Caring for Your Own Dead: Burial and Cremation without a Funeral Director

Caring for your own dead can be immensely rewarding and help ease the pain of grief. It is also emotionally demanding and, because of the widespread misunderstanding of the law in California, it can be difficult. With regard to home death care, the California "Consumer Guide to Funeral & Cemetery Purchases" says the following:

The law does not prohibit consumers from preparing their own dead for disposition. If you choose to do this, you must:

• File a properly completed Certificate of Death, signed by the attending physician or coroner, with the local registrar of births and deaths
• Obtain a Permit for Disposition from the local registrar of births and deaths
• Provide a casket or suitable container
• Make arrangements directly with the cemetery or crematory

If you have questions about anything written below, please contact the Bay Area Funeral Society at (510)841-6653. Please remember that this is not an emergency line. Most calls are returned within 24 hours. If you need someone to guide you through the process, we may have a volunteer who can help.

Before a death occurs:

1. Communicate your plans to the agencies with which you'll be dealing: hospital, hospice, nursing home, crematory, cemetery, etc.
2. Visit the County Office of Vital Records (OVR) where birth and death records are filed and ask for a blank sample copy of the Certificate of Death and Permit for Disposition.
3. Make copies of these documents so that you can practice filling them out.
4. The OVR is very particular about how these forms are filled out. Request a booklet of instructions called the Handbook for Birth and Death Registration. Or, consult Lisa Carlson's Caring for the Dead: Your Final Act of Love. It is usually available in libraries.
5. Following these instructions, complete the top portion of the Certificate of Death and the entire Permit for Disposition.

After a death has occurred:

1. In general, you can bring the body home from the hospital even if you haven't already completed the Certificate of Death or obtained a Permit for Disposition.
2. Pick up a blank legal Certificate of Death and Permit for Disposition from the OVR.
3. If you need help filling out and filing these forms, ask the staff of the OVR for assistance or contact us at (510)841-6653.
4. Deliver or fax your practice copy of the Certificate of Death (top portion completed) to the primary care physician so that he/she may fill out the cause of death section. You will probably get results more quickly if you visit the doctor's office in-person. If you fax it, include a cover letter letting them know that you are having a home funeral. This may speed things up.
5. When the doctor returns the certificate to you, make sure that it is complete.
6. Take the completed practice copies of the Certificate of Death and Permit for Disposition to the OVR for correction and approval.
7. Type or write (in black ink) the approved information onto the legal copies of the Certificate of Death and Permit for Disposition.
8. Have the completed forms approved again by the OVR.
9. Take the approved Certificate of Death to the primary physician's office for final signature and date. Make several photocopies of both sides of the completed Death Certificate.
10. Take the signed and dated Certificate of Death along with the Permit for Disposition to the OVR and file them.
You should order the number of certified copies that you will need as proof of death for various claims-social security benefits, etc. These may not be available immediately which is why we recommend making copies before you actually file it. Use these in the meantime.

Coroner Cases

When a death is unexpected-when it is unattended, the result of a crime, accident, etc.-the coroner and police must be involved. In such cases, autopsies are usually required. The coroner will need to review the Certificate of Death and enter a case number after it has been completed and signed by the primary care physician. In coroner cases, the body will not be released until the Death Certificate has been filed and the Permit for Disposition acquired.

If you encounter problems with agencies, show them the "Home Death Care" section of the California "Consumer Guide to Funeral & Cemetery Purchases" and/or contact:

• The State Office of Vital Records in Sacramento-Policy Section: (916)445-2684
• The Dept. of Consumer Affairs: (800)952-5210
• Bay Area Funeral Society: (510)841-6653
• Final Passages: (707)824-0268
• Funeral Consumers Alliance: (800)765-0107

To see what a home funeral looks like, check out the following KQED Quest program:



For more information on home funerals contact:

Final Passages
P.O. Box 1721
Sebastopol, CA 95473
707-824-0268

Final Passages is a non-profit educational model program that teaches people about home and family-directed funerals and legalities.

Home and Family Funerals
Jerrigrace Lyons
514 Parquet Street
Sebastopol, CA 95472

Home and Family Funerals provides in-home after-death care and services; assists families as they create and carry out home funerals; sells cardboard cremation caskets; and provides referrals for funerary supplies, caskets, cemeteries, and crematories.

ARTICLES AND EBOOKS

Undertaken with Love: A Home Funeral Guide for Congregations and Communities. (ebook)

A Checklist for Planning a Home Funeral. (ebook)

"Home Burials Offer and Intimate Alternative" (July 20, 2009, New York Times)

"Crying and Digging: Reclaiming the Realities and Rituals of Death" (February 6, 2005, Los Angeles Times)

"A Movement to Bring Grief Back Home" (June 5, 2005, Washington Post)

Home Funeral.info (links to numerous articles and educational materials)