Funeral & Cremation Laws by State: Who Decides

Death care is governed state by state. Who can authorize a cremation, who controls burial arrangements, when a body can be moved, how long a body can stay unembalmed, and what can be done with cremated remains: the law can answer each of these differently depending on where you are.

That can feel like needless complication when your family already has enough to deal with. We want to make the rules easier to understand without pretending they're simpler than they are.

Every legal statement in this guide is tied to a statute or regulation and includes the date it was last checked.

Important: This is a legal-information guide for consumers, not legal advice. Death-care rules can also depend on county rules, cemetery rules, public-land rules, water regulations, the circumstances of the death, and whether a medical examiner or coroner is involved. Before you settle on a final arrangement, check the current requirements with the provider and, where needed, the right state or local authority.

The questions families usually need answered

When someone dies, the legal questions tend to be very practical:

Question	Why it matters
Who has the right to decide?	Under state law, a spouse, child, agent, executor or someone else may come first.
Can we choose cremation?	Usually yes, but the authorization and permit steps vary by state.
Do we have to use a funeral director?	In most states, families have more freedom than they expect. A few states require a licensed funeral director for certain steps.
How quickly does something have to happen?	States may set rules for permits, refrigeration, embalming, cremation, transport or final disposition.
Can we bury at home?	There's no simple yes or no. State law, local zoning, health rules, property restrictions and cemetery law can all matter.
Can we scatter ashes?	Private property, public land, inland water, coastal water and federal waters can each have different rules.
What about newer options?	More and more states regulate alkaline hydrolysis, natural organic reduction and other alternatives separately from ordinary burial and cremation.

A federal baseline: what applies everywhere

Federal law doesn't replace state death-care law. But the FTC Funeral Rule gives you important protections on price and choice when you deal with funeral providers it covers.

Among other things, the Rule says covered funeral providers must give you price information. It lets you choose only the goods and services you want, with a few limited exceptions. It bars providers from telling you that state or local law requires embalming or a casket for direct cremation when it doesn't. Providers who offer direct cremation must make an alternative container available.

Source: 16 CFR Part 453: Funeral Industry Practices Rule; FTC consumer guidance. Checked September 17, 2026.

How to read these laws

Statute wording can be intimidating. For a family, the practical questions are usually simpler.

1. Who gets to decide?

Look for your state's statute on right of disposition, authorizing agent, custody and control or next-of-kin priority.

The person with that authority is usually the one whose signature the funeral home or crematory will need.

2. Is cremation legally available?

Cremation itself is legal in the United States. States differ on the paperwork around it. A state may require identification, an authorization form, medical examiner approval, a cremation permit, a waiting period, or some mix of these.

3. Do we need a funeral director?

Most states let families handle some parts of death care themselves. A small group of states, though, require a licensed funeral director for certain tasks.

Funeral Consumers Alliance currently lists Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, New York, Michigan, Nebraska, and New Jersey as states with specific limits on families caring for their own dead.

Source: Funeral Consumers Alliance: States that Restrict Caring for Your Own Dead. Checked September 17, 2026.

4. Can we keep the body at home?

Here a single national answer would be especially misleading.

State law can control who may remove or move a body, how long an unembalmed body can be kept, who can get a disposition permit, and who has to oversee a burial or cremation. Local zoning, health and cemetery rules can add another layer.

Source: FTC Funeral Rule guidance; Funeral Consumers Alliance state-by-state rights. Checked September 17, 2026.

5. Can we scatter ashes?

The first question usually isn't "Does my state say yes?" It's this:

Whose land or water is it?

On private property, you generally need the owner's permission. Public land can fall under state, county, city, park or federal rules. Water can come under its own set of environmental and navigation rules.

That's why HonestFarewell won't label a place "legal for scattering" from state law alone, unless we've also checked the property and any local restrictions.

Federal source: EPA: Burial at Sea; state example: Cal. Health & Safety Code § 7116. Checked September 17, 2026.

What changes when the death happens in another state?

The law that matters isn't always the law where the person lived.

Someone may live in one state, die in another, be taken to a third, and have their ashes scattered somewhere else entirely.

So one arrangement can involve several states' laws.

If the person is being moved between states, ask the funeral provider or the right authority which state's permit, authorization, identification and transport rules apply to each part of the trip.

Federal consumer context: FTC Funeral Consumer Advice. Checked September 17, 2026.

Our standard for legal facts

We follow one simple rule:

No citation, no claim.

If a rule comes from a statute, we cite the statute.

If it comes from a regulation, we cite the regulation.

If it depends on a local rule, we say so.

If we can't verify a claim from the current primary source, we don't present it as settled law.

This matters because death-care laws change. A state can change its cremation rules, legalize a newer form of disposition, change how permits work, or change who may do a task.

All state law pages

Sources we use as a baseline

Last checked: September 17, 2026.