Florida Statute 497.152
“Disciplinary grounds”
What it means
Every funeral director, embalmer, funeral establishment, cemetery, direct disposer, and preneed seller in Florida is licensed under chapter 497, and §497.152 is the list of conduct that costs a licensee that license. The section states that the conduct it describes is grounds for denial of any application, imposition of discipline, or other enforcement action.
The grounds run through 15 numbered categories: criminal activity, obligations to regulators, unlicensed practice, the transport, custody, treatment, and disinterment of human remains, sales practices, misrepresentations, disclosures, contracts, complaints, and financial matters. Two of the most protective provisions target the sales floor: false statements about what the law requires families to buy, and false claims about what caskets and containers can do.
- Prohibited: “making any false or misleading statement of the legal requirement as to the necessity of any particular burial or funeral merchandise or services.”
- Prohibited: claiming that embalming, a gasketed casket, or an outer burial container closure can prevent or substantially delay natural decomposition.
- Violating any state law, rule, or local ordinance on the handling, custody, care, or transportation of dead human bodies is itself a disciplinary ground.
- Categories cover transport, custody, treatment, and disinterment of remains, sales practices, disclosures, contracts, and complaint handling.
- The section reaches applicants too — grounds support denial of an application, not just discipline of current licensees.
How it plays out
Families meet this statute without knowing it, usually at the sales table in the worst week of their lives. No Florida statute requires a casket for cremation, and a licensee who says otherwise has a §497.152 problem. When we review funeral bills in an estate — personal representatives must, since funeral costs are estate expenses — a line item sold on a misstatement is worth questioning. A written, itemized contract is the norm the chapter enforces; ask for one before anyone signs.
Questions people ask
