AG Racine Announces New Funeral Home Consumer Protections

May 6, 2020

District Funeral Homes Now Required to Post Prices Online, Provide Itemized Bills and Receipts, and Inform Consumers of Their Rights

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Attorney General Karl A. Racine today alerted District residents about new consumer protections that increase transparency in the funeral industry during the COVID-19 emergency. The District’s new “Consumer Bill of Rights for Funeral Home Establishments” requires funeral homes to post their prices online for the first time. It also requires funeral businesses to notify consumers of their rights—including the right to choose individual goods and services rather than purchasing a preselected set of goods and services. Consumers also have the right to purchase less expensive caskets from sources other than funeral homes. The Council of the District of Columbia authorized the creation of the Consumer Bill of Rights for Funeral Home Establishments on a temporary basis as part of its April 10 emergency legislation. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) proposed many of the new protections following a 2017 investigation into the funeral industry that revealed a lack of price transparency and alleged violations of consumer protection law. OAG will enforce this Consumer Bill of Rights for Funeral Home Establishments while it is in effect during the emergency.

Content retrieved from: https://oag.dc.gov/release/ag-racine-announces-new-funeral-home-consumer.