What you owe, and by when.

Expanded burial allowance for VA home-hospice deaths

October 1, 2026

Veterans discharged from VA medical or nursing care into VA-provided hospice at home qualify for the full burial allowance if they died between July 1, 2025 and October 1, 2026. Before this, a death at home after that discharge often fell through the gap.

Do this
Check your veteran files for deaths between July 1, 2025 and October 1, 2026 against the window. Families have to apply — no one files it for them, and most will never hear this benefit exists.

Abuse of a corpse becomes a class 5 felony

January 1, 2027

Colorado's Mortuary Science Code changes arrive with a penalty increase: abuse of a corpse rises from a class 6 to a class 5 felony for offenses committed on or after January 1, 2027.

Do this
The exposure on a custody failure changes class on New Year's Day. Reconcile every decedent in your care against a record that proves where they are before then.

For Michigan operators: Colorado is where the policy sequence runs first — scandal, then licensure, then inspections, then criminal penalties. What a Michigan committee argues about in two years is being drafted from this.

Crematory inspections, written procedures, and the 30-day notice

January 1, 2027

From January 1, 2027, the Comptroller's inspection reaches crematory premises as well as records. Every crematory authority must maintain a standard operating procedure and a medical-waste management plan, and must give notice where remains have not been cremated 30 days after delivery. The civil penalty cap rises from $5,000 to $10,000 per violation.

Do this
If you operate a crematory in Illinois, have the written SOP and the waste plan on file before January 1, 2027, and start tracking every case against the 30-day clock now, so the first inspection finds a record rather than a reconstruction.

For Michigan crematories: a written SOP, a waste plan and a 30-day notice trigger are cheap to build and are the exact three things a neighboring state just made inspectable. Build them now and a future Michigan bill is a filing exercise, not a scramble.

Medical certification of death goes online in Michigan

March 17, 2027

Beginning one year after PA 3 took effect on March 17, 2026, the medical certification of a death must be submitted through the state's web-based death-registration system. The requirement falls on the certifier; the act names no system and says nothing about paper.

Do this
Ask the physicians who sign for your families whether they already certify online. The requirement is theirs, not your office's, and your record waits on theirs.

The 15% monthly deposit to perpetual care

Applies today, and applied last year

Every month, at least 15% of the prior month's proceeds from sales of burial, entombment and columbarium rights must be deposited with the trustee of the irrevocable endowment and perpetual-care trust. The Cemetery Commissioner has free access to the books during business hours, and a deficit found on audit carries a penalty.

Do this
Reconcile the deposit against last month's rights sales, not against last month's revenue — and keep perpetual care separate from preneed merchandise and services. Selling more preneed does not repair a perpetual-care shortfall; they are different funds with different rules.

The Funeral Rule — itemized pricing, on request

Applies today, and applied last year

Accurate itemized prices in person and by telephone, no handling fee on a casket bought elsewhere, and no embalming without prior authorization. Online posting is NOT required — no amendment has been finalized, whatever you may have read.

Do this
Have someone call your own firm and ask for a price. Compare what they are told against your printed general price list, line by line. That gap is exactly what the FTC's telephone sweeps find.