Your Legal Right to Home Burial

Home burial is legal in some states and counties. The number of backyard burials is increasing, and has done so dramatically over the past 5 years. The Funeral Consumer’s Alliance reports that only two companies aided families holding home funerals in 2002, but now there are at least 45 companies.

Regarding Home Burial, most counties ask for a certain acreage amount, a distance of at least 150’ from a water supply, and at least two feet of earth on top. Before burial, the person in charge must sign the burial-transit permit and return it within 10 days to the registration of the county in which the death occurred. The practice is generally discouraged because of the potential affect on the property value. Because the practice is not common yet, society is still uncomfortable with it. Neighbors might find it disturbing to watch someone bring a body home, hold a funeral in their home, and then bury the body in their yard. However, a number of planned “Green Burial Preserves” are currently in development throughout the country to fulfill the demand for natural burials.

Please share your thoughts on home burials. Have you helped conduct a home burial or known someone with a private property cemetery? What advice can you share with others? 

Your Legal Right to Home Funerals

Many people do not know is that it is legal for them to take their loved ones home (in their own car) and to keep them (if cooled) for a number of days. Currently home funerals are legal in 45 states. Many people do not realize that embalming is not mandatory. 

Legally, you can take your own deceased loved one home with you as long as you get the proper permit for transporting, and follow approved procedures for cooling, and length of time before burial.

Home funerals pose no health risks under normal circumstances. (According to the World Health Organization, "Ordinary contact or handling of an intact, unautopsied body does not pose a risk, and cosmetic work may be undertaken without any special precautions.")

Home funerals offer a more humane and healing alternative to the usual American custom of giving your loved one's body to a professional who will take full charge of the body for you.

Individuals have the legal right to care for their own at death. They can file the death certificate and file obituaries with the local newspapers. The most important benefits of Home Funeral to the bereaved are psychological. The healing and acceptance of death is easier for the family when they are able to touch, see and spend time with their lost loved one.

Even in states where a funeral director is required, home funerals are far less expensive. An average American funeral costs more than $6,000. The home funeral version can cost a lot less. 

Our Video on Home Funerals

Please share your thoughts on home funerals. 
*Have you helped conduct a home funeral? What advice can you share with others? 
*Would you take part in a home funeral? Why or why not?