West Palm Beach Funeral Home Negligence Lawyer
Palm Beach County has a large retirement population and a correspondingly high volume of preneed contracts, which is a recurring source of disputes about what a family actually paid for. We take these claims for families across Palm Beach County: wrongful cremation, remains lost or released to the wrong people, failed embalming, burial in the wrong plot. Our office is at 2101 Vista Parkway, and a suit like this is filed in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in downtown West Palm Beach. Call 833-370-8692 and speak to a lawyer about what happened.
Do not give a recorded statement to the funeral home or its insurer before you speak to a lawyer. If your family holds a preneed contract, ask for the complete file in writing, not a summary. The itemized goods and services on the original are what the funeral home has to answer for.
Palm Beach cases start with a contract signed years earlier
Below is what a Palm Beach County funeral home claim involves: what tends to go wrong here, what Florida makes you prove, how that gets proved, and what it is worth. The statutes sit on the statewide page. This is the county-specific part, in the county where this firm has tried one of these to verdict.
Palm Beach County funeral home claims are filed in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in downtown West Palm Beach. This is the county where the firm tried the funeral home case that returned a $3,500,000 jury verdict, in a matter involving lost cremated remains and a concealment that followed. Florida allows these claims with no physical injury.
What to do this week
None of this requires a lawyer and all of it is easier now than in six months. Where a case exists, these are also the steps that decide how strong it is.
- Keep the paperwork you already have. The contract, the price list, the authorization forms, the death certificate, the cremation authorization if there was one, the receipts, the correspondence and anything from a cemetery or a crematory. Photograph all of it today. These files are usually thin and the originals are usually held by the funeral home, so what the family kept is frequently the only independent copy of anything.
- Write down the sequence while it is fresh. Who you spoke to and when, what you were told each time, what changed between one conversation and the next, and who else was in the room. The inconsistency between what a funeral home said on Tuesday and what it said on Friday is regularly the strongest evidence in these files, and it exists only if somebody wrote both down at the time.
- Ask for the remains to be left alone. Where anything can still be examined, say in writing that nothing further should be done: no further preparation, no cremation, no burial, no transfer, until it has been looked at. It is an uncomfortable thing to ask for and it is frequently the difference between proving a case and describing one. Say it to the funeral home and, where a regulator or a medical examiner is involved, say it to them as well.
How these cases arise in West Palm Beach
Palm Beach County has one of the largest retirement populations in Florida, and with it an unusual volume of preneed contracts: arrangements bought and paid for long in advance, often by the person who died. Chapter 497 regulates those sales specifically, and preneed money is supposed to be held in trust rather than spent.
The dispute that follows a death is often about the gap between what the contract promised and what the family got. A casket substituted for a cheaper one. A service downgraded. A trust that no longer holds what it should. Because the buyer is dead, the family is left arguing about a document they never saw signed, which is why the contract file is the first thing we ask for here.
Palm Beach County produces a particular version of this work, and the firm has tried one of them here through to a jury.
Cremation, and what happens after it
The case this firm tried here turned on what happened to ashes after the cremation rather than on the cremation itself.
- Remains lost between the crematory and the family, with no record of where
- Ashes returned that were not the right person’s, or were mixed
- A container handed over sealed and not opened until far too late to ask
- Documents altered afterward, which is a different order of conduct entirely
Establishments with a history
A pattern of earlier complaints changes what a case is and what it is worth.
- Prior lawsuits and state investigations against the same establishment
- Licensing action against the individuals as well as the business
- Complaints from other families about the same failure, which we can get
- A pattern rather than a lapse, which is what opens the door to punitive damages
A large retired population and out-of-state families
Deaths here are often of people whose closest relatives are somewhere else entirely.
- Authorization taken from whoever was reachable rather than whoever had priority
- Families who never saw the body and could not check anything themselves
- Preneed contracts bought years earlier, whose terms the family has never read
- Arrangements agreed by telephone with no written confirmation of what was promised
Cemeteries and the western communities
The county runs from the coast out to the agricultural towns, and the establishments serving each are different businesses.
