Best Funeral Homes 2022
Los Angeles Mortuary
Los Angeles Mortuary is a Los Angeles-based funeral service that offers a wide array of personalized services. Aside from burials and cremations, the company also aids in obituaries, shipping remains, handling documentation, veterans burials, graveside services, and other special services upon request. Los Angeles Mortuary has also partnered with Homesteaders Life Insurance to help cover the costs of a prepaid, prearranged funeral.
Angeleno Mortuary
Angeleno Mortuary is a cremation and funeral service that is based in Van Nuys, California. It focuses on providing a comfortable environment for funeral arrangements, as well as helping families preserve longstanding traditions and customs. The company provides traditional funerals, personalized funerals, memorials, graveside ceremonies, and various cremation services. It also offers funeral planning services, as well as grief and guidance counseling for bereaved loved ones.
Friends Funeral Home
Friends Funeral Home is an alternative funeral service based in Venice, California. The company specializes in personalized services that are as elaborate – sometimes even fun – as clients want. It emphasizes the celebration of the end of life, with consultants that can help design funerals that capture the essence and character of the departed. Friends Funeral Home also offers palliative care services, accompanying the dying through the last days of their journey.
Los Angeles Funeral Home
Los Angeles Funeral Home is based in Los Angeles and provides a wide range of funeral services. These include preplanning, cremations, traditional funerals, memorial services, and graveside ceremonies. The company is also willing to collaborate with other funeral homes, such as the transfer of remains from one to the other. Los Angeles Funeral Homes also sells flowers and can connect grieving individuals to the Center for Loss & Life Transition.
Risher Mortuary & Cremation Service
Risher Mortuary & Cremation Service was first established in 1959 and serves those in Montebello and nearby areas in California. On top of its burial and cremation services, it also offers online grief support to help those that are grieving over the loss of their loved ones. The company also operates a Sympathy Store that sells flowers, gift baskets, memorial gifts, memorial jewelry, and books dealing with grief and loss.
Los Angeles Funeral Service
Los Angeles Funeral Service is a funeral home based in Los Angeles, with its two founders bringing over 50 years of combined experience in funeral services. It offers a variety of burial and cremation packages, ranging from caskets and church services to witnessed cremations and private security escorts. Los Angeles Funeral Service is a member of the National Funeral Directors Association, the Los Angeles County Funeral Directors Association, and the California Funeral Directors Association.
Fukui Mortuary
Fukui Mortuary is a Los Angeles funeral home with a legacy of over 91 years spanning over five generations. The company is noted among those in the Japanese-American community and conducts funerals in Buddhist, Christian, and other religious traditions. It has established a tradition of comfort and caring and offers ceremonies to suit the lives of those being remembered. Fukui Mortuary is a member of the National Funeral Directors Association and California Funeral Directors Association.
Ceder Hill Mortuary & Accommodations
Cedar Hill Mortuary & Accommodations is a funeral and cremation center based in Los Angeles. The company has been in service for over 23 years, offering personalized services to members of all faiths. It offers direct burials and full service burials, as well as direct cremations and complete cremations. It also does away with additional charges for veterans thanks to its military service special program.
White Diamond Funeral Services
White Diamond Funeral Services is a Beverly Hills-based funeral service that focuses on diversity, traditional values, and innovation in honoring those it serves. It offers a wide range of funeral and memorial services, as well as burial, cremation, and celebrant services. These celebrant services allow families and loved ones to create more personal ceremonies to celebrate the lives of the recently deceased.
Bagues Mortuary
Felipe Bagues Mortuary is a family-owned and operated funeral home based in Los Angeles, California. It offers traditional direct burials as well as direct cremations and services with cremation. Interested parties may contact the home directly or apply online, with options for immediate arrangements and pre-planned funeral services. All the staff and directors of Felipe Bagues Mortuary are bilingual in Spanish, which makes them better able to serve the needs of the Spanish community in California.
Natural Grace Funerals
Natural Grace Funerals is a full-service funeral home based in Los Angeles, California. The company offers burials, cremations, home funerals, and green burials. Of particular note are its green burials, which aim to minimize the environmental impact while still caring for the dead. The company uses GPS coordinates to help loved ones mark graves set in a more natural setting. Natural Grace Funerals also helped establish the Bigtree Child Fund, helping impoverished families that have lost a young one.
Angelus Funeral Home
Angelus Funeral Home is a Los Angeles-based home that has provided for over four generations of funeral services. Established in 1923, the service was initially established to provide high-quality funeral services for the African-American community. It offers funeral and cremation services, as well as pre-planning for individuals that want to prepare ahead of time. Angelus Funeral Home also offers church services, graveside services, forwarding of remains, and receiving of remains.
Lighthouse Memorials and Receptions
Lighthouse Memorials & Receptions is a funeral service in Torrance, California that offers a variety of personalized and package services. The company offers a wide variety of custom services, from church and cemetery graveside services to scatterings at sea and Hindu cremation ceremonies. The company also offers advanced planning services.
Mountain View
Mountain View is a family-operated mortuary, crematorium, and cemetery that is based in Altadena, California. Its grand mausoleums are home to several historical figures of note, providing fine burial crypts for interested parties. The descendants of its original owners, the Giddings, continue to oversee the business after more than 100 years. Mountain View is open from 8AM to 5PM, with professional funeral staff available 24 hours a day.
Expert Answers To Common Questions:
- Introduction
- How do funeral homes dress bodies?
- How much do funeral homes make?
- Do funeral homes offer financing?
- Do funeral homes handle life insurance?
- Do funeral homes keep copies of death certificates?
- Do funeral homes cremate bodies?
