Funeral director licensing in Nebraska

What it takes, step by step

1. Earn the 40 semester hours of college credit; you need 20 of them before you can get an apprentice license.

   Sources for step 1

   • Neb. Rev. Stat. §38-1414
   • Neb. Rev. Stat. §38-1416

2. Complete a full course at an accredited school of mortuary science.

   Sources for step 2

   • Neb. Rev. Stat. §38-1414

3. Pass the national standardized exam (ICFSEB, scaled score 75) before the apprenticeship (supervised work in a funeral home; the state sets who supervises), or before its final six months.

   Sources for step 3

   • Neb. Rev. Stat. §38-1415
   • 172 NAC 67-003

4. Serve a 12-month apprenticeship under a Nebraska funeral director and embalmer, either split (a continuous 6 months before or during mortuary school, then a continuous final 6 months after graduating and passing the national exam) or full (a continuous 12 months after both). It must include arterially embalming 25 bodies and assisting with 25 funerals; the first 25 of each are under direct onsite supervision.

   Sources for step 4

   • Neb. Rev. Stat. §38-1414
   • Neb. Rev. Stat. §38-1416
   • Neb. Rev. Stat. §38-1413

5. Pass the Nebraska jurisprudence exam and the vital statistic forms exam with at least 75% on each.

   Sources for step 5

   • Neb. Rev. Stat. §38-1412
   • Neb. Rev. Stat. §38-1415
   • 172 NAC 67-003

Does a funeral home need an embalmer?

Yes, in practice. A funeral establishment's manager must be a licensed funeral director and embalmer; the only exception is someone who still holds an old funeral-director-only license (no new ones have been issued since 1 January 1994).

Licensed in another state?

Nebraska may license you based on another state's license if you meet its requirements or substantially equivalent ones. Five years of practice as a licensed funeral director and embalmer elsewhere plus 16 hours of recent continuing education can stand in for the college coursework, and one year of licensed practice can stand in for the apprenticeship. A funeral-director-only license from another state does not match this wording.

Good to know

• There is a non-embalming assistant funeral director role, but it is not a license. You pass a Nebraska jurisprudence exam, work for a licensed funeral director under a signed collaborative agreement, and may help arrange and conduct funerals under supervision. You may not do any part of embalming, and the role does not itself confer a license.

  Sources

  • Neb. Rev. Stat. §38-1429
  • Neb. Rev. Stat. §38-1430
  • Neb. Rev. Stat. §38-1431

• Funeral-director-only and embalmer-only licenses held on 1 January 1994 can still be renewed, but Nebraska issues only the single combined license to new applicants.

  Sources

  • Neb. Rev. Stat. §38-1414

• Embalming is not required for every body: within 24 hours of receiving a body the licensee may bury, cremate, embalm, refrigerate (below 40°F, up to 8 days) or place it in a hermetically sealed container that cannot be reopened.

  Sources

  • 172 NAC 68-006.04(A)

Check with the board

Rules change. Confirm the current licensing requirements with the board before you enroll.

Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Licensure Unit (with the Board of Funeral Directing and Embalming)

Many Muslims would rather not embalm. Whether a Muslim may embalm someone who is not Muslim is a question for a qualified scholar. This page only shows what Nebraska’s law requires.

Next

• How to become a Muslim funeral director
• Open jobs at funeral services serving Muslim communities
• Muslim funeral services in Nebraska
• Every state, at a glance