's deterioration. This is not required for direct cremation or direct burial. It may be required before viewing of the deceased by the family, due to health department rules.

Entombment

Placement of a casket or urn in a mausoleum.

Funeral Ceremony

A service commemorating the deceased, with the body present. The casket may be either open or closed.

The Funeral Rule

A rule of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that requires funeral directors to give you, if you ask in person, an itemized General Price List and, if you ask over the phone, prices over the phone. The rule also requires funeral directors to give you other information about their goods and services.

Funeral Services

Services provided by a funeral director and staff, which may include consulting with the family on funeral planning; transportation, shelter, refrigeration and embalming of remains; preparing and filing notices; obtaining authorizations and permits; and coordinating with the cemetery, crematory or other third parties. Funeral Services is also commonly used to refer to the Funeral Ceremony, which may cause confusion among those planning their final arrangements.

Grave

A space in the ground in a cemetery for the burial of remains.

Grave Liner or Outer Container

A concrete cover that fits over a casket in a grave. Some liners cover tops and sides of the casket. Others, referred to as vaults, completely enclose the casket (or urn). Grave liners minimize ground settling. Most cemeteries require a casket or urn to be enclosed by a liner or vault at the time of burial.

Graveside Service or Committal

A ceremony to commemorate the deceased held at the cemetery at the time of burial.

Identification

Verification of the identity of the deceased, either by use of photographs or by having a family member briefly see the body. Viewing the deceased for identification purposes may require embalming, depending on when it occurs.

Interment

Burial in the ground or entombment.

Interment Rights

The right to use a particular gravesite, crypt or niche. Cemetery property is not bought and sold in the same manner as real estate. A purchaser has a right to use the space, subject to cemetery rules, but not actual ownership of the real estate.

Inurnment

The placing of cremated remains in an urn.

Lawn Crypt

A burial site that has a previously installed grave liner. Lawn crypts are often designed to accommodate two people, one on top of the other. They may be more economical than purchasing a grave and vault or liner separately.

Mausoleum

A building in which remains are buried or entombed.

Memorial Service

A ceremony commemorating the deceased, without the body present. A memorial service does not need to occur in a funeral home or house of worship. It may occur several weeks after the death has occurred. There may be more than one memorial service in different locations.

Memorial Society

An organization that provides information about funerals and cremation, often a non-profit consumer-oriented organization run by volunteers. Memorial societies usually enable their members to receive lower cost mortuary services and eliminate much of the stress of end-of-life arrangements.

Mortuary

A funeral home. A facility used for ceremonies and rituals associated with a recent death and for preparation of the body for burial or cremation.

Niche

A space in a columbarium, mausoleum or niche wall to hold an urn.

Other (optional) Services and Merchandise

Costs such as transporting the remains; embalming and other preparation; use of the funeral home for the viewing, ceremony or memorial service; use of equipment and staff for a graveside service; use of a hearse or limousine; a casket, outer burial container or alternate container; and cremation or interment.

Pre-Need

Making decisions about funeral arrangements prior to death, which may include advance payment. Also referred to as pre-arrangement.

Prepaying

Paying for funeral or cremation expenses before one's death. States have laws to help ensure that these advance payments are available to pay for the funeral products and services when they are needed. Protections vary widely from state to state.

Procession

A line of cars moving together to a cemetery following a funeral service. A hearse often carries the casket at the beginning of the processional. A procession involves extra expenses due to the need for police escorts and the practice of using special vehicles to transport the casket, flowers and the family.

Removal

Pick up of the deceased at the place of death and transportation to the funeral home. If the pick up occurs outside the local service area, there will be an additional removal charge. Some funeral homes impose an extra fee if the removal is at night, on the weekend, or from a private home rather than from an institution which has staff available to assist.

Scattering cremated remains

Disbursing (over land or water) the bone fragments (ashes) that remain after cremation. This may be done with permission of the property owner. Special permission is not needed to scatter remains from a ferry boat in Puget Sound, although the ferry captain should be notified. The remains are removed from their container before being scattered.

Traditional, Full-Service Funeral

This usually includes a viewing or visitation, embalming and dressing the body, formal funeral service (ceremony) with the casket present, possibly use of a hearse to transport the body to the funeral site and cemetery, and burial, entombment or cremation of the remains. The costs usually include use of the funeral home for the viewing or service.

Urn

A container to hold cremated remains. It can be kept at home, placed in a columbarium or mausoleum, or buried in the ground. When buried, the cemetery may require that the urn first be placed in a vault. Any container of appropriate size could be used for this purpose, but cemeteries set their own requirements for what they will accept at their facility. Check the cemetery rules before purchasing an urn.

Vault

A grave liner that completely encloses a casket or urn.

Veterans Cemeteries

Most veterans are entitled to free burial in a national cemetery and a grave marker. Some civilians who have provided military-related service and some Public Health Service personnel are also eligible. Spouses and some dependent children also are entitled to a lot and marker when buried in a national cemetery. There are no charges for opening or closing the grave, for a vault or liner, or for setting the marker in a national cemetery. The national cemeteries will accept either caskets or urns.

Visitation or Viewing

A scheduled time at the funeral home in the presence of the deceased in an open casket, usually in a special room set up for that purpose. Embalming is usually required before visitation can occur.