Should my mother and i seek legal advice regarding my grandmothers funeral?

This might sound a bit morbid and i am sorry if i gross people out. My grandmother died on thursday morning 3 weeks back, and her body was brought and prepared at the funeral home by saturday afternoon for the wake on sunday. to make a long story short, there was a odor that was faint early sunday morning coming from her and by sunday evening i could tell that it was not only me and a few others smelling it. by the time we closed the casket for good, it was just awful. We have not contacted the funeral home since she has been buried, but i was wondering where we stand legally? of course now after mouring, were very upset, my grandmothers funeral was over 13,000 dollars. Was it something they did or didnt do? has anyone ever experienced something like this? any help would be great thank you.Should my mother and i seek legal advice regarding my grandmothers funeral?
Just as Randy said, there are many, many factors that affect the outcome of any embalming. In this day and age, people are on ten differents medicines when they die, whether it be chemotheraphy, pain management, diuretics or heart meds, they all have different and usually adverse affects on the embalming process. Some meds even completely negate the embalming fluid, which only becomes evident days later. I can almost guarantee you signed a waiver that attests to the fact that the embalming may be undesirable, especially today with the increase in medications being used. I, too, recommend asking the funeral home, but I must say I have also found myself in the same situation with odors, and I have scrambled to mask the odor. This doesn't make me a bad embalmer, just an honest one. My condolences to you and your family for your loss.Should my mother and i seek legal advice regarding my grandmothers funeral?
Contrary to popular belief the effects of embalming are different with everyone. It often times depends upon the aged of the deceased, their pre-death condition, any medical issues they may have had and so on. To embalm properly they have to be able to circulate the fluids through the body using the natural veins and such and if there were any medical issues that would stop them from being able to do that effectively then that could account for the unpleasant experience you had.





I would speak with the funeral home first and voice you concerns/complaints. If you can settle the matter at that level then fine however if you can't then you can always sue.
If you had an odor coming from the casket, she was not embalmed, or it wasn't done properly. You have every right to pursue a suit against the funeral home for the cost of a service that wasn't performed.





For $13,000, you paid for an embalming, that's a very expensive funeral. You should contact the funeral home first and request a refund for the portion for the embalming service, and if they refuse contact an attorney to pursue it in court.





Many funeral homes actually contract out the embalming, they don't do it themselves, so if they say that they're probably telling you the straight up, regardless if they're the ones who charged you for it and got paid for it they're on the hook for the refund, they can take it up themselves with the embalming service later.
They do what they are contracted to do. Many religions and cultures do not allow a body to be embalmed. An unpreserved body will certainly not remain fresh for three weeks, even if refrigerated.





Review the contract with a lawyer.





EDIT - ';of course'; is an assumption. As I said, unless you contracted for them to embalm the body, they don't do it. Take the contract to a lawyer. That is the answer to the question.