Serving all of Florida
Florida Funeral Home Negligence Lawyer
A funeral home has one unbreakable duty: dignity. When a family’s trust is betrayed at the worst moment of their lives, I hold them to it.
— Emanuel Galimidi, former insurance-defense attorney
Main Office Miami · In person or by video, anywhere in Florida
The funeral home mishandled my loved one’s remains — does our family have a case?
I am sorry you have any reason to read this page. Sometimes a funeral home, cemetery, or crematory fails a family. The wrong person is cremated. Remains are lost or switched. A service goes wrong in ways no family should have to imagine. When that happens, Florida law does not look away.
Funeral homes are licensed and regulated under Chapter 497 of the Florida Statutes. They owe grieving families a duty of care at the most vulnerable moment there is. Families can be paid for the emotional harm these failures cause. And where the conduct was grossly careless, the law can require more.
I handle these cases quietly, respectfully, and with the discretion your family deserves.
Funeral home negligence
When trust is broken
Wrongful cremation
The wrong person is cremated because of a mix-up in identity. It cannot be undone. And the law lets your family be paid for it.
Cremation or burial without authorization
Florida requires written permission from the “legally authorized person,” usually the spouse or next of kin, before a cremation can go forward.
Lost, switched, or commingled remains
A family receives the wrong ashes, remains are misplaced, or the ashes of more than one person are mixed together.
Improper storage or preparation
Remains left without refrigeration, decomposition before a viewing, or preparation failures a family discovers at the service itself.
Burial errors
The wrong plot, the wrong casket, headstone mistakes, or disinterment without the family’s permission.
Broken funeral contracts
Services that were paid for and never delivered, or prepaid arrangements that are not honored when the moment comes.
Florida law
The law that protects your family
Chapter 497, Florida Statutes
Florida licenses funeral homes, cemeteries, and crematories and holds them to written standards of conduct. Breaking those rules supports a civil claim.
The right to decide rests with the family
The law names one “legally authorized person” whose consent controls what happens to a loved one’s remains. That is the spouse first, then adult children, then parents.
Emotional harm is the injury — and it counts
Florida courts have long allowed families to sue when remains are mishandled. The grief and pain a family lives through afterward is the heart of the case, and the law treats it as real.
Time is limited
In Florida, most injury claims must be filed within two years. A complaint to the state can move forward at the same time as a lawsuit.
Next steps
What to do now
Keep everything
The contract, receipts, photographs, and every paper the funeral home gave you. Write down what happened while it is fresh.
Don’t sign anything
If the funeral home offers a refund or asks you to sign a release (a paper that ends your claim forever), wait. A signature can end a claim before anyone understands what happened.
Call me directly
You will speak with me, not a case manager. The case review is free, and the conversation is confidential.
Tell me what happened. The case review is free.
You'll talk to me, a senior attorney who spent nearly two decades working for the insurance companies. Not a case manager. No fees or costs unless we recover for you.
Call 786-442-2873