- How much do funeral homes cost?
- How much do caskets cost at funeral homes?
- Do funeral homes accept life insurance?
- Are funeral homes profitable?
- Do funeral homes have freezers?
- Do funeral homes cremate pets?
- Do funeral homes take credit cards?
- Do funeral homes charge for keeping the body?
- How can one invest in funeral homes?
- How much do urns cost at funeral homes?
- Do funeral homes rent caskets?
- Q: Introduction
- A: Funeral homes are establishments that provide both funeral and burial services. Sometimes referred to as funeral parlors or mortuaries, funeral homes are run by funeral directors who work closely with family members and loved ones of the deceased. A funeral director helps with funeral planning, and they advise the bereaved on options for services, caskets, and burials.
Funeral homes employ workers to assist with various services such as embalming and makeup application for the deceased, and the homes generally have designated areas for viewings, wakes, and memorials. In certain instances, a funeral home may be located on cemetery grounds to allow for burials to immediately follow funeral ceremonies. - Q: How do funeral homes dress bodies?
- A: The first step of dressing a body is embalming (when required by the state), followed by drying the body and applying undergarments. The final steps are putting on the deceased's clothing and shoes and socks. In most cases, clothing is supplied by the families or loved ones of the deceased.
- Q: How much do funeral homes make?
- A: On average, funeral homes make between $54,000 and $76,000 per year. Actual numbers can vary based on factors such as the number of funerals held annually, whether or not burial services are provided, and the specific rates charged by the funeral home.
- Q: Do funeral homes offer financing?
- A: Certain funeral homes offer financing and payment plans to help the bereaved pay for funeral services in installments. In most cases, funeral home financing comes in the form of unsecured personal loans with monthly payments. Those seeking financing can also inquire with financial institutions such as credit unions and banks.
- Q: Do funeral homes handle life insurance?
- A: Funeral homes do not offer life insurance policies, but many funeral establishments accept life insurance policies instead of cash payments. It is important to note that policies accepted by funeral homes must be assignable, so 401ks and retirement benefits won't be counted towards payment.
- Q: Do funeral homes keep copies of death certificates?
- A: Funeral homes generally request death certificates for family members of the deceased. While specific time lines can vary depending on the establishment's policies, copies of death certificates are usually kept on file at the funeral home indefinitely. Next of kin can generally order death certificates directly from funeral directors.
- Q: Do funeral homes cremate bodies?
- A: There are funeral homes that offer direct cremation and burials along with memorial and viewing services. When cremation services aren't available through a funeral home, crematoriums are another option. However, crematoriums do not offer additional services for memorializing the deceased.
- Q: How much do funeral homes cost?
- A: While specific prices can vary, the average cost of funeral home services is between $7,000 and $12,000. The overall price includes the funeral home's service fee, embalming when required by state, preparation and dressing of the body, and viewing and memorial services. Some funeral homes also offer cremation services.
- Q: How much do caskets cost at funeral homes?
- A: On average, caskets at funeral homes cost between $150 and $5,000. Low-end cardboard caskets start at around $100 while caskets made with solid wood or metal start on the higher end. Additional factors that can affect pricing include materials that line the casket and the overall size of the casket.
- Q: Do funeral homes accept life insurance?
- A: Some funeral homes accept life insurance policies as a promise of payment for services. However, when presenting a life insurance policy in lieu of a cash payment, the policy must be assignable to be used towards funeral services and expenses.
- Q: Are funeral homes profitable?
- A: The funeral industry has an average gross profit margin of approximately 62.5%, which makes funeral homes moderately to highly profitable. One factor that has affected the funeral industry is the changing market, which has many establishments leaning toward more eco-friendly and less expensive services. This may affect the bottom line of more traditional funeral homes.
- Q: Do funeral homes have freezers?
- A: Many funeral homes have positive body temperature refrigerators/freezers that help slow down decomposition. The freezers reach temperatures between 36 and 39 degrees Fahrenheit, and it is recommended by most morticians that funeral homes only store bodies for up to two weeks.
- Q: Do funeral homes cremate pets?
- A: Funeral homes must follow strict guidelines and regulations that prohibit animals and humans from being cremated with the same equipment, so pet cremation is not offered at most funeral homes. Humane Societies and pet crematories handle most pet cremations.
- Q: Do funeral homes take credit cards?
- A: Most funeral homes accept credit cards as suitable forms of payment. In most cases, parties can charge full funeral services to a single card or split payments between multiple credit cards if necessary. Other forms of accepted payment include checks and money orders.
- Q: Do funeral homes charge for keeping the body?
- A: Funeral homes do charge for storing bodies. Certain homes charge a daily rate ranging from $35 to $100 per day while other establishments charge lump sums for a prescheduled amount of days. In most chases, funeral homes charge for storage even when the bodies are embalmed.
- Q: How can one invest in funeral homes?
- A: One can invest in funeral homes by purchasing funeral home stocks or by investing directly in local funeral homes. It's important for potential investors to consult with the National Funeral Directors Association to learn about current market trends and the financial situations of local funeral facilities.
- Q: How much do urns cost at funeral homes?
- A: Urns purchased at funeral homes range in price from $50 to $1,000 or more, depending on the size and material of the urn. Materials include biodegradable cardboard, marble, brass, and cedar. Wood and stone urns are generally higher in price than cardboard and biodegradable material options.
- Q: Do funeral homes rent caskets?
- A: Many funeral homes offer casket rentals. Renting a casket can be beneficial due to the fact that the cost is significantly lower than purchasing, with an average rate of $500. Renting a casket is also an environmentally friendly option, as the casket is used multiple times, which helps conserve materials and resources.