Funeral costs in Orlando: what you pay for and your rights

Funeral prices vary widely between providers and between choices. The best way to understand costs is to get each provider's itemized General Price List and compare line by line. Federal law guarantees your right to one.

The General Price List (GPL)

Under the Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule, a funeral provider must:

• give you a written, itemized General Price List to keep when you discuss arrangements, services, or prices in person
• give accurate prices by phone when you ask
• show you a Casket Price List and an Outer Burial Container Price List before you look at those items

After you choose, you must receive an itemized Statement of Funeral Goods and Services Selected.

The GPL must list separate prices for items such as:

• Basic services of funeral director and staff
• Transfer of remains to the funeral home
• Embalming, and other preparation of the body
• Use of facilities and staff for viewing, for a funeral ceremony, for a memorial service, and equipment and staff for a graveside service
• Hearse and limousine
• Forwarding remains to, or receiving remains from, another funeral home
• Direct cremation and immediate burial (each as a price range)

What makes up the total

Costs by type of arrangement

Traditional funeral with burial

Usually the most expensive choice. It often includes the basic services fee, embalming, viewing, a ceremony, a hearse, a casket, an outer burial container, and cemetery charges (plot, opening and closing, marker).

Immediate (direct) burial

Burial shortly after death with no viewing or embalming. The GPL price range includes the basic services fee. The casket and cemetery charges are typically extra.

Cremation

Direct cremation (no viewing or ceremony beforehand) is typically the lowest-cost arrangement. The funeral home must offer an alternative container or let you provide one. A memorial service can still be held later with or without the cremated remains. Cremation with a viewing and funeral beforehand adds preparation, facilities, and often a rental or purchased casket. Florida also requires medical examiner review before any cremation, and some providers list that as a separate fee. Read our cremation guide.

Death certificates

As of September 2026, the Florida Department of Health in Orange County lists $10 per death certificate. The state bureau and VitalChek charge different fees. See how to get death certificates.

Cash advance items

These are goods or services the funeral home pays third parties for on your behalf, for example:

• certified death certificates
• clergy honoraria
• obituary notices
• flowers
• cemetery fees

The FTC requires funeral homes to tell you if they add a charge or receive a refund or discount on these items. Ask for a written estimate of all cash advance items.

Your rights under the FTC Funeral Rule

• You can buy only the goods and services you want. The one exception is a basic services fee you cannot decline.
• You can get prices over the phone.
• You can supply your own casket or urn.
• Embalming is not required by law except in special cases, and a funeral home may not charge for embalming done without permission.
• You do not need to buy a casket for direct cremation.
• Funeral providers may not claim that the law or a cemetery or crematory requires something that it doesn't.

Florida licenses funeral establishments and regulates pre-need contracts through the Department of Financial Services, Division of Funeral, Cemetery and Consumer Services, which also accepts consumer complaints.

Ways to manage costs

• Compare General Price Lists from at least two providers. Use our comparison worksheet.
• Build a planning estimate with our funeral cost calculator.
• Consider a shorter viewing, a memorial service after cremation, or a service at your place of worship.
• Check veterans benefits if your loved one served. See veterans burial benefits.
• Plan ahead so decisions are made without time pressure. See pre-planning.