South Carolina Board of Funeral Service

The initial funeral home is required to transfer the dead human body to the receiving transferee funeral home upon proper request. However, the receiving transferee funeral home is responsible for paying the initial funeral home, prior to or at the time of transfer, for any actual services provided by the initial receiving funeral home. Failure of the initial funeral home to release a dead human body upon request, or failure of the receiving funeral home to make payment to the initial funeral home for actual services provided, is unprofessional conduct.

The preceptor approved to supervise an apprentice by the Board is ultimately responsible for everything that apprentice does, even if the direct supervision of the apprentice is delegated temporarily or from time to time to another currently licensed South Carolina funeral director or embalmer. The Board interprets S.C. Reg. §57-06(4), which states, “the designated supervising licensee as approved by the Board,” as being any currently licensed South Carolina funeral director or embalmer, if delegated by the preceptor approved by the Board to supervise a particular apprentice. Preceptors must still be the only supervising licensee that signs off on an apprentice's quarterly reports and end of apprenticeship paperwork.

Regulation 57-13.2 says:

Websites for funeral establishments must list the individual South Carolina State Board of Funeral Service license number of all licensed funeral directors and embalmers employed at the establishment and further must identify all other employees mentioned in the website as either unlicensed or apprenticed, as the case may be. If a funeral director or embalmer's license is subsequently lapsed, revoked, suspended, or surrendered, the website shall not continue to identify the individual as licensed as long as the disqualification exists.

This means that you must list all licensees employed at your establishment on your website along with their license numbers, but you are not required to list unlicensed employees, whether they are unlicensed individuals or apprentices. If you choose to list unlicensed employees or apprentices on your website, you must identify them as such.

The South Carolina State Board of Funeral Service, at its June 23, 2022, meeting, determined that any person paid as a W2 employee by the funeral home is considered an employee for the purpose of website listing. If a funeral home engages a licensee, such as a trade embalmer, as an independent contractor and that licensee is provided a 1099 form, then the licensee is not considered an employee and is not required to be listed on the website.

S.C. Code §32-8-320 sets out the order of priority for persons that may serve as a deceased person's agent for purposes of determining whether cremation will take place, assuming a preneed cremation authorization was not in place. If a dispute arises regarding cremation of the deceased person's remains among people of equal priority, then the matter must be resolved by the Probate Court as required by S.C. Code §32-8-320(E). The Funeral Board has no authority to stop or mandate the cremation of a deceased person's remains.

For a complete over of Funeral Director and/or Embalmer licensure requirements click below:

• Funeral Director and/or Embalmer by Exam License Requirements and Application Process Overview
• Funeral Director and/or Embalmer by Licensure Requirements and Application Process Overview

Generally, a college or university's accreditation will be on the school's website and on their transcripts. If you are uncertain if a school is regionally accredited or not, you should contact the school to find out which accreditations they have.

There are six regional accreditation associations in the United States. They are:

• Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools,
• Commission on Higher Education New England Association of Schools and Colleges,
• Commission on Institutions of Higher Education,
• North Central Association of Colleges and Schools,
• The Higher Learning Commission Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and
• Commission on Colleges Western Association of Schools and Colleges

A list of all accredited Mortuary Science programs is on the International Conference of Funeral Service Examining Boards' website.

Since the exams are given by a third-party exam provider, the candidate can schedule their exams based on testing center availability. We no longer offer the exams in-house, which means we no longer only offer the exams on certain days of the year.

A. Pearson VUE currently serves as the testing provider for Board of Funeral Service exams. You can locate your nearest testing center by going to PearsonVue here .

Once we receive your completed application to license and verify that you meet all requirements, we will forward your approval to sit for the exams on to the International Conference of Funeral Service Boards. We will notify you that you are eligible, and you will go to theconferenceonline.org to complete your exam application.

You will know whether or not you passed the exam once you finish taking it, but we will not receive your scores for several days. Once we receive your scores and your application is complete, your license be issued within 5-10 business days.

A licensee coming from another jurisdiction whose requirements the Board finds to be substantially similar at the time of licensure may license in South Carolina within five years of his/her original date of licensure after submitting a complete application, coming before the Board for an application hearing, and passing the South Carolina law exam. Applicants who are coming from another state or jurisdiction and who have been licensed and engaged in the practice of funeral service for at least five years may license after submitting a complete application and passing the South Carolina law exam.

No. Residency is not required for licensure.

The South Carolina Perpetual Care Cemetery Board regulates cemeteries.

Yes. A person may manage multiple locations provided it is owned by the same entity, and the person lives within in a 75-mile radius of the facilities managed.

No. Embalming is not necessary in the cremation process. However, if you plan on having a viewing of the deceased before cremation, you may prefer to have the body embalmed.

A. If the license has lapsed for less than 5 years you must complete an application to reinstate your license, pay the required fees, and submit proof that you completed the required number of continuation hours for the period your license was lapsed. In addition to the current renewal fee, reinstatement fees are $150 plus the cost of the renewal for each year the license lapsed. Please call our office at 803-896-4497, or email us at contact.funeral@llr.sc.gov for an application and to find out what your total fees will be.

If the license has been in a lapsed status for more than five years, you must reapply and meet all of the requirements, including re-examination, at the time of the application, for licensure. All applications to reinstate a license which has been lapsed for more than five years must appear the Board.

You must inform the Board immediately by emailing us at contact.funeral@llr.sc.gov mailing a letter to the Board, or faxing a letter to the Board, and you must submit an application for a new manager within thirty (30) days of the death, resignation, or incapacitation of the old manager.

While South Carolina law does not require embalming and you cannot tell your customers that they are required to embalm, you may make recommendations to your customers about embalming as it suits the customer's needs. For example, if someone passes away on a Sunday and does not plan to have the funeral right away, they may want to embalm the deceased as a means of delaying decomposition until time for the service if refrigeration is not available.

