How to File a Complaint Against a Funeral Home in Arkansas

You've discovered that the funeral home overcharged you, misrepresented what was legally required, refused to provide a General Price List, or violated some other consumer protection rule. You want to file a complaint. The first thing you need to know is that you cannot simply send an email to a consumer protection hotline and expect results.

Arkansas routes funeral home complaints through a specific agency, using specific forms, with a specific requirement that catches most people off-guard: your complaint must be notarized.

Who Regulates Funeral Homes in Arkansas

This is where many families waste time. Arkansas's regulatory structure for the funeral industry is unusual. When Act 788 of 2017 abolished the former State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors as an independent entity, it transferred authority to the Arkansas Insurance Department (AID), specifically the Funeral Services Division.

This means:

• Complaints against licensed funeral directors and embalmers go to the AID, not the Department of Health
• Complaints against perpetual care cemeteries go to the AID
• Complaints against prepaid funeral benefit sellers go to the AID's Prepaid Funeral Benefits Division
• FTC Funeral Rule violations, in terms of state enforcement coordination, are reported to the AID

The Arkansas Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division handles general consumer fraud, but for licensed funeral professionals, the AID is the primary enforcement authority. Filing in the wrong place means your complaint may be forwarded — or simply not investigated with the authority needed to discipline a licensee.

The Notarization Requirement

This is the single most common reason consumer complaints fail in Arkansas's funeral regulation system.

Complaints against embalmers and funeral directors must be formally notarized before submission. A complaint submitted without notarization is rejected administratively. It does not trigger an investigation. The funeral home is never notified. The behavior continues.

Specifically:

• The complaint form must be typed or legibly handwritten
• It must be signed and dated
• It must be notarized by a licensed notary public

Many people who have legitimate grievances submit a generic email complaint or fill out an online contact form, assuming this is sufficient. It is not. The AID requires its prescribed complaint form, completed in full, with a notary's signature and seal.

Which Form Do You Need?

There are different complaint forms depending on what type of provider the complaint is about:

Embalmers & Funeral Directors Complaint Form — Use this for complaints against a licensed funeral home, funeral director, or embalmer. This covers FTC Funeral Rule violations (failure to provide a General Price List, charging a casket handling fee for outside merchandise, misrepresenting embalming as legally required), ethical breaches, and contractual failures.

Perpetual Care Cemeteries (FSD-PCC) Complaint Form — Use this for disputes over commercial cemetery maintenance, plot ownership, or mismanagement of endowment care funds. Supporting documentation should include your deed, contracts, and proof of payment.

Burial Association Complaint Form — Use this for disputes related to burial association policies and benefit payouts.

Prepaid Contract Cancellation Forms (AID-FI-C2 / AID-FI-C3) — These are not complaint forms but legal affidavits used to initiate cancellation or transfer of a prepaid funeral benefits contract. They are relevant if you're trying to move funds from one funeral home to another.

All forms are available from the Arkansas Insurance Department's Funeral Services Division. Contact the AID directly to obtain the current versions — using an outdated form can result in rejection.

What to Include in Your Complaint

A strong complaint gives the AID what it needs to investigate effectively. Include:

• Your contact information — name, address, phone, email
• The funeral home's information — full legal name, address, license number if known
• Date(s) the events occurred — be specific
• A clear, factual description of what happened — focus on what was said, what was charged, and how that contradicts what the law requires or what the contract specified
• The specific rule or law you believe was violated — for example, if the funeral home charged a casket handling fee for a casket you brought from an outside retailer, cite the FTC Funeral Rule prohibition on that practice
• Copies of supporting documentation — the General Price List if you received one, the itemized bill, any written contract, email correspondence, and any other records

Do not editorialize or include emotional language. Stick to the factual record. The AID investigates based on documented evidence, not the strength of the family's feelings about how they were treated.

What Happens After You File

Once the AID receives a valid, notarized complaint:

1. The licensee is notified. The accused funeral director or funeral home is given the complaint and allowed 15 business days to respond in writing to the allegations.

2. An investigation begins. AID staff review the complaint and the response. Depending on the nature of the allegations, the investigation may include a physical on-site inspection of the funeral establishment by a board inspector.

3. Board counsel reviews the findings. After the investigation concludes, board counsel makes one of three recommendations: close the case (insufficient evidence), resolve through alternative mediation, or escalate to a formal hearing before the AID's Funeral Services Board.

4. Formal hearing (if applicable). If the case proceeds to a formal hearing, both sides present evidence and the board issues a ruling. Possible outcomes include license suspension, license revocation, fines, required remediation, or dismissal.

This process takes time — typically months. If you need an immediate remedy (a refund, correction of a charge, return of property), file a complaint with the AID and consider sending a formal written demand letter to the funeral home simultaneously, referencing the AID complaint number once assigned.

Filing an FTC Complaint

For violations specifically of the FTC Funeral Rule — such as failure to provide a General Price List, misrepresentation of legal requirements, or prohibited handling fees — you can also file directly with the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

An FTC complaint does not provide direct relief to individual consumers, but it contributes to the FTC's enforcement record. The FTC conducts periodic undercover inspection sweeps of funeral homes, and complaint patterns in specific states or regions can trigger enhanced scrutiny. In Arkansas, a prior FTC sweep of Northwest Arkansas funeral homes found that nearly one-third of inspected establishments failed to provide required pricing disclosures.

Filing with both the AID and the FTC is appropriate when the violation involves federal consumer protection law.

For Prepaid Contract Disputes

If your complaint involves a prepaid funeral contract — funds that were not transferred when you requested, fees exceeding the $35 legal cap on transfer processing, or failure to honor the contract terms — route the complaint specifically to the AID's Prepaid Funeral Benefits Division, not the general Funeral Services Division. The two divisions handle different licensing categories.

Include your original prepaid contract documents, any correspondence with the seller, and documentation of your cancellation or transfer request. Form AID-FI-C3 is the affidavit used to compel reassignment of irrevocable preneed contracts.

What a Complaint Will Not Do

A complaint to the AID is a disciplinary mechanism — it is designed to hold licensees accountable and potentially result in sanctions against the funeral home. It is not a mechanism for direct financial recovery.

If you are seeking a refund or financial damages, a complaint to the AID supports your position but does not guarantee money back. To recover funds, you may need to pursue the funeral home through small claims court (for amounts within the small claims limit) or through a civil attorney. The AID complaint record can be valuable supporting evidence in a civil proceeding.

The Arkansas Funeral Laws & Consumer Rights Guide includes the specific AID Funeral Services Division contact information, a summary of which violations fall under state versus federal jurisdiction, and a template complaint narrative structure that helps families present their case in the most effective format for regulatory review.

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