When a funeral home closes or stops answering

This is frightening. Florida law has rules for exactly this situation, and there are steps you can take today.

Call (305) 209-0384 Read the questions first ↓

Read the questions first

• How do I find out where my loved one is?
• I never picked up the ashes. Could they be gone?
• We had a prepaid plan with this funeral home. Is the money lost?
• Who can be held responsible if the business is gone?

What Florida law says

• The state can step in. In an emergency, including the abandonment of a licensed establishment, the Department of Financial Services may enter, secure the facility, and remove human remains and cremated remains (§ 497.386(5), Fla. Stat.).
• Remains after 90 days. If a licensee has lawfully held human remains for 90 days or more and the legally authorized person fails, neglects, or refuses to direct the disposition, the licensee may dispose of them (§ 497.386(6)).
• Unclaimed ashes after 90 days. If cremated remains are not claimed 90 days after cremation, the funeral or direct disposal establishment may dispose of them (§ 497.607(3)(a)). Before that, it must make a reasonable effort to find out whether the person was a veteran eligible for a national cemetery, and if so arrange that interment (§ 497.607(3)(b), (c)).
• Prepaid plans. When a preneed licensee becomes inactive, surrenders, or loses its license, its preneed trust fund is to be held intact and paid out under the contracts and the law, and the state keeps oversight while funds or unfulfilled contracts remain (§ 497.465(1), (6)–(8)).

What the law may provide

Florida lets any person bring a civil action against a licensee that violates Chapter 497, for actual damages, punitive damages as the common law allows, and other relief (§ 497.169(1)). A family may also have contract claims. When a business has closed, the practical question is often who is still responsible, such as the owners, a successor business, or an insurer. Your family's emotional harm matters. The Florida Supreme Court is now considering when Florida law allows recovery for emotional harm without a physical injury, and we will explain how the law stands for your situation.

What to keep and request

• The contract, receipts, and any cremation authorization or declaration of intent.
• Any prepaid (preneed) contract, payment records, and trust or insurance statements.
• The last messages from the funeral home, and the names of staff you dealt with.
• Any notice you received from the state or from another funeral home.

The deadline

Two years. Florida law gives a negligence claim two years (§ 95.11(5)(a)). Some claims may carry a longer period, but no family should bet on that. We treat two years from the day it happened as the deadline in every case, and you should too. If you only just found out, call anyway: when the clock started is a question we answer case by case. If the business is in bankruptcy, separate procedures may apply, so call promptly.

What to do first

Contact the Division of Funeral, Cemetery, and Consumer Services at the Florida Department of Financial Services and ask where your loved one's remains were taken. Keep your papers together and write down every call. See What to do right now. For prepaid plans, see Preneed contract problems.

Questions families ask

How do I find out where my loved one is?

Start with the Division of Funeral, Cemetery, and Consumer Services, which regulates funeral homes in Florida. If the state removed remains from a closed facility, they may have been transferred to another licensed facility. Ask in writing.

I never picked up the ashes. Could they be gone?

Florida allows a funeral home to dispose of unclaimed ashes 90 days after cremation, after a reasonable effort to check veteran eligibility. Ask now, in writing, and call us if no one can tell you.

We had a prepaid plan with this funeral home. Is the money lost?

Not necessarily. Florida requires preneed trust funds to stay intact when a preneed licensee becomes inactive or loses its license, and the state keeps oversight. Florida also has a consumer protection trust fund that the state may, in its discretion, use for restitution in some cases.

Who can be held responsible if the business is gone?

It depends on the facts: who owned and ran the business, whether another company took it over, and what insurance existed. We look at those questions before telling a family what is realistic.

Talk to Dennis

When you are ready, call or send a WhatsApp message, in English or Spanish. The office answers 24 hours.

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Former Miami-Dade prosecutor · Since 2012 · Super Lawyers Rising Stars · Avvo Rating 10.0