Georgia Cremation Laws: Authorization, Permits, and Penalties

Georgia cremation laws set out who can authorize a cremation, what paperwork must be filed first, which facilities may legally perform it, how remains are identified and tracked, and what families may do with the ashes afterward. Only a crematory licensed by the Georgia State Board of Funeral Service may perform a cremation, and cremating a body without that license is a misdemeanor under O.C.G.A. 31-21-5.¹ The rules below walk through what families and funeral professionals need to get right.

Who Has the Legal Right to Authorize a Cremation

Georgia law sets a strict priority list for who controls the disposition of a deceased person’s remains, including whether to cremate. Under O.C.G.A. 31-21-7, the right runs in this order, and each level applies only when nobody in a higher category is available:²

A health care agent named under Georgia’s advance directive statute.
For a service member who died on active duty, the person listed on the DD Form 93.
Someone the decedent named in a signed, notarized affidavit.
The surviving spouse.
A sole surviving child, or a majority of surviving children.
Surviving parents.
A majority of surviving siblings.
A majority of surviving grandparents.

When more than one person shares the same priority level, a majority has to agree. If fewer than half of a group is making the decision, those people have to show they made reasonable efforts to notify the others and are unaware of any opposition from a majority.²

This is where cremations most often stall. If siblings split on whether to cremate, the crematory cannot proceed until the majority consents or a court steps in. Written authorization from the correct person on the priority list is the single most important document to secure early.

Death Certificate and Disposition Permit

Before any cremation can happen, the funeral director or person handling final disposition must file a death certificate with the local registrar in the county where the death occurred, within 72 hours of death.³

The attending physician has to complete and sign the medical cause of death within the same 72 hours. If that physician is unavailable, an associate physician, the chief medical officer of the institution where the death occurred, or a physician who performed an autopsy may sign, provided that person has access to the medical records and has viewed the deceased. When a death occurs without medical attendance or falls under the Georgia Death Investigation Act, a coroner or medical examiner certifies the cause.³

One provision routinely surprises families. If the cause of death cannot be determined within 48 hours, final disposition cannot go forward until the attending physician, coroner, or medical examiner authorizes it.³ When a death investigation is open, cremation can be delayed well past what families expect.

A permit for disposition of human remains must also be obtained from the county vital records office. The funeral director submits the completed death certificate along with the disposition permit form, and vital records issues the permit.

How Crematories Identify and Track Remains

Georgia has detailed rules meant to ensure the right person’s remains end up with the right family. Under O.C.G.A. 43-18-8, a durable, noncorroding identification tag must be attached to the wrist or ankle of the deceased before cremation. The tag must show the deceased’s name, date of death, Social Security number, county and state of death, and the serial number of any prosthesis removed from the body.⁴

No crematory may have a body on its premises without that tag. When the body enters the cremation chamber, the tag is removed and kept nearby during the process, and afterward it goes inside the vessel holding the cremated remains. The outside of the vessel has to carry the same identifying information, minus the Social Security number, plus the name of the person or firm receiving the remains.⁴

When the crematory releases remains to a funeral home or authorized person, the funeral director in charge provides a signed, notarized statement attesting that the vessel contains substantially the remains of the identified deceased. No funeral home may accept remains from a crematory unless the vessel is properly labeled and the affidavit accompanies it.⁴ If the deceased’s religious faith prohibits the standard tagging method, the law allows alternative identification procedures.

Only Licensed Crematories May Cremate

Cremation in Georgia is limited to crematories licensed by the State Board of Funeral Service. Anyone else who cremates a body commits a misdemeanor, with narrow exceptions for hospitals, clinics, and laboratories authorized by the Department of Community Health for specific purposes.¹

A crematory license is separate from any funeral establishment license, and each crematory must employ a Georgia-licensed funeral director in full and continuous charge who spends at least 40 hours per week at the facility.⁵ O.C.G.A. 43-18-72 also requires each licensed crematory to maintain a room seating at least 30 people for funeral services, a display of urns, at least one operable cremation device and one operable processing station for grinding cremated remains, and at least one operable motor hearse with current Georgia registration that the crematory owns or leases. A crematory cannot be located within 1,000 feet of a residential subdivision platted and recorded with the county clerk of superior court.⁶

Board inspectors visit crematories at least annually. Missing equipment or an undisplayed license draws per-item fines of $50 to $200, and a crematory that fails to make required cremation-equipment repairs on the Board’s timeline faces immediate license suspension.⁷

Medical Devices Must Come Out Before Cremation

Pacemakers, defibrillators, and other battery-powered implants must be removed before cremation. A pacemaker’s lithium battery can explode under extreme heat, potentially damaging the cremation chamber and injuring workers. Cremation authorization forms typically ask the authorizing person to confirm whether the deceased had any implanted devices.

Devices that need removal include pacemakers, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, ventricular assist devices, implantable drug pumps, and radioactive implants used in cancer treatment. The attending physician, medical examiner, or funeral director can perform the removal. Prosthetic joints and metal pins generally do not pose an explosion risk and are separated from the cremated remains during processing, though some crematories may have specific policies about certain implants.

What You Can Do With the Cremated Remains

Once cremation is complete, families in Georgia have several options.

