Direct cremation

What it means

Direct cremation means the body is cremated shortly after death, with no embalming, no viewing and no service at the funeral home. A memorial can still be held later, anywhere, with no funeral director involved.

Because there is no viewing, embalming is generally not involved.

Providers that offer cremation must let you buy an alternative container rather than a casket.

Why it matters

It is the option families most often do not know exists, and it is usually the least expensive one a provider offers.

Choosing it does not mean forgoing a ceremony. It separates the disposition from the ceremony, which is a choice about cost and timing rather than about how much somebody mattered.

When you are likely to meet it

• When arranging a funeral, particularly on the general price list.
• When the person who died left no instructions and the family is deciding quickly.
• When cost is a real constraint and nobody wants to say so.

Related terms

• Burial transit permitThe permit that authorizes burial, cremation or moving a body — usually before anything else can happen.
• Cash advance itemAnything the funeral home bought from somebody else on your behalf — the flowers, the clergy honorarium, the death certificates — which must be itemized separately.
• Casket price listA separate itemized list of caskets and prices that a funeral provider must show you before showing you the caskets.
• EmbalmingA chemical preservation of the body. It is rarely required by law, and a funeral provider must not tell you otherwise.
• Final dispositionWhat ultimately happens to the body — and the phrase every authorization form uses, which is why it appears on paper before anybody has explained it.
• The Funeral RuleA federal consumer protection rule that gives you the right to prices in writing and the right to buy only what you want.
• General price listThe itemized list of prices a funeral provider must hand you to keep, as soon as arrangements are discussed in person.
• Immediate burialBurial shortly after death without embalming, viewing or a ceremony at the funeral home.
• Medical examinerThe official who investigates and certifies certain deaths — and whose sign-off everything else waits on.
• Preneed funeral contractAn agreement, usually paid for in advance, for funeral goods and services to be provided when the person dies.
• Veterans' burial benefitsWhat a veteran's family may claim after a death: interment in a national cemetery, a headstone or marker, a burial flag, and in some cases an allowance toward costs.

Official sources

The authority this page describes, at the agency that publishes it. Sahvelo does not restate a rule from a secondary source.

• 16 CFR Part 453 — the Funeral Rule, as published (opens in a new tab)The rule itself. The FTC's consumer guidance summarizes it.

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• Funeral price rights