Serene FarewellsFuneral, cremation & memorial planning guidance

Sources & fact-checking policy

How we choose sources and check facts — especially about costs, benefits and rules that change.

Source hierarchy

We prefer sources in this order:

  1. Primary official sources — federal agencies (for example the Federal Trade Commission, Department of Veterans Affairs, Social Security Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Transportation Security Administration, FEMA), state agencies and regulators, and the text of statutes and regulations.
  2. Established professional and nonprofit organizations — for example industry associations that publish price surveys, and consumer organizations — clearly attributed.
  3. Professional experience — the practical knowledge of our editor, a licensed funeral director, for how arrangements typically work. We don't present this as statistical evidence.

We don't cite anonymous blogs, content farms, or unattributed statistics, and we never fabricate citations.

How we handle numbers

  • Prices vary widely by region and provider. We present ranges rather than single figures, and when we quote a survey median we name the survey and its year.
  • Benefit amounts that are adjusted periodically (such as some VA burial allowances) are described with a link to the agency's current figures rather than repeated as fixed numbers.
  • Fixed statutory amounts (for example, Social Security's $255 lump-sum death payment) are stated with the official source.
  • Estimates, such as the ranges in our cost calculator, are labeled as editorial planning estimates and explained.

Laws and regulations

Funeral and cemetery law is largely set by states, and sometimes by counties and cities. When we describe a rule, we say whether it is federal or varies by state. We describe what a rule generally requires and direct readers to the responsible authority for their situation. Our content is not legal advice.

Fact-checking process

  1. Claims about benefits, regulations, consumer rights and safety are checked against the primary source before publication.
  2. Unsupported specific figures are removed or replaced with sourced ranges.
  3. Sources are listed on the page so readers can verify them.
  4. Pages with time-sensitive information are re-checked periodically and when we learn of changes.

Report a problem

If a source is outdated or a link is broken, please let us know. See our corrections policy.