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Full Circle of Living and Dying: We are advocates for legal rights and death care choices.Keeping or bringing a loved one home after death is legal in every state for bathing, dressing, private viewing, and ceremony as the family chooses. Every state recognizes the next-of-kin’s custody and control of the body that allows the opportunity to hold a home vigil. 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.
We want you to be empowered by what you can do, not what someone who doesn’t know any better might believe. Knowing the law allows you to move forward with confidence. No one knows better than the family what’s truly necessary or needed when caring for their own after death. When in doubt, call us for additional information, but know that you already have the most important piece of this puzzle: your own best judgment. |
Thank you to National Home Funeral Alliance for providing this important information.
It's Legal to take care of our deceased in the home. |
It’s your choice. Legally, custody and control rest in the hands of the closest of kin as defined by your state law. Our loved one’s remains are not the property of any commercial or governmental entity. Families have been caring for their own for thousands of years. With this information and support, you and your loved ones can have control over this profound moment in your family’s life and receive enormous personal benefits that come with making these important decisions for yourselves.
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Final Disposition |
Burial in cemeteries and cremation are the most common practices for final disposition. Depending on where you live and the regulations in your area, other alternatives such as burial at sea or natural burial on your own land (aka home burial), outdoor pyre, alkaline hydrolysis (a water-based chemical process for decomposition), body composting, body donation to medical or forensic facility, promession (human remain disposal by freeze drying), or using cremated remains in various ways may be possible. If choosing to have a cemetery burial or a cremation, knowing whether or not a cemetery or crematorium will accept a body directly from a family should be found out sooner than later. Be sure to inquire about cost and inform crematoriums if deceased has a pacemaker.
Once arrangements for the final disposition are settled, initiate a plan for transportation of the body. In most states, a family can transport the deceased with the necessary permit and a rigid container. Some states require the casket be transported in an enclosed space. Note: the family may have already transported the body from place of death to another location. For more information: National Home Funeral Alliance https://www.homefuneralalliance.org/ |
