Quick Guide to Home Funerals by State

by Josh Slocum (Funeral Consumers Alliance) and Lee Webster (National Home Funeral Alliance)

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.
 
This guide is intended to let home funeral families know what legal requirements are on the books in each state—either statutes that are applicable to all or regulations that fall under the state Mortuary Board’s set of procedures applicable for licensed funeral directors only.
 
Both the National Home Funeral Alliance and the Funeral Consumers Alliance support families wishing to care for their own after death. We offer this Quick Guide as a glimpse into each state’s particular legal culture. We also agree that while it is critical to know what requirements there are, it is equally important to weigh them against practical realities.
 
Keep this in mind: there are no funeral police. And there are exceptions to every rule, many of which happen when someone dies in the middle of an ice storm or a weekend or a holiday or a multitude of other unpredictable circumstances. Even under perfect conditions or professional care, many of these requirements are not logistically or practically enforceable.
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The reason we want you to have easy access to your state’s rules and regs is simple. We want you to have the information at your fingertips should you ever be asked to explain them. 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.

Shroud Burial at Steelmantown, courtesy of Bob Fertig, Fertig Funeral Home

Shroud Burial at Steelmantown, courtesy of Bob Fertig, Fertig Funeral Home

List of Legal Requirements

Alabama

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended
• Embalming is required in order to leave the state unless the body is going to be used for medical research
• 24 hour mandatory wait time to cremate

Alaska

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Check statute for specific communicable diseases that require a physician’s advice

Arizona

• Body must be embalmed OR refrigerated after 24 hours
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended

Arkansas

• Body must be embalmed OR refrigerated at <45° after 24 hours unless cremating; neither are required for 48 hours if planning to cremate
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended
• Embalming is required in order to leave the state
• Embalming is required when shipping by common carrier

California

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended
• Required to be embalmed OR shipped in airtight container by common carrier and when forwarding
• Funeral homes must embalm or refrigerate with 24 hours by regulation, not statute – applies to FDs only

Colorado

• Body must be embalmed OR refrigerated after 24 hours
• Contagious or communicable diseases must be reported to local or state health officers by person acting as funeral director
• Required to be embalmed OR shipped in airtight container by common carrier

Connecticut

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Disposition must occur within a reasonable time
• Funeral director must be hired to remove the body, file the death certificate, and handle the disposition of bodies with communicable disease
• 48 hour mandatory wait time to cremate

Delaware

• Body must be embalmed OR refrigerated after 24 hours
• Disposition must occur within 5 days
• Embalming is prohibited for select diseases

DC

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Disposition must occur within one week
• Disposition of contagious or infectious diseased bodies must be handled by a licensed FD

Florida

• Must be embalmed OR refrigerated after 24 hours
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended
• 48 hour mandatory wait time to cremate

Georgia

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended

Hawaii

• Body must be embalmed OR refrigerated  (preferably in a facility) after 30 hours
• Embalming is prohibited for select infectious diseases

Idaho

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Physician should be consulted for death by contagious or communicable disease
• Embalming is required with use of common carrier
• Funeral homes must embalm or refrigerate with 24 hours by regulation, not statute – applies to FDs only

Illinois

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Funeral director must be hired to file  the death certificate
• 24 hour mandatory wait time to cremate

Indiana

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Disposition must occur within a reasonable time
• Reporting of infectious disease to attending physician is recommended
• Funeral Director must be hired to handle the disposition permit, which requires that they file the death certificate to receive it; must be hired to receive cremated remains (cemeteries may receive as well)
• 48 hour mandatory wait time to cremate

Iowa

• Body can be held  without preservation up to 72 hours; then refrigerated at between 38 and 42 degrees for 72 more
• Communicable disease must be reported to attending physician
• Funeral director must be hired to handle arrangements with crematories and to embalm bodies with infectious disease
• Embalming is required for bodies with communicable diseases

Kansas

• Body must be embalmed OR refrigerated after 24 hours; extensions possible
• Check statutes for specific infectious or contagious diseases that must be handled by a licensed FD unless disposition occurs within 24 hours
• Embalming required for specific diseases if disposal not complete within 24 hours
• A sealed metal casket for immediate burial may substitute for embalming of bodies with communicable disease
• Required to be embalmed OR shipped in airtight container by common carrier

Kentucky

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended

Louisiana

• Body must be embalmed OR refrigerated at below 45° after 30 hours
• Consult with physician if contagious or communicable disease is involved
• Funeral director must be hired to cover sweeping powers for all aspects of after death care “…any service whatsoever connected with the management of funerals…”

Maine

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Report diseases to attending physician to see if medical examiner needs to be involved
• Required to be embalmed OR shipped in sealed airtight container by common carrier
• 48 hour mandatory wait time to cremate

Maryland

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Report contagious disease to attending physician
• 12 hour wait time to cremate

Massachusetts

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended
• 48 hour wait time to cremate

Michigan

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended
• Funeral director must be hired to file the death certificate and oversee disposition
• Embalming is required for bodies with rare infectious or communicable diseases
• Refrigeration is NOT accepted as a preservation replacement
• Must be embalmed after 48 hours if body has not reached final destination – applies to FDs only

