Until 2016, Michigan law rigidly dictated who could serve as your representative for funeral arrangements. There was a hierarchy of next of kin: Spouse, parent, siblings according to age and so on. But families can be complicated, scattered or non-existent. A new law lets you designate who will handle your funeral and final resting place. […]

The Federal Trade Commission requires funeral homes to provide price information on request. This New York Times article reports on consumer groups who want the rules updated to require prices to be shared online – something we at William Sullivan & Son have done for many years. (Here’s our price information.) The FTC provides good, […]

By Michelle O’Hara It’s hard to think about your own death and even harder to talk about it. In my experience, though, once the conversation begins it brings great satisfaction and sometimes even great joy. As a funeral planning educator at the Sullivan Funeral Home in Utica I advise people in all elements of pre-planning. […]

The Detroit Free Press recently ran two stories with useful information about how to plan and manage costs connected to your funeral. This article reports that 59 percent of families now choose cremation over burial, a trend we see here at Sullivan & Son. The articles quotes our co-owner, Michael Lope, reporting that, even when […]

Our blog editor visited Italy recently and shared these photos with us. The hearse is a Mercedes Benz and, while we admire its style, we’re going to stick with our American-made Cadillacs! She also visited an Etruscan museum with extensive funerary artifacts, like this crematory urn. These were elaborately decorated, with an often-lifelike portrait of […]