Funeral directors coordinate funeral rites and care for the dead, often trained and licensed as embalmers. US states have varying requirements for licensure, including education, apprenticeships, and exams, with some also requiring embalming training. Continuing education is often necessary to maintain licensure.
A funeral director – still sometimes called a mortician or mortician – coordinates funeral rites for families, in addition to caring for the bodies of the dead. Most funeral directors are also trained and licensed as embalmers who prepare the body for burial by replacing biological fluids with preservatives. In the US, all states except Colorado require funeral directors to be licensed, although the specific qualifications for a funeral director license vary by state in which the director practices. All states require a high school diploma, and most—with the exception of Alabama and Hawaii—require two years of study at a mortuary school or associate’s degree, completion of a formal apprenticeship, and passing a written exam to obtain a funeral. director license. Some states additionally require that a funeral director also be trained and licensed as an embalmer.
While individuals in the industry are often trained and licensed as funeral directors and embalmers, the job duties of the two positions vary considerably. Funeral directors work in very public roles that can include sales, event coordination, and legal documentation. Embalmers, on the other hand, perform their roles privately and their work involves specialized training in human anatomy. Some states offer an embalmer license and a funeral director license with different requirements. Others require an individual in the field to obtain both types of licenses, while some states only offer a mortuary scientific license, which covers both specializations.
For these reasons, graduation from a specific mortuary school is not required by all states for an individual to obtain a funeral director’s license. Most states, however, require one to two years of this vocation-specific educational preparation, and those that do do require a certain amount of college credits, if not an associate’s degree in the arts. As noted above, exceptions to this rule are found in Alabama and Hawaii.
All US states require a period of supervised learning to obtain a funeral director’s license. Again, the degree of this requirement varies from state to state and can range from six months to three years. During this time, an apprentice observes and assists with all aspects of a funeral director’s duties, including casket sales, planning funerals with the family, coordinating the funeral service, and coordinating the legal documents that must be filed in the event of a death.
A funeral director license may require successful completion of a national licensing exam or “boards”, again, depending on the state of the practice. For states that combine the roles of funeral director and embalmers, an individual must pass a test to obtain a mortuary scientific license. Finally, over 75% of states require some type of annual continuing education (CE) credit to maintain a funeral director license.
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