Funeral Directors are knowledgeable of the laws of the state or community and can help you through the sometimes overwhelming legal processes you need to be aware of. These are Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, and New York. However, none of these laws should prevent you from carrying out your home burial plans in some form or another.īe aware that a handful of states do require that you hire a funeral director to handle portions of the post-death process. For instance, they may outline how far from your neighbor’s property you can place a gravesite, how deep the grave must be, how close to a water source such as a stream or a lake you can bury the body, and various other restrictions. In most states, the only restrictions to home burial are found in local zoning laws that tell you how and where you can bury the body. It also costs significantly less than buying and maintaining a cemetery gravesite. Home burial is a wonderful way to have a very intimate ceremony around the creation of the grave and to remain close to the deceased for as long as you own the property.
According to the Home Funeral Alliance, “Religious observations, family gatherings, memorials, and private events are not under the jurisdiction of the State or professionals in the funeral industry, who have no medico-legal authority unless it is transferred to them when they are paid for service”. You are allowed to carry out post-death functions such as bathing and dressing the body and holding any type of ceremony you wish. In every state, next of kin has custody and control of the body after death. This means most families in America have an option other than burying a loved one in a cemetery where they will rarely see the grave and be required to obey restrictions as to the type of burial and memorial they can have. Only Indiana, California and Washington State outlaw the practice totally. If you are considering a home burial for a loved one, it is good to know that most states make it perfectly legal to take a body home from the hospital, nursing home, or other institution and bury it on your private property.