2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XVI - Public Health › Chapter 112 - Registration of Certain Professions and Occupations › Section 83 - Registration of Embalmers, Funeral Directors and Apprentice Embalmers; Applications; Examinations and Re-Examinations; Certificates; Fees; Renewals; Apprenticeship; Advertising; Funeral Directing

Section 83. Applications for registration as embalmers, funeral directors or apprentice embalmers, and for establishment certificates, shall be made on blanks furnished by the board.
No person shall be registered by the board as an embalmer unless he has been found by the board upon examination to be eighteen years of age or over, a resident of this commonwealth, a citizen of the United States, of good moral character; to have successfully completed a four-year high school course or to possess the educational equivalent thereof; to have served as an apprentice embalmer for two years under the personal supervision and instruction of a registered embalmer, during which period he has embalmed not less than fifty dead human bodies, and to have satisfactorily completed a course of instruction of not less than nine months in an embalming school approved by the board. Upon payment of a fee to be determined annually by the commissioner of administration under the provision of section three B of chapter seven, such person shall be examined by the board, and if found to be qualified, shall be registered and given a certificate thereof signed by the chairman and secretary of the board.
No person shall be registered by the board as a funeral director unless he has been found by the board upon examination to be eighteen years of age or over, a resident of this commonwealth, a citizen of the United States, of good moral character, a duly registered embalmer, unless such person is the surviving spouse of a duly registered and licensed funeral director; to have successfully completed a four-year high school course or has attained the practical equivalent of a high school education; to have satisfactorily completed a course of instruction of not less than nine months in a funeral directing school approved by the board or to have included and successfully completed the elements of such a course of instruction in his study schedule at the college or university which he has attended; to be qualified to prepare such death certificates and other documents as are required by the department of public health for the protection of the general public in the ordinary course of his business; to be familiar with the precautions to be taken to prevent the spread of communicable diseases as prescribed by the department of public health for the protection of the general public welfare; and to be conversant with the laws of the United States and of this commonwealth relative to (a) the custody of dead human bodies; (b) the preparation of such bodies for burial, cremation and shipment, as prescribed by the department of public health for the sanitary handling of dead human bodies by common carriers for the protection of public health; and (c) the cremation, burial and shipment of such bodies as prescribed by the department of public health for sanitary handling of dead human bodies by common carriers for the protection of public health.
Upon payment of a fee as determined under the aforementioned provision, such person shall be examined by the board. If such person is found to be qualified, such person shall be registered by the board as qualified to be licensed under section forty-nine of chapter one hundred and fourteen as a funeral director, and he shall receive a certificate of registration signed by the chairman and the secretary of the board; provided, that he shall not be so licensed until he furnishes satisfactory proof to the board that he will maintain within the commonwealth a funeral directing establishment so located, constructed and equipped as to permit the sanitary handling of dead human bodies.
Applicants for registration as embalmers or as funeral directors may, upon the payment of a fee as determined under the aforementioned provision, be re-examined at any subsequent examination conducted by the board.
Any person desiring to become an apprentice embalmer shall make application on a form provided for the purpose, and must appear before the board for approval of his application. The application shall state that the applicant is a citizen of the United States, of good moral character, and holds a high school diploma or its equivalent. Said application must be accompanied by a fee as determined under the aforementioned provision. When the board is satisfied as to his qualifications, it shall issue a certificate of embalmer apprenticeship. Such apprenticeship shall be served in the establishment of a registered funeral director, on a full-time employment basis. When such apprentice enters the employ of a person so registered, he shall immediately notify the member of the board in his district of the name and place of business of the person whose service he has entered. If such apprentice thereafter leaves the employ of such person whose service he has entered, it shall be the duty of said person to give such apprentice an affidavit showing the length of time he has served with him, which affidavit shall be filed with the board. The number of apprentice embalmers allowed to be registered under any one registered embalmer or funeral director shall be determined by the board on the basis of one apprentice embalmer for each fifty cases or any part thereof that the registered embalmer or funeral director had cared for professionally in the previous calendar year. No person shall be employed as an apprentice except in accordance with the foregoing provisions.
No apprentice or embalmer shall advertise or publish in any manner the fact of his registration, nor shall any funeral director advertise or publish in any manner whatsoever the name or names of apprentices or any persons associated with him in the profession of funeral directing unless the said person or persons are registered and licensed funeral directors.
The profession of funeral directing shall be conducted or practiced at a fixed place or establishment, and no person, partnership, corporation, association or other organization shall open or maintain a place or establishment at which to practice such profession unless an establishment certificate has been granted by said board. Such certificate shall be for one location only; provided, that this shall not prevent a registered funeral director from conducting a funeral in another licensed establishment, nor from a church, nor from a private residence from which funeral services are not regularly conducted, a public lodge or hall room, providing such person maintains a fixed place or establishment of his own conforming to the above requirements. The board shall issue a certificate for said establishment after application has been made on a form provided for the purpose, and when the same meets the requirements set forth in the rules and regulations of the board and established by the rules and regulations of the department of public health and local boards of health. Said application shall be accompanied by a fee as determined under the aforementioned provision.
No establishment or branch thereof for the preparation, disposition and care of dead human bodies shall be opened or maintained unless duly registered by the board. No establishment or branch shall be moved without obtaining a new certificate from the board. Applications for such transfers shall be made upon blanks furnished by the board and shall be accompanied by a fee of as determined under the aforementioned provision. An establishment's certificate shall remain in force indefinitely unless revoked by the board or until there has been a change in the ownership of the establishment, which shall automatically cancel said certificate.