Keeping Remains at Home or Placing Them in a Cemetery

Georgia law does not prohibit keeping cremated remains at home. Remains may also be interred in a cemetery plot or placed in a columbarium niche. Writing down your intended disposition helps prevent later disagreements among surviving family members.

Scattering on Land

Scattering on private property is allowed with the property owner’s consent. For public land, local city or county rules may apply, so getting permission first is the safest course. Georgia does not have a single statewide statute governing scattering on all public land.

Burial at Sea

Georgia sets specific rules for scattering at sea. Remains may be carried by boat or aircraft from any Georgia harbor and must be scattered at a point no less than three miles from the nearest shoreline, and they must be removed from their container before scattering. The scattering must happen within 50 days of the cremation, though the deadline can be extended if bad weather makes it unsafe. Whoever performed the scattering then files a verified statement with the local registrar in the county closest to the point of scattering, including the deceased’s name, time and place of death, and the location where the remains were scattered.⁸

Federal rules also apply. The EPA requires anyone scattering remains in ocean waters to notify the agency within 30 days through its online Burial at Sea Reporting Tool. The three-nautical-mile minimum from shore matches Georgia’s state requirement.⁹

The 60-Day Claim Deadline for Unclaimed Remains

Whoever requests a cremation must give the crematory an address for notification once the remains are ready. The crematory sends that notice by first-class mail. If nobody claims the remains within 60 days after the notification is mailed, the remains go to the county coroner for burial in an indigent cemetery plot or niche.⁸

Grieving families miss this clock more often than you would think. Confirm the crematory has a current mailing address, and act on the notification as soon as it arrives.

Shipping and Flying With Cremated Remains

The U.S. Postal Service is the only mail carrier that accepts cremated remains. USPS requires domestic shipments by Priority Mail Express and international shipments by Priority Mail Express International where the destination country allows it. The inner container has to be sift-proof, and the outer package has to be the designated USPS Priority Mail Express Cremated Remains box. A cremation certificate should travel with the package, either attached to the outside or placed where it is easily accessible.¹⁰

TSA allows cremated remains in both carry-on and checked bags, but the container must be made of a material that produces a clear X-ray image. Wood and plastic work; metal, stone, and ceramic often show up as opaque images that screeners cannot see through. TSA officers will not open a container even if the passenger asks, so if the X-ray cannot confirm the contents, the container will not be allowed through. Some airlines add their own restrictions on checked cremated remains, so call ahead.¹¹

Your Rights Under the FTC Funeral Rule

The Federal Trade Commission’s Funeral Rule applies to every funeral provider in Georgia. Funeral homes have to give you an itemized General Price List, provide pricing information over the phone, and hand you a written Statement of Funeral Goods and Services Selected before you pay.¹²

Two protections matter most for cremation. A funeral home cannot require you to buy a casket for a direct cremation; you may choose an unfinished wood box, a cardboard container, or another alternative container. And the funeral home must accept any urn or container you supply, with no handling fee for using one you bought elsewhere. Violations of the Funeral Rule carry penalties of up to $53,088 per violation.¹²

If a provider tells you a casket is required for cremation or that you must buy their urn, that is a violation of federal law, and you can file a complaint with the FTC.

Penalties for Violating Georgia’s Cremation Laws

Enforcement runs through several channels. The State Board of Funeral Service may suspend, revoke, or place on probation the license of any funeral establishment or crematory, and it may impose fines, when it finds a violation of the cremation or funeral service statutes.¹³

Annual inspections carry their own fine schedule, with $50 to $200 per item for missing equipment or an undisplayed license, and immediate suspension for a crematory that fails to repair its cremation equipment on the Board’s schedule.⁷ When a Board investigation surfaces potential consumer protection violations or any felony, the Board must notify the Attorney General and the local sheriff within seven days.¹⁴

At the base level, cremating a body without being a licensed crematory or an authorized medical facility is a misdemeanor under O.C.G.A. 31-21-5.¹ Mishandling remains or forging authorization documents can bring more serious charges under Georgia’s fraud and abuse statutes, potentially at the felony level depending on the circumstances.

1
Justia. Georgia Code 31-21-5 – Incineration or Cremation of Dead Body or Parts Thereof
2
FindLaw. Georgia Code Title 31 Health 31-21-7
3
Justia. Georgia Code 31-10-15 – Death Certificate Filing
4
Justia. Georgia Code 43-18-8 – Identification of Body or Remains
5
FindLaw. Georgia Code 43-18-71 – Funeral Establishments and Crematories to Be Licensed
6
Justia. Georgia Code 43-18-72 – Crematories to Be Licensed
7
Legal Information Institute. Georgia Comp. R. and Regs. R. 250-6-.07 – Crematory Inspections
8
Justia. Georgia Code 31-21-4 – Burial at Sea of Cremated Remains
9
US EPA. Burial at Sea
10
United States Postal Service. How to Package and Ship Cremated Remains (Publication 139)
11
Transportation Security Administration. Cremated Remains
12
Federal Trade Commission. Complying with the Funeral Rule
13
Justia. Georgia Code 43-18-75 – Inspections, Suspension or Revocation
14
Justia. Georgia Code 43-18-10 – Investigation of Complaints