- Burial in the wrong plot or the wrong section, discovered months later
- Cemetery records that do not match what the family was shown
- Small establishments where one person holds every role
- Disinterment where a burial has to be corrected, which is its own ordeal
What we ask West Palm Beach families to look at
- A preneed contract the funeral home will not hand over a complete copy of
- A casket, urn or vault different from the one itemized and paid for years ago
- Services billed to the trust that nobody in the family saw performed
- A funeral home that changed ownership between the sale and the death
What actually goes wrong
These are the failures that bring families to this firm. Where a death fell under the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner, the release paperwork usually shows who held custody at the moment one of them happened, and it is among the first records we request.
- Remains released to the wrong family, and buried or scattered before anybody noticed
- Ashes lost, mixed with another person’s, or handed over in a container that was never opened until it was too late to ask
- A burial in the wrong plot, in the wrong section, or in a grave already occupied
- A body buried without the service the family paid for and was told had happened
- Embalming that was contracted for and never performed, discovered at a viewing
- A body stored without refrigeration, or in a facility whose cooling had failed
What a family is left with
A funeral that has to be done twice
Where remains are recovered, or a burial is corrected, the family goes through it again: another day, another set of arrangements, another gathering of the same people, and this time with everybody knowing why. The costs of that are recoverable and they are the smallest part of it.
The part where nobody believed them
Almost every family in these cases spent weeks being told they were mistaken, or upset, or misremembering, before anybody admitted anything. That period is its own harm and it is worth documenting, because it also goes to how the establishment behaved once it knew.
Physical and psychological illness
Sleep that does not return, weight lost, work missed, existing conditions that worsen, and treatment that would not otherwise have been needed. Where somebody has seen a doctor or a counselor about it, those records matter and they are part of the claim rather than a private matter kept out of it.
What Florida law requires you to prove
The claim exists without any physical injury
Florida is unusual here, and it is the single thing most families are told wrongly. The ordinary rule is that mental anguish is not recoverable without an accompanying physical injury. The mishandling of a dead body is a recognized exception to that rule, so a family with no physical injury at all still has a claim.
The statewide page sets out the authority for that, along with the standard of proof Florida applies, which is higher than most families are told and is worth understanding before anybody decides what to do.
Who was entitled to decide, and in what order
Florida decides by statute who may authorize a burial or a cremation, in a fixed order of priority, and a cremation cannot happen at all without that person’s written authorization. A very large share of these cases begins with somebody who was not on that list signing a form, or with nobody signing one. That order, and what it means for who may bring a claim, is set out in full on the statewide page.
The establishment, the licensee and the people who work there
Florida licenses funeral establishments, direct disposal establishments, cremation facilities, cemeteries and the individuals working in them, and a licensee is answerable for what happens under its license. The claim usually runs against more than one of them, and where a body passed between a funeral home, a crematory and a cemetery, the question of who held custody at the moment something went wrong is answered from the release paperwork rather than from anybody’s account.
The deadline
Most claims arising on or after March 24, 2023 have to be filed within two years, and an older one keeps the four years that applied when it happened. The practical deadline is much shorter, because the records that decide these cases sit with the establishment and the physical evidence is regularly destroyed as part of the very thing being complained about.
How we prove it in Palm Beach County
The Palm Beach case this firm tried was proved on other people’s records as much as on the family’s own, and that is the pattern here.
- The contract, the price list and every authorization form, checked against who could lawfully sign
- Crematory logs and the release paperwork at each handover
- State investigation files and the licensing history of the establishment and its individuals
- Records from other lawsuits and complaints against the same business
- Cemetery records, plot maps and interment registers where a burial is involved
- Every communication with the establishment, in date order, including what changed between versions
- Medical examiner release documentation where District 15 held the body
- Treatment records for anybody in the family who sought help afterward
Ask early whether anybody else has complained about the same establishment. In the case this firm tried here, records from other lawsuits and state investigations showed a pattern of prior complaints, and that pattern was a large part of what the jury heard.
What the funeral home and its insurer will say
The response in these files follows a pattern, and it starts with sympathy and a refund. What follows is worth recognizing for what it is.
