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Archiver > APG > 2002-04 > 1018184975


From: Laura DeGrazia <>
Subject: [APG] Funeral Home Records
Date: Sun, 07 Apr 2002 09:09:42 -0400


As the sister of a Funeral Director, I've been following this thread with added interest.

In terms of requesting information, my experiences with Funeral Directors have been nothing but positive...but then I've never considered it a negative when told that records are not available or that it's the Funeral Home's policy to keep personal information private.

When I encounter a Funeral Home that has a "privacy policy," I limit my request to information that appeared in the death notice or ask them to forward a letter on my behalf -- giving the recipient of the letter then option of responding.

I discussed this topic with my brother, who now works at a small, private funeral home in western North Carolina after spending several years working for SCI. He acknowledges that they receive requests "all the time" for information from their records. Most of the time they don't have records back as far as the person wants (they've only been in operation a few years). Even if they did have the records, he says that many families would be angry at their disclosing information to anyone who comes along and asks for it. Needless to say, making families angry would not be good for business, especially in a small town such as his.

My brother also points out that Funeral Directors and Funeral Homes are licensed by the state, and rules vary from state to state with respect to the length of time a Funeral Home must keep their records. He also points out that while there are laws as to how long the records must be kept, there are no laws about the way in which they must be kept -- many Funeral Home operators have their records in boxes at their own homes.

I agree completely with Helen's statement that we need to look at this situation from the point of view of the Funeral Directors before jumping into a battle. As she said, Funeral Directors are doing us favors when they take time to check their records and share whatever information they can -- and instead of angrily demanding more, we should be grateful for whatever help they can give us.

Laura DeGrazia, CG



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