Hestia is starting with a narrow scope: organize choices, involve family and prepare structured, nonbinding provider requests. Sensitive or binding features will follow only after legal, technical and professional review.
During the pilot, Hestia is a planning and request tool. A funeral provider remains responsible for professional advice, availability, pricing, contracts, required authorizations, billing and delivery. Hestia is not a funeral home, funeral director, cemetery, crematory, university, emergency service, law firm or medical provider.
Public pilot forms may collect ordinary contact and planning information only. Do not submit Social Security numbers, government IDs, death certificates, medical records, wills, powers of attorney, bank or card details, passwords or body-donation documents.
Document storage will not be activated until access controls, encryption, deletion, backups, audit records, vendor contracts, incident response and applicable privacy obligations have been reviewed and tested.
Information about another person may be shared only by someone authorized to do so. Future family rooms are intended to use role-based, deliberate and revocable access. Hestia does not determine legal authority, next-of-kin status, estate rights or the validity of a power of attorney.
Payment does not determine ranking. Provider profiles must distinguish active participating providers, claimed or verified information, and profiles compiled from public information. Families remain free to contact providers directly and to choose providers outside Hestia.
During the pilot, any service contract, invoice and payment remain directly between the family and provider. Hestia does not confirm funeral arrangements or hold consumer or pre-need funds. Provider responses should separate required services, optional services, third-party charges, taxes, exclusions and estimates that remain unconfirmed.
People experiencing acute grief must not be pressured to participate. Interviews should be voluntary, stoppable at any time and documented without unnecessary case details. Hestia intends to seek guidance from grief, hospice or end-of-life professionals when researching with recently bereaved participants.
Any future body-donation workflow must be developed and controlled by the participating university. The institution alone sets eligibility, forms, revocation and acceptance. Hestia does not promise acceptance, broker donated bodies or charge per registered or accepted donor.
Sensitive case files, document storage, integrated payments, binding online booking or body-donation workflows will not be activated until the applicable legal and privacy review, documented technical safeguards, provider agreements, accessibility testing, and complaint and escalation processes are in place.
Updated July 15, 2026 · This pilot commitment describes a deliberately limited product scope. It does not waive or replace legal rights or obligations.