Minnesota

• Body must be embalmed OR refrigerated after 72 hours; refrigeration limited to 6 days; dry ice use limited to 4 days; disposition must occur within a reasonable time
• Embalming for contagious diseases may be ordered by the Commissioner of Health
• Bodies must be embalmed for shipping by common carrier

Mississippi

• Body must be embalmed OR refrigerated after  24 hours if destination cannot be reached and does not take place within 48 hours
• Contagious disease that endangers public health must be reported to a Medical Examiner

Missouri

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of communicable disease to attending physician is recommended
• Embalming is required for bodies with infectious or communicable diseases if not buried or cremated within 24 hours
• Embalming OR wrapping in disinfectant-soaked sheet and shipped in a sealed airtight container by common carrier is required for bodies with specific communicable diseases
• Funeral homes must embalm or refrigerate within 24 hours by regulation, not statute – applies to FDs only

Montana

• A body that  died of infectious disease must be disposed of as soon as reasonably possible and with minimal handling 
• Body must be embalmed OR refrigerated if not expected to reach its destination within 48 hours
• 24 hour mandatory wait period to cremate

Nebraska

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended
• Funeral director must be hired to file the death certificate, sign transit permits, supervise interments
• Embalming is required with use of common carrier

Nevada

• Bodies held for cremation must be refrigerated after 24 hours
• Report contagious or communicable disease to attending physician to consult state guidelines
• Bodies with infectious disease may be embalmed by order of the Board of Health
• Bodies must be embalmed for shipping by common carrier
• Funeral homes may not require embalming 72 hours unless ordered by the Board of Health

New Hampshire

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended
• Dead bodies may not be exposed to the public for a period in excess of 24 hours without embalming
• 48 hour mandatory wait period to cremate

New Jersey

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Funeral director must hired to file the death certificate and supervise disposition
• Bodies must be embalmed to be shipped through common carrier if destination will not be reached within 24 hours

New Mexico

• Body must be embalmed OR refrigerated  at below 40° if not disposed of within 24 hours
• Report contagious or communicable disease to the Office of Medical Investigation
• Bodies must be embalmed OR sealed in an airtight container for shipping by common carrier

New York

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of contagious disease to attending physician is recommended
• Funeral director must be hired to file the death certificate; receive body from a hospital, institution or other place; personally supervise the funeral services; personally supervise the interment or cremation

North Carolina

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of contagious disease to attending physician or medical examiner is recommended
• Embalming is not allowed when death is due to specific diseases; bodies that died of contagious diseases must be encased in a sealed casket
• 24 hour mandatory wait period to cremate

North Dakota

• Requires immediate disposition under specific conditions; any body must be embalmed if it will not reach its destination within 24 hours, or if disposition is not accomplished within 48; all dispositions must occur within 8 days
• Embalming is required for bodies with specific communicable disease
• Refrigeration is NOT accepted as a preservation replacement

Ohio

• Bodies with communicable diseases must be buried or cremated within 24 hours
• 24 hour mandatory wait time to cremate

Oklahoma

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended
• Funeral homes must embalm or refrigerate with 24 hours by regulation, not statute – applies to FDs only

Oregon

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Dispositions not occurring within 10 days must be reported to the Mortuary Board
• Embalming is required for bodies with specific communicable diseases in order to be viewed publicly. Funeral homes must embalm, refrigerate, or place in a sealed casket if body is not expected to reach destination within 24 hours, by regulation, not statute – applies to FDs only. Sealed casket may substitute for embalming when shipping by common carrier.

Pennsylvania

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Funeral homes must embalm, refrigerate between 35-40°, or place in a sealed casket after 24 hours, by industry standards of practice, not law – applies to FDs only
• 24 hour mandatory wait time to cremate

Rhode Island

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended
• Bodies must be embalmed OR sealed in an airtight container for shipping by common carrier.
• Funeral homes must embalm or refrigerate within 48 hours, by regulation, not statute – applies to FDs only

South Carolina

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended

South Dakota

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended
• Funeral homes must embalm or refrigerate within 24 hours, by regulation, not statute – applies to FDs only
• 24 hours

Tennessee

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended

Texas

• Bodies must be embalmed OR refrigerated to 35-40° after 24 hours unless placed in a sealed container
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended
• 48 hour mandatory wait time to cremate

Utah

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended

Vermont

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended. Local health officer may be involved in disposition arrangements in these cases
• 24 hour mandatory wait period to cremate

Virginia

• Body must be embalmed OR refrigerated after 48 hours
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended
• 24 hour mandatory wait period to cremate

Washington

• State Board of Health determines restrictions, if any
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended

West Virginia

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Reporting of contagious or communicable disease to attending physician is recommended

Wisconsin

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Health Department determines restrictions, if any
• Reporting of contagious or infectious disease to attending physician is recommended
• 48 hour mandatory wait period to cremate

Wyoming

• No preservation time requirements for home funeral families
• Embalming is required for bodies with specific communicable diseases
• Public funerals for bodies that died of communicable diseases require supervision by a health department official; funeral homes must embalm, refrigerate, cremate or bury within 36 hours by regulation, not statute – applies to FDs only
• Embalming is required for shipping by common carrier
• 24 hour mandatory wait period to cremate

The complete version of this paper can be found in Restoring Families' Rights: the call for legislative funeral change in America