what is a selected independent funeral home?

Selected Independent Funeral Homes is a worldwide trade association of independent, locally owned funeral homes whose common interest is in continuous improvement to best serve families and individuals. Founded in 1917 as National Selected Morticians, Selected Independent Funeral Homes is a worldwide trade association of independent, locally owned funeral homes who share a common interest in continuous improvement to best serve families and individuals in their times of need. All Selected members have been hand-selected for membership and have agreed to uphold the professional and ethical standards of our Code of Good Practice. 

Guided by the Code of Good Practice and the benefit of shared knowledge, Selected members are professionals of the highest standards, providing families with confidence and trusted information. 

Member firms are operated by trusted, local professionals, often from funeral-service families who have been helping people for multiple generations. They are determined to provide the people they serve with caring guidance, clear information and a range of choices in creating a meaningful tribute after the death of a loved one.

Our code of good practice

The members of Selected Independent Funeral Homes offer this Code of Good Practice as the definitive statement of our commitment to providing service in the public interest. Every day, around the world, Selected members uphold the high standards of the Code. 

Our Code of Good Practice

As funeral directors, our calling imposes upon us special responsibilities to those we serve and to the public at large. An important obligation is to provide information so that everyone can make knowledgeable decisions about funeral and cremation services.

In accepting our responsibilities, and as a condition of our affiliation with Selected Independent Funeral Homes, we affirm the following standards of good practice and hereby pledge:

  1. To provide the public with information about funeral and cremation services, including prices, functions and the responsibilities of funeral directors
  2. To make services available in as wide a range of price categories as necessary to meet the needs of all segments of our community, and to affirmatively extend to everyone the right to inspect and freely consider them all
  3. To quote conspicuously in writing the charge for every arrangement offered, and to clearly identify the services, facilities, equipment and merchandise included in such quotations
  4. To adhere to the highest standard of conduct in all aspects of business
  5. To afford an ongoing opportunity to all persons to discuss or arrange funerals in advance
  6. To ensure that pre-need contracts fully disclose those items which are guaranteed and those which are nonguaranteed, in terms that are clear and easy to understand
  7. To manage prepaid funds responsibly, ensuring that promises are honored and expectations are met, within the letter and spirit of the law
  8. To make no representation, written or oral, which may be false or misleading and to apply a standard of honesty in all dealings
  9. To furnish each family, at the time arrangements are made, with a written memorandum of charges and to make no additional charge without their approval
  10. To respect all faiths, creeds and customs, and to give full effect to the role of the clergy/celebrant
  11. To maintain qualified and competent staff, appropriate facilities and suitable equipment required for comprehensive funeral and cremation services
  12. To assure those we serve the right of personal choice in making service arrangements

We pledge to conduct ourselves at all times in a manner deserving of the public trust, and to provide a copy of this Code of Good Practice to the families we serve.