Custom software for funeral homes and cemeteries

The paperwork behind every service

Funeral directors carry a lot of detail for families at a hard time. A single case can involve a first call at 2 a.m., a removal, an arrangement conference, a death certificate, permits, a church or venue, a cemetery, flowers, an obituary and a livestream, all on a tight schedule.

• First call details are taken by whoever is on call and written down, then passed along by text or a note on the desk.
• The arrangement conference requires your General Price List and an itemized statement of goods and services, as the FTC Funeral Rule sets out.
• Death certificates go through your state’s electronic death registration system, waiting on the physician or medical examiner, and the case stalls until they sign.
• Cremation needs authorizations from the right next of kin, waiting periods and chain of custody records.
• Preneed contracts are tracked for years, with trust or insurance funding rules that vary by state.
• Families want to share obituaries, service times and livestream links, and send photos for the tribute video.
• Cemeteries track plots, interment rights, deeds, burials, monuments and endowment or perpetual care, often on decades-old paper maps.

Funeral homes software and cemetery tools we build

Each build follows your case process and your state’s paperwork. Common pieces include:

• A first call app for the on-call staff, capturing the decedent, location, next of kin and instructions, and alerting the team.
• Case management from first call to final payment, with checklists for each service type: burial, cremation, memorial or ship-out.
• Arrangement tools that build the statement of goods and services from your price list, with packages, merchandise and cash advance items.
• A family portal where families fill in vital statistics, upload photos, sign authorizations and pay, so the arrangement meeting runs shorter.
• Obituary and service pages on your website, with livestream links and guest book.
• Preneed contract tracking with funding details, payment schedules and conversion to at-need when the time comes.
• Cemeteries management software: digital plot maps, availability, interment rights and deeds, burial records and monument orders.
• Scheduling for staff, vehicles, chapels and crematory retorts.
• Integrations with accounting, payment processing, your website and the tools you use for tributes or livestreams.

Funeral software platforms vs. custom

There are well-established tools in this field. Passare and Gather are cloud-based case management systems used by many funeral homes. FrontRunner is known for funeral home websites and online obituaries. PlotBox offers cemetery management with digital mapping. Many firms do well with one of these, and they are the quickest way to move off paper.

Custom software makes sense for firms that combine businesses, such as a funeral home with its own cemetery and crematory that wants one record per family, for multi-location groups with their own reporting, for cemeteries with unusual sections, mausoleums or columbaria that a standard map does not handle, or for firms that want a family experience under their own name. Custom software for cemeteries can also digitize old ledgers and maps so records are searchable for the first time.

How a funeral home software project works

1. Walk a caseWe follow a recent case from first call to final payment with your directors, office staff and, for cemeteries, the grounds team.
2. Gather your formsPrice lists, authorizations, preneed contracts and state forms are collected so the software produces them correctly.
3. Design the screensDirectors and staff click through the case file and family portal and we adjust the wording and flow.
4. Build in roundsWorking pieces arrive in short rounds you review, often starting with case management or the family portal.
5. Bring in your recordsOpen cases, preneed contracts and cemetery records come over from your current system, spreadsheets or scanned ledgers.
6. Launch with supportStaff are trained around your schedule, and we stay close through the first weeks of live cases.

Respectful uses of AI

AI can take after-hours calls and pass first call details to the director on duty right away, draft an obituary from the information a family provides for them to edit, read old cemetery ledgers and deeds into searchable records, and answer simple questions like service times and directions. Conversations with families remain with your staff.