No, you cannot bury someone on your property in California. Health and Safety Code 7054 makes it a misdemeanor to deposit human remains anywhere other than an established cemetery, and no city or county permit can override that statewide rule.1California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 7054 (2025) The rule applies to a suburban backyard, a rural ranch, and a family farm alike, regardless of acreage or how remote the land is. There is one practical workaround most families end up using: cremated remains can be lawfully kept on private property with the right permit.
What the Law Prohibits
Health and Safety Code 7054 is the operative statute. It makes it a misdemeanor for any person to deposit or dispose of human remains anywhere other than a cemetery.1California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 7054 (2025) For an ordinary person, that is a standard misdemeanor. For a funeral director or anyone else acting in a capacity that requires a Cemetery and Funeral Bureau license, the exposure climbs to up to one year in county jail, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
People sometimes assume that because counties control zoning and can authorize cemeteries under Health and Safety Code 8115, a county could also sign off on a backyard grave. It can’t. The authority to establish a cemetery is not the authority to exempt an individual landowner from the statewide prohibition. A new cemetery is a separate legal creature with its own regulatory requirements; a single family plot in the yard is not a cemetery, and no local approval converts it into one.
The Cremated Remains Exception
California does allow cremated or hydrolyzed remains to be kept on private property. Health and Safety Code 7054.6 permits remains to be removed from the place of cremation and kept on property owned or occupied by a person described in Section 7100, or by any other person who has permission from the individual with the right to control disposition.2California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 7054.6 (2025) Two conditions matter: the remains must be stored in a durable container, and a disposition permit under Section 103060 must have been issued.
Keepsake urns are allowed on the same framework. Each keepsake urn is limited to one cubic centimeter of remains, requires its own disposition permit, and must list the home address of each person receiving one.2California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 7054.6 (2025) One detail that surprises people: placing six or more sets of cremated or hydrolyzed remains on one property does not turn that property into a cemetery under California law.
You can also bury a container of cremated remains in your yard rather than keep it indoors, but the disposition permit has to describe the exact final place of disposition, and ordinary trespass and nuisance rules still apply to the land. A newer category — natural organic reduction, sometimes called human composting — may qualify under more recent statutes, though the regulatory framework around it is still developing. Beginning January 1, 2027, amended permitting under Section 103060 will formalize the process further for cremated, hydrolyzed, and reduced remains.
A separate narrow exception exists for the reburial of Native American remains under cultural agreements. That exemption is specific to those circumstances and does not open the door for general private burial.
Lawful Alternatives for a Natural Burial
Many people asking about backyard burial are really after something simpler and more natural than a conventional cemetery. California law accommodates that in two ways short of actually burying a body on your land.
Green burial grounds are the closest lawful alternative. These cemeteries allow burial in biodegradable caskets or shrouds, without embalming chemicals and without concrete vaults. California has several certified green burial grounds, and the number is growing. State law does not require embalming, and it does not require a burial vault or grave liner either — individual cemeteries can set their own vault policies to prevent ground settling, but there is no statewide mandate. Skipping embalming, a metal casket, and a vault typically brings the cost well below a conventional cemetery burial.
Families can also handle a great deal of the care at home before the body reaches a licensed facility. California does not require you to hire a funeral home to wash, dress, or keep a deceased family member at home before burial or cremation. What families cannot do, even with the body at home, is put it in the ground on their own property.
Who Decides What Happens to the Body
Before any disposition, lawful or otherwise, someone has to have the legal authority to make the call. Health and Safety Code 7100 sets the priority order:3California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 7100
- An agent under a health care power of attorney who has been granted disposition rights
- The surviving spouse
- Adult children (majority rules when there is more than one)
- Surviving parents
- Adult siblings (majority rules)
- Next of kin in descending degrees of kinship
The order controls when the family disagrees. A spouse who wants cremation prevails over adult children who want a traditional burial. Among siblings, the majority prevails, but the deciding group must make reasonable efforts to notify the others and consider their objections. Disputes delay everything while a court sorts it out. A person can pre-designate their own wishes under Section 7100.1, which can override the default list, and that is the surest way to make a specific choice stick.
Any disposition also needs a death certificate filed with the local registrar and a disposition permit issued by that registrar under Health and Safety Code 103050.4California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 103050 The death certificate must be registered within eight calendar days after death and before disposition. The permit is what the cemetery or crematory will ask for.
What Happens if You Bury Someone Anyway
The criminal exposure is the first problem. For an individual, it’s a misdemeanor; for a funeral professional, up to a year in jail and a $10,000 fine.1California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 7054 (2025) Health departments and environmental agencies can also intervene if the burial raises a public health concern. You can be ordered to exhume the remains and move them to a licensed cemetery at your own expense, which requires court orders, additional permits under Section 103105, and professional handling. That process routinely takes months.
The problems don’t end there. California’s Transfer Disclosure Statement requires sellers to disclose known material defects and conditions, and human remains on a residential property qualify. Hiding them exposes the seller to liability if a buyer finds out later. Title insurers may refuse to insure a property with an unpermitted gravesite, and unauthorized burial sites can trigger land-use restrictions that cut into value. A future owner who suffers financial harm from undisclosed remains can bring a civil claim against whoever performed or authorized the burial. The legal exposure follows the property indefinitely.
Even lawful cremated remains kept on the land can complicate a sale if the buyer is squeamish about it. The cleaner approach is to document what is there, keep it in a container that can be moved, and disclose it as part of any transaction.