Common Questions about Burial and Cremation
Who is entitled to the body to arrange a funeral?
No-one can be the owner of a deceased body – you cannot buy or sell one.
You may be entitled to have possession of it to arrange a funeral, particularly if:
- You are the executor of the deceased’s estate (either under a will or under the intestacy rules)
- The parents of a deceased child
- A hospital authority where the body is
The wishes of the deceased are not binding, but will certainly be a factor taken into account by a court together with the wishes of family and friends, the place the deceased was most closely connected with, and the practicalities for all concerned – for example, in avoiding an unnecessarily long journey
Organ donation
Adults who die in England are treated as having agreed to be an organ donor unless they have opted out. There are some exceptions to this. For example, it is possible for close family members, or long-standing friends, to give evidence that the deceased would not have consented to be an organ donor.
Cemeteries and plots
Many cemeteries are owned and operated by local authorities such as city district or parish councils. Some people a burial plot in a cemetery for themselves, or for other family members. This does not make anyone the owner of that part of the cemetery, but gives a right to be buried there. The local authority has wide powers to manage the cemetery, but cannot generally reallocate plots which have been purchased.
How individual plots are maintained can also give rise to difficulty. In one recent case the high court decided that the local authority could refuse to allow a kerb stone surround to be placed around a plot, despite human rights concerns that this offended certain religious practice of preventing people from walking on graves, particularly where the cemetery was being managed on the principles of Commonwealth War graves, which favour evenly space graves of uniform appearance, separated only by lawn.
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