Guide to Courtesy Card Licensing Laws

From Sarah Pojanowski, Selected's General Counsel

A number of states have passed laws permitting funeral directors or funeral homes in neighboring states to obtain courtesy card licenses upon payment of a small fee, usually in the range of $100–$200 per year.

These licenses typically allow funeral directors licensed in one state to conduct removals, oversee funeral ceremonies and engage in certain activities such as filing death certificates in a neighboring state. Most of these statutes preclude the funeral director from full practice within the state. For example, all prohibit embalming activity.

These programs offer funeral directors an exciting opportunity to expand the reach of their businesses into neighboring regions without becoming fully licensed in those states.

At the same time, these courtesy card programs come with some risks. One is the potential of increased state enforcement efforts. It is important to make sure that if your business operates near a neighboring state that you obtain the appropriate licensure and keep it up to date.

Many of these courtesy card programs operate on a per-funeral-director basis instead of a per-funeral-home basis. As a result, it might make financial sense to designate point persons on your team to serve as the funeral directors who handle calls to those states, so that you do not need to pay to obtain courtesy card licenses for every funeral director on your staff, which might prove cost-prohibitive. If you choose this route, be sure to put in place the proper protocols to ensure calls are always handled by directors with the appropriate licensing.

To check whether this program is available in states close to you, download this spreadsheet that identifies which states have passed courtesy card laws (as of 6/12/14) as well as a brief summary of the requirements of the laws of each state.