California Funeral Establishments from Official License Records

Direct answer and scope

California defines a licensed funeral establishment as a place of business at a specific address or location devoted to funeral, transportation, burial, or other disposition-related preparation and arrangements, subject to specified storage or preparation-room requirements. State law treats it as a fixed-place licensed business category. The category identifies a regulated establishment record, but it does not establish the exact work currently performed by a named business or where an individual case would be handled.

A separate application and separate funeral-establishment license are required for each separate establishment. The directory therefore treats each exact license number and address-specific record independently. Two records that share part of a name, an address, or another visible detail should not be combined on that basis. Separate records also do not establish whether the establishments share a brand, personnel, facilities, or business control.

The August 25, 2026 snapshot has a raw control total of 1,127 Funeral Director Establishment records across all displayed statuses in the Department of Consumer Affairs file updated August 1, 2026. The total is useful for checking whether the directory transformation retained the expected record category and volume. It does not describe a status-filtered group, distinct enterprises, locations serving consumers, or the services represented by those records.

How to use the official evidence

Begin with the establishment name as recorded, but do not stop at a name match. Compare the exact license type, license number, public address of record, and displayed status. Dates can help distinguish similarly named records, while the verification date shows when the official lookup was last checked. An exact number is the clearest reference when discussing a record with the establishment or a regulator.

The Department of Consumer Affairs documents public fields that include license type, license number, an individual-or-organization indicator, public address of record, issue and expiration dates, and raw license status. The public files are refreshed automatically at the beginning of each month. They are monthly disclosure snapshots rather than live views, so a later official lookup may display newer information.

The archived source files provide reproducible provenance for the directory transformation. Funeral_Data00.xls contained 6,137 records and had the SHA-256 checksum 62f35460f34dd8748672f889839c03dde187891922d0837f08b615b4bcf3be50. Cemetery_Data00.xls contained 6,688 records and had the SHA-256 checksum 20b784291214b01de0670e242d36971c050b5a0be481f87dcce8f900a0ce47a4. Both were obtained August 25, 2026, from files updated August 1, 2026. These checksums identify the archived file bytes; they do not establish that each record remained unchanged after the file-update date.

Decision framework

Use the fields in sequence rather than interpreting one field alone. First, identify the exact establishment record by matching the recorded name with the license number and address. Second, preserve the Department of Consumer Affairs status exactly as displayed. Third, check the original issue and expiration dates as separate administrative fields. Finally, use the official lookup for a current identity-matched check and note the date of that verification.

The public layout includes raw status values such as Current, Delinquent, and Inactive. A normalized status may support consistent filtering, but it should remain visibly tied to the original value. Any subset should state its mapping, filter criteria, snapshot date, file-update date, and coverage. Keeping the raw value available prevents a directory label from replacing the wording in the source record.

If several records have similar names, compare their license numbers and address-specific details rather than assuming they represent one organization. If one record cannot be found during a later search, broaden the identity check and contact the relevant authority when clarification is needed. A missing search result by itself does not resolve whether another license, complaint, or enforcement record exists.

Limits and what to verify next

A public address of record is an administrative field. It does not establish the operating entrance, service area, preparation site, or place where a particular case will be handled. Ask the establishment directly where arrangements and any requested activities would occur, then keep that answer separate from what the license file itself documents.

A funeral-establishment record also does not identify current service offerings, hours, capacity, consumer access, or case routing. The statutory category covers a defined kind of fixed-place business, but it does not show which listed activities a particular establishment provides at a given time. Verify any needed service directly rather than deriving it from the license type, name, address, or dates.

Administrative records do not establish connections among businesses. Similar names, shared personnel, matching addresses, or visible brand language are not sufficient to determine common control or other organizational relationships. Treat each license number and address-specific record separately unless another suitable source expressly documents a relationship.

Before selecting an establishment, check the exact license type, number, displayed status, and identity details in the Department of Consumer Affairs lookup and record the verification date. Requirements and records can change, so confirm current information with the appropriate California authority. The guidance here is informational and is not legal advice.