Undertaken With Love

Photo of Texas state capitol by David A. G. Wilson

This state's status: Texas does not restrict the right of families to care for their own dead.

Searchable Online General Statutes

Texas Statutes (external link)

Resources Specific to Funeral Law

Texas Funeral Service Commission (external link)

Department of State Health Services (external link)

Please help us develop this section by emailing us with books or online sources specifically related to funeral law in Texas.

In general, regulations promulgated by departments of health, such as required procedures in filing death certificates, must be followed by families caring for their own dead, while regulations promulgated by funeral service regulatory boards are binding only on funeral providers (but may affect home funerals indirectly to the extent that a family chooses to engage the limited services of licensed providers or in a few states is required to do so).

Resources Specific to Home Funeral Laws

Please help us develop this section by emailing us with books or online sources specifically related to home funerals in Texas.

Organizations and Individuals

Crossings Care Circle of Austin assists families by offering education and resources for arranging their own home and family funerals. The goal is to allow the family to participate as much or as little as they want, making use of some funeral home services if they choose.

Funeral Consumers Alliance chapters (external link). Because FCA chapters are composed of volunteers, their expertise and experience related to home funeral laws vary considerably from one to the next. All of them, however, welcome home funeral practitioners and advocates and are eager to learn from them. If you find that you are accumulating knowledge that is lacking in your closest chapter, why don't you volunteer to be its resource for funeral consumers on home funeral laws in your state?

Donna Belk, a contributing writer to Undertaken With Love, is a home funeral practitioner in Austin and a source of information on Texas law as it relates to home funerals.

Please help us develop this section by emailing us with the names of organizations and individuals that serve as noncommercial resources to families serving as their own funeral directors in Texas. Please include contact information (phone, website, email).