If you can't pay, what funeral homes will often do is contact the state or county coroner's office to take responsibility of the body, which results in a no frills burial or cremation.
The family of the deceased person can also seek out financial assistance from government programs like social security or veteran's benefits or even consider donating the body to science or use crowdfunding or go fund me to get donations to help pay for the burial or cremation of the body.
While all funeral homes will offer payment plans, a small percentage of funeral homes might offer payment plans.
Although the majority of funeral homes now require payment in full before the funeral or cremation will take place.
It's also a good idea to plan you or a persons funeral well in advance and pay the funeral home directly for the cremation or funeral ahead of time or place that money in a savings account that you can use to pay for the funeral or cremation when the time comes.
My grandma and grandpa had prepaid there funerals so all we had to do was setup and attend the funeral.
If no agreement is reached with the funeral home, the funeral home can in some cases, transfer the body to the county or state's responsibility.
Social security will usually offer a one time death benefit that is available to eligible surviving spouses or other family members.
And some but not all veterans can be eligible for burial and transportation benefits.
And some states and counties even have programs for low income families and for people receiving Medicaid or for indigent people.
If you donate the body to medical school or research the medical school or medical research place will cover the cost of cremation for the body in exchange for the donation to medical research and medical school and the remains can be turned over back to the family if you desire.