Additional funeral costs families may miss
The first price a family hears may cover only some goods and services. Other costs may be separate, paid to another provider, or depend on choices you make. A cost being separate does not mean it is hidden or unreasonable. It means you should know about it before you agree to the total.
Often one part of the arrangement
Transportation, timing, merchandise
Cemetery, crematory, Vital Records, florist
Optional services and items
What to ask for in writing
The number you first hear may be only one part of the total. Ask what is included, what is separate, and what you will pay to someone else.
Costs that are easy to overlook
Transportation and mileage
The initial transfer into the funeral home’s care, the trip to a cemetery or other location, and after-hours transfers can each carry a charge. Many of the 2026 Salt Lake County price lists Wayfinder collected include transfers within a set area, often 50 miles or a few named counties, and charge about $2.50 to $4 per mile beyond it.
Ask: “Are there any transportation or mileage charges beyond the amount you’ve quoted?”
Funeral home fees for timing and holding
Several price lists we collected add a charge for a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday service, from about $350 to $900. Some also list a daily refrigeration charge, $75 to $140 a day on the lists we saw. One applies it when embalming isn’t chosen and the burial or cremation isn’t done within 24 hours. Ask when a holding charge would start.
Cemetery costs
Burial space, opening and closing the grave, a niche, a burial vault where the cemetery requires one, a marker or headstone, and setting it are usually billed by the cemetery. See cemetery costs.
Ask: “Which cemetery costs are separate from the funeral home’s price?”
Crematory and permit costs
The cremation charge, a crematory fee, a state permit or Medical Examiner fee, and the urn may be in the quoted price or listed separately. It depends on the provider.
Ask: “Is the cremation itself included, or is any crematory or permit cost separate?”
Death certificates and permits
Utah’s Office of Vital Records charges $35 for the first certified death certificate and $10 for each additional copy of the same record ordered the same day. A burial transit permit is $7. These fees took effect July 1, 2026. Families often need several certified copies for banks, insurers, and government offices.
Obituaries and notices
An obituary is not required. If you publish one, a newspaper or website may charge for it, and the cost depends on where it runs and how long it is.
Ceremony and merchandise
Flowers, an officiant, a musician, a reception, memorial cards, keepsakes, the casket or cremation container, the urn, and the marker are included in some arrangements and priced separately in others. Most of these are choices, not requirements.
Some costs are not paid to the funeral home
- Funeral home
- Its own services, facilities, transportation, and merchandise.
- Cemetery
- Burial property and cemetery services.
- Crematory
- Cremation services, where they are billed separately.
- Utah Office of Vital Records
- Death certificates and permits.
- Other providers
- Flowers, obituary, officiant, music, reception.
A funeral home may arrange some of these for you without them being part of its own charges. Paying another provider does not mean a cost was hidden.
Cash advance items
When a funeral home pays an outside cost on your behalf, such as death certificates or flowers, it is called a cash advance item. The FTC Funeral Rule does not ban a markup on these, but if the funeral home adds a service charge or keeps a rebate, it must say so in writing. Ask whether any cash advance item includes a fee.
Choices that change the total
Some costs are not required but become part of the total when a family chooses them: flowers, an obituary, extra visitation time, an upgraded casket or urn, printed materials, a reception, added ceremony services, and marker upgrades.
Optional does not mean unexpected. It helps to know which choices will change the total.
“What will our complete total be, including anything we will need to pay separately?”
Then ask the provider to sort the answer into four groups: included in your price, charged separately by the funeral home, paid directly to another provider, and optional based on our choices.
Before you agree to the price
- Can you show us the complete itemized price?
- What is included in your price, and what costs extra?
- Which costs will we pay to the cemetery, the crematory, or another provider?
- Are there transportation or mileage charges?
- Are there extra charges for timing, location, or added services?
- Which merchandise is included, and which is separate?
- Do any cash advance items include a service charge?
- Can you put the complete arrangement and total in writing?
Your General Price List can help
The funeral home’s General Price List shows the individual goods and services it offers and their prices, so you can see what is listed separately. See how to read a General Price List.
Ready to see how these costs apply to your situation?
Your Wayfinder Plan can help organize the options you’re considering and give you a clearer picture of what to ask and compare.
Build My Wayfinder Plan- Death certificate and burial transit permit fees, effective July 1, 2026: Utah Office of Vital Records fee schedule.
- Cash advance items and required disclosures: FTC, Complying with the Funeral Rule.
- Mileage, weekend and holiday, and refrigeration charges: General Price Lists from Salt Lake County funeral homes, collected by Wayfinder, August–September 2026.
Figures from price lists are examples from individual providers, not statewide averages. This page provides general information for planning and is not legal or financial advice.