What regulates a life events website
Four things: price transparency rules for funeral services, the separate regime for pre-paid funeral plans, whichever rules govern will writing and estate planning where you work, and the laws that apply to any website, being privacy, cookies, company details and accessibility. Each changes by country and, in federal systems, by state or province.
This is orientation, not legal advice. Your regulator's current guidance and a local adviser are the authorities, and the rules in this sector have moved several times in recent years.
United Kingdom
Funeral prices: the Competition and Markets Authority's funerals order requires a standardised price list in a prescribed layout, with prescribed headings and wording, displayed prominently on the website as well as at the premises, together with an additional options price list and a disclosure of relevant business or financial interests such as links to a crematorium. Scotland also operates its own inspection and code of practice framework for funeral directors.
Pre-paid plans: funeral plans came under Financial Conduct Authority regulation in 2022. Firms selling or administering them need authorisation, and website content about plans is a financial promotion with the rules that come with that.
Will writing: in England and Wales, will writing is generally not a reserved legal activity, so unregulated practitioners work alongside solicitors regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Voluntary bodies with their own codes exist and membership is worth stating. Scotland and Northern Ireland differ. State accurately which of these applies to you.
Celebrants: not licensed for funerals. Who may solemnise a marriage differs across the UK, so be precise about which ceremonies you can legally conduct.
General: UK GDPR and PECR, a privacy notice, company details under the Companies Act, and the Equality Act with WCAG 2.1 AA as the working standard.
United States
Funeral prices: the Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule requires an itemised general price list for anyone enquiring in person, price information over the telephone, and separate casket and outer burial container price lists. The rule predates the web and has not itself required online posting; the FTC has consulted on extending it, so confirm the current position. Several states require price information, or notice of it, on the website. State funeral boards license the firms and the directors.
Pre-need: regulated state by state, with rules on trusting or insuring funds and on how plans may be advertised.
Wills: drafting wills for others is generally the practice of law and restricted to licensed attorneys, with unauthorised practice of law rules that also reach website claims. Attorney advertising rules apply to the site itself.
General: state privacy laws over their thresholds, TCPA consent rules if you text families, and the ADA applied to websites through litigation with WCAG 2.1 AA as the standard.
Canada
Funeral prices: provincial. Ontario's regime under the Bereavement Authority of Ontario sets licensing and price disclosure duties. British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec and the other provinces each have their own consumer protection rules for funeral and cemetery services, including for pre-need contracts.
Wills: provincial, with drafting for others generally restricted to lawyers and notaries; Quebec has its own notarial system.
General: PIPEDA and Quebec's Law 25 with its consent and policy requirements, French language obligations for sites serving Quebec, AODA in Ontario and the Accessible Canada Act federally.
Australia
Funeral prices: state based. New South Wales requires funeral goods and services providers to publish itemised price information on their website where they have one. Other states and territories vary in what they require and some are consulting on going further. The Australian Consumer Law on misleading conduct applies everywhere.
Pre-paid funerals: state legislation governs how funds are held and how plans may be sold.
Wills: drafting for others is restricted to legal practitioners, with public trustees and licensed trustee companies also active. Legal profession advertising rules apply.
Celebrants: marriage celebrants are registered federally; funeral celebrancy is not licensed, so be clear about which you are.
General: the Privacy Act over its threshold, a privacy policy expected wherever you collect personal data through forms, and the Disability Discrimination Act with WCAG 2.1 AA.
European Union
Funeral prices: national rather than EU wide, and several member states set out required price information for funeral services. General consumer law, the price indication rules and prices inclusive of tax apply throughout.
Wills: notaries handle succession in most civil law countries, and the activity is restricted accordingly.
General: GDPR and ePrivacy consent, the e-commerce information duties that produce the Impressum tradition in Germany and Austria, and the European Accessibility Act from June 2025 for many private digital services above the micro-enterprise threshold.
What is the same everywhere
- Publish prices or fees plainly, in the regulator's format where one exists, and keep them current with an effective date.
- Do not claim a qualification, membership, regulator or insurance you do not hold.
- Disclose ownership and referral relationships between related businesses.
- Treat enquiries about a death, a will or a plan as sensitive personal data, and say what happens to them.
- Publish company details and a privacy notice.
- Build to WCAG 2.1 AA, because this audience skews older than almost any other.
Where this sits
Every funeral and life events website we build runs through a country checklist at the content stage covering price disclosure format, plan and pre-need rules, regulatory and insurance claims, interests disclosure, privacy and accessibility. The funeral director and will writing sub-pages carry the most of it, and the checklist is what stops a site launching with a price page in last year's format.