Before Signing a Funeral Contract in Ontario
Before you sign a funeral contract in Ontario, three things protect your family: the itemized price list, your right to buy merchandise from any supplier, and a clear picture of the complete cost. This page and our free guide walk you through all three.
Download the free guide
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What is inside
- A one page checklist for before, during, and after the arrangement meeting
- The Funeral Cost Review Sheet, a worksheet that sorts every line of a quote into required, optional, and buy elsewhere
- The five buckets that make up every funeral quote in Ontario
- Your merchandise rights, with the regulation cited
- Questions to ask about caskets and urns, and a coordination checklist for outside purchases
- The complete installed cost of a monument, the expense families most often underestimate
- A dated cost examples insert drawn from published GTA price lists, reviewed July 2026
Before you sign: the short version
- Ask for the itemized price list. Providers must give you a price list of all the supplies and services they sell before a contract is made.
- Ask which items are required and which are optional, and mark each line.
- Ask for the model name and number of any casket or urn you are shown, so you can compare prices anywhere else.
- Ask what is not included. Cemetery charges and the monument usually are not.
- Take the quote home overnight if you feel rushed. A good provider will understand.
Your merchandise rights in Ontario
You can buy your casket from an independent supplier. The same goes for urns, monuments, markers, and flowers. By law, a funeral home cannot charge extra for a casket you bought elsewhere. This is set out in Ontario Regulation 30/11, section 24(1). Tell the funeral home before you sign. A funeral home may decline a casket in limited cases. It may refuse one it considers unsafe or inappropriate for its intended use. It may also refuse one that does not meet the cemetery or crematorium requirements.
For the full explanation, read Do I have to buy a casket from the funeral home in Ontario?
Estimate the numbers first
Before you hear a quote, run your choices through the free funeral cost estimator. It uses figures blended from current published GTA price lists and shows funeral home merchandise pricing next to Haven direct pricing. For the later expense most families miss, see the 2026 monument cost guide.
Free quote review at our Markham showroom
Bring any funeral home quote to our showroom and we will walk through it with you, free. No pressure, no obligation. You can also plan ahead at your own pace.
Haven Casket and Monument, 2750 14th Ave G7, Markham. 1-905-604-7555.
This page is educational. It is not legal advice. Sources: the Bereavement Authority of Ontario Consumer Information Guide and Ontario Regulation 30/11. Government pages change, so always confirm against the official sources.