Charter Funerals

“My mother passed June 10, 2025 and Charter funeral home in independence handled the arrangements. My dad was not able to make the arrangements so my aunt did. My mom was cremated, and when The ashes ready instead of notifying the next of kin, which is my father to come get them and per Missouri law, which is very clear that remains are supposed to be released To next of kin, which is my dad. They were not he did not even receive a phone call. They were released to my aunt. I live in Georgia. I had called the funeral home and talked to the director personally and he was not fully honest with me in the sense that he said he talked to my dad. and stated that my dad said he cannot make it up there for the arrangements. That part is true, so assuming that my dad cannot make it up there for the arrangements the director also assumed my dad could not make it there receive the remains ( which my father had already secured a ride to go get the remains as soon as he got the call from the funeral home they were ready)so the director decided to release the remains to my Aunt. Knowing. that they were not supposed to. I Called my dad to let him What I had found out and he called the funeral home And found out the same thing. And he asked some other questions that the director did not really wanna answer But did. Then the director Proceeded to call my aunt and complain that we had called him And called them out on something they weren’t supposed to do, but did anyway. And it has caused a lot of problems within the family. So I would watch these folks. And dealing with them with your loved ones, and who they release the remains too, especially if it’s cremation. I will be making a complaint about this to Missouri’s attorney General’s office and let them take it there.”

— James Batye

“We cannot say enough good things about Charter in Emporia. From the first phone call with Laura Henderson pre-arranging services, to the care she has given our family making final arrangements, she is professional, detail oriented and just made the entire process so much easier. Laura called with follow ups and always ensured we know next steps.”

— L M

“We recently experienced the death of my dad and we had already pre-purchased his funeral at Charter Funerals, so everything went very smooth. My family was taken good care of by the staff at Charter and we didtn't have to worry about any details, so we could go through the greiving process with our family. Thank you!”

— Robert Neer