You have no proof this happened
Said early, and usually while the establishment holds all of the records. The contract, the authorizations, the release paperwork, the logs, the transfer records and the internal correspondence exist and are obtained. Where a regulator has investigated, that file exists too. The family being unable to prove it in the first week is not the same as it being unprovable.
The person who signed authorized exactly this
Then produce the authorization, and let it be compared against who Florida says was entitled to give it and what it actually says. These forms are frequently signed by the wrong relative, signed after the fact, signed in blank, or not signed at all. It is one of the most productive things to examine in the whole file.
That was the crematory, not us
Regularly a real division of responsibility and never a complete answer. A body that moved between a funeral home, a crematory and a cemetery generated release paperwork at every handover, and that paperwork shows who held it when. Each of them carries its own license and its own insurance, and naming all of them at the outset is ordinary practice.
What a claim can include
- Treatment for what it did. Counseling, therapy and medical care for the family members affected, past and ongoing, where somebody has sought it.
- Income lost while dealing with it. Time away from work during the discovery, the correction and the treatment, which in these cases runs for months rather than days.
- Punitive damages where the conduct warrants it. Available in Florida on a heightened standard and on a court’s permission rather than as of right. Concealment, forged paperwork and a pattern of earlier complaints are what move a case into that territory.
Why this office for a West Palm Beach case
A Palm Beach County funeral home claim is filed in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in downtown West Palm Beach, and the firm has an office on Vista Parkway rather than a mailing address in the county. This is also the county where the firm tried the funeral home case that returned a $3,500,000 verdict. The funeral director’s license was suspended and the establishment closed shortly afterward. Every case turns on its own facts and no result guarantees another.
Who you would be dealing with
A West Palm Beach funeral home case is handled by one of the four trial attorneys in this photograph. You will speak with the attorney who has your case, and you will have their direct line whenever you need them.
They have been trying Palm Beach County cases together since 1993, and a suit arising in West Palm Beach is filed in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in downtown West Palm Beach.
Meet the attorneys →West Palm Beach funeral home questions
Answered by Brett J. Yonon, who handles the firm's funeral home and wrongful death cases.
My parent prepaid for their funeral and the funeral home did not honor it. What now?
Get the full preneed contract and every receipt, then call. Preneed sales in Florida are regulated under chapter 497 and the money is generally required to be held in trust, so a funeral home that did not deliver what was bought may be facing both a licensing problem and a civil claim. The state will investigate the licensing side at no cost to you.
We think the ashes we were given are not our mother’s.
Say so in writing to the establishment today and ask them to preserve everything, and do not have the remains scattered or interred while the question is open. Crematories keep logs, identification tags and release records, and those records either support what you were told or they do not. This is the exact situation the firm tried to a jury in this county, and it was proved on the crematory’s own records and the testimony of the operator.
Does it matter if the funeral home has been in trouble before?
It matters a great deal. Prior complaints, state investigations and earlier lawsuits against the same establishment can be requested, and a pattern is treated very differently from a single mistake. It also affects whether punitive damages are available, which in Florida requires a heightened showing and the court’s permission rather than being available as of right.
Where would a West Palm Beach funeral home case actually be filed?
In the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in downtown West Palm Beach. Which courthouse matters more than people expect, because local practice, the judges and the jury pool all differ by circuit. We try these cases in Palm Beach County rather than referring them out.
What should I do before I call a West Palm Beach lawyer?
Keep asking the funeral home questions and get the answers in writing. Save every contract, authorization form and receipt. Do not give a recorded statement to their insurer first. Then call. If there is no case here we will say so, and the call still costs you nothing.
More in West Palm Beach
West Palm Beach Personal Injury Lawyer
Everything we handle in Palm Beach County, and where our office is.
View →Florida Funeral Home Negligence Lawyer
The Florida standard of proof, the regulator, and the warning signs.
View →Case Results
Verdicts and settlements, including a $3,500,000 funeral home jury verdict.
View →
Nobody at the funeral home will give you a straight answer
Tell a lawyer what happened. We are at 2101 Vista Parkway, Suite 4500, West Palm Beach, FL 33411, and the conversation costs nothing even if we tell you there is no case to bring.