The Federal Trade Commission updates “Complying with the Funeral Rule” periodically. You can directly access that publication and/or order a printed copy from the FTC at no cost here.

If a casket becomes disinterred, please secure the casket and immediately report it to the Department of Public Health at (803) 622-7259 or email to both esf8@emd.sc.gov and esf8a@emd.sc.gov. Once the flood waters recede, the caskets should be reinterred, and this is the responsibility of the cemetery owner. If the remains are exposed, please contact the local county coroner. If you are not trained in the handling of human remains, please do not make contact with the remains out of respect and for health and safety reasons.

Because transportation companies are not licensed funeral establishments, they cannot embalm bodies. Allowing a transportation company to use your facilities may mean that you are aiding and abetting the unlicensed practice of funeral service, and you may be sanctioned by the Board for doing so.

In order to successfully complete an apprenticeship, the apprentice must demonstrate that he/she worked under the supervision of a funeral director and/or embalmer, licensed in South Carolina, and that they completed 50 funerals and/or 50 embalming cases during that twenty-four-month period. The funeral and/or embalming cases completed must meet certain board-required criteria. The apprentice must submit quarterly reporting reports to the Board no more than thirty days after the end of the quarter. These quarterly reporting forms must show the dates the apprenticeship worked and document the cases and tasks that the apprentice assisted with during that quarter.

No, an apprentice alone may not sign the contract for funeral services. A licensed funeral director must sign all contracts for funeral services, although an apprentice may be allowed to sign the contract as an additional signer on behalf of the funeral home. See S.C. Code 40-19-290(D), 40-19-260, and S.C. Reg. 57-06.1(4) and 57-13.1(A)(5).

A person who seeks licensure as an embalmer or funeral director must complete a minimum of twenty-four months of service under the direct supervision of a licensed embalmer or funeral director, respectively. S.C. Code §40-19-230(A)(5) and (B)(4). See also S.C. Regs. §57-04(E), 57-05(D), and 57-06(3). The apprentice must serve under the direct supervision of a licensed embalmer or funeral director “actively engaged in the practice of embalming [or funeral directing] in this State.” S.C. Code §40-19-230(A)(5) and (B)(4).

S.C. Code §40-19-240(C) requires quarterly reports to be submitted to the Board “indicating the work that has been completed during the preceding three months.” S.C. Reg. 57-06.1(2) also requires an apprentice to “submit reports of his or her funeral activities, indicating the actual number of funerals that he or she has assisted with and in what preparation he or she has assisted with... [and]… indicating all work completed during the report period.” (emphasis added). Therefore, these quarterly reports track specific reportable activities for each discipline (funeral directing and embalming) that apprentices perform during a 3-month period. For both apprenticeships, “[a]n apprentice embalmer or funeral director must serve an apprenticeship of not less than twenty-four (24) months.” S.C. Regs. §57-06.1(1). Thus, applicants must submit quarterly reports that reflect they have performed reportable activities for 24 months for each discipline for which they seek full licensure. Additionally, these quarterly reports must be submitted to the Board Administrator no later than thirty days after the quarter's end, and quarterly reports not received on time may not be accepted for credit toward completion of the apprenticeship. S.C. Reg. 57-06.1(3). Both funeral directing and embalming apprentice activities may be performed in the same month, and, if performed in the same month, that month would count towards both the embalmer and funeral director apprenticeships. Alternately, if an apprentice has a month in which they only perform activities for one discipline, then only that discipline can receive credit for that month. Finally, if an apprentice has a month during which they perform no activities toward one or both disciplines, then that discipline (or those disciplines) will not receive credit for that month toward the relevant apprenticeship time.

To be an apprentice in South Carolina you submit the application and fees for an Apprenticeship Certificate. In order to qualify, you must be at least 18 years old and a full-time employee in a funeral home where you will be working under the direct supervision of a licensed Funeral Director and/or Embalmer in a licensed funeral home. Supervisors may not have more than two apprentices at a time.

The minimum requirement for an apprenticeship is 24 months. If an apprentice does not complete the required number and type of cases and/or months, that apprentice may renew his/her certificate of apprenticeship for one year at a time, but they cannot renew the apprenticeship certificate more than three times.

No. S.C. Code §32-8-385 requires all cremations to be performed by a crematory operator who has a registration with the Board. Non-registered individuals who perform cremations, regardless of prior experience, will be in violation of the law.

Yes. S.C. Code §32-8-385 requires that all cremations must be performed by a crematory operator that has a registration with the Board, and does not provide exemption from registration to any licensed professionals.

Approved crematory operator training courses required for Crematory Operator Registration are listed on the Board's website in the Applications & Forms subsection of the Licensure page, Crematory Operator Registration "Registration requirements and instructions." Per S.C. Code § 32-8-385, the courses must be approved by the Board.

Providers interested in obtaining Board approval should submit a request for program approval to the Board office at contact.funeral@llr.sc.gov. The request for approval must include a course description, course objectives, curriculum outline, evaluation/assessment, list of course developers and qualifications, and list of course presenters.

No. S.C. Code §32-8-385 requires both manufacturer training and completion of an approved crematory operator training course for registration as a Crematory Operator. The crematory operator training provides knowledge of crematory practices beyond the equipment specifics covered by the manufacture training. Registered Crematory Operators are to have both trainings to be in compliance with the laws.

No. The Funeral Board laws and regulations do not require the posting of the registration.

A copy of a Registrant's Crematory Operator Registration can be printed by logging into the Licensee Portal, Online Services Login Portal. Once logged in, the option to print a copy of the license/registration can be found in menu on the left-hand side of the page.