December 1998
The Director - Features
Non-declinable Service Fees
Does your basic service fee reflect your values?
Is it fair to charge a family that wants a simple, inexpensive funeral the same non-declinable service fee that was charged to a family planning an elaborate, very expensive funeral that requires extensive work? Setting fair prices is the goal of every ethical funeral director and determining a fair non-declinable fee will help them when their prices are questioned by a family.
Non-declinable Service Fees—Does your basic service fee reflect your values? discusses the ethical aspect of determining the non-declinable fee and how funeral directors should explain their prices to their client families.
The article was written by Rebekah Peoples Chapman, a funeral director with Carmon Community Funeral Homes, Windsor, CT. A funeral director for 20 years, Chapman is licensed in CT, PA and NY, and has worked at several prominent funeral homes in those states. She can be reached at 860-688-2200 or
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. John C. Carmon, CFSP, also contributed to this article.
