Ohio Funeral Laws: Burial, Cremation, and Prepaid Contracts

Ohio funeral laws control who makes decisions after a death, what paperwork must be completed before a body can be buried or cremated, when embalming is and isn’t required, and how prepaid arrangements have to be structured to protect the buyer. A licensed funeral director must be involved in nearly every disposition, and a burial permit from the local registrar is required before anything can happen. The rules below walk through what families actually run into, in the order the questions usually come up.

Who Has the Legal Right to Decide

The first question after a death is who gets to make funeral and burial choices. Ohio lets any competent adult sign a written declaration naming a representative with authority over the manner and location of disposition, funeral arrangements and purchases, and the burial or cremation decision itself. A written declaration overrides everything else, so the person you name controls the arrangements even if a spouse or child disagrees.¹

When there’s no written declaration, the right of disposition passes down this hierarchy:

Surviving spouse
Surviving children, collectively if more than one
Surviving parent or parents
Surviving siblings, collectively, including half-siblings
Surviving grandparents
Surviving grandchildren, collectively if more than one
More distant lineal descendants of the deceased’s grandparents
The deceased’s guardian at the time of death
Any willing person, including the estate’s personal representative or the funeral director with custody of the body, after attesting in writing that a good-faith effort was made to locate everyone above

People at the same level hold the right collectively and have to agree. If they can’t, probate court decides. Written directives carry more weight than remembered conversations.²

Whoever holds the right of disposition is also responsible for the funeral costs. If that person fails to act within a reasonable time, the right passes to the next eligible person on the list.

Death Certificates and Burial Permits

No burial, cremation, or other disposition can happen in Ohio until the funeral director gets a burial permit from the local registrar of vital statistics, and no permit is issued until a death certificate (or provisional death certificate) has been filed.³ A satisfactory death certificate must be filed within five working days after the date of death.⁴

When the physician or coroner hasn’t finished the medical certification in time for the funeral, the funeral director can file a provisional death certificate and get a burial permit on that basis. There’s one important limit: a permit authorizing cremation cannot be issued on a provisional certificate. If cremation is the plan, the completed certificate has to come first.³

The burial permit itself costs $10, with $9.50 going to the state cemetery registration fund. The fee is waived when the burial is paid for by the federal, state, or local government.³ Certified copies of the death certificate cost $21.50 each through the Ohio Department of Health.⁵ Most families need several to settle insurance claims, bank accounts, and property transfers.

When Embalming Is Required

Ohio does not require embalming for every death. If the body is buried or cremated within 48 hours, embalming isn’t required. If it will be held longer than 48 hours, the body must either be embalmed or placed in refrigeration.⁶

Families are sometimes told embalming is mandatory when it isn’t. Under federal law, funeral providers cannot say embalming is required by law unless it actually is for the specific circumstances. A direct burial or cremation within the 48-hour window means you can decline embalming and shouldn’t be charged for it.

Cremation

Cremation requires signed authorization from whoever holds the right of disposition. The funeral director gets the burial permit, which also authorizes cremation in Ohio, so there’s no separate cremation permit. Cremation cannot proceed on a provisional death certificate; the completed certificate has to be in hand first.³

A crematory receiving an unembalmed body must place it in a holding or refrigerated facility. If the body will be held for eight hours or longer before cremation begins, it must be moved to refrigeration specifically. Embalmed bodies can remain in a standard holding area.⁷ Crematories must keep records of every cremation, including delivery receipts and authorization forms, for ten years or as long as the crematory remains in business, whichever is shorter.⁸

One boundary worth flagging: alkaline hydrolysis, sometimes marketed as water cremation or aquamation, is not an authorized method of disposition in Ohio. The Ohio Department of Health ruled in 2011 that it was not acceptable, and a 2013 legalization effort failed. Families who want this option would have to arrange for remains to be transported to a state where it is permitted.

Home Funerals and Burial on Family Land

Ohio is more restrictive than many states on family-directed funerals. No person may engage in the business of funeral directing without a license, and the burial-permit statute assigns the filing and permit work specifically to the funeral director.⁹ Families cannot independently transport, bury, or cremate a loved one without involving a licensed professional.

Private burial on family land is possible, but the same funeral-director and burial-permit requirements apply. Family cemeteries are exempt from state registration when at least three-fourths of those buried share a common ancestor, or are spouses or adopted children of that ancestor, and they don’t need endowment care funds. Local zoning ordinances may separately restrict where burials can happen on private property, so a check with the county or township is worth doing before establishing a family burial site.

Cemeteries, Burial Plots, and Moving a Body Later

Buying a burial plot in Ohio grants the right to be interred there, not ownership of the land. Contracts for burial rights must be in writing and should spell out perpetual care provisions and transferability. Burial rights can sometimes be resold with the cemetery’s approval, often with an administrative fee.

Ohio classifies cemeteries as public, private, religious, or family. All must register with the Division of Real Estate of the Ohio Department of Commerce, except private family cemeteries and cemeteries with no burials in the past 25 years.

Moving a body after burial requires a formal process. The person who originally exercised the right of disposition, or the surviving spouse if no written declaration existed, can file a disinterment application directly with the cemetery. The cemetery has 30 days to carry out or authorize the disinterment, and the applicant pays the reasonable costs. If anyone else wants the body moved, or the cemetery and family don’t agree, the matter goes to probate court, which can issue a disinterment order. If the person died of a contagious or infectious disease, no disinterment can happen until the local board of health issues a permit. That restriction does not apply to cremated remains.¹⁰

Prepaid Funeral Contracts

Prepaid funeral contracts can lock in arrangements and sometimes prices, and Ohio regulates them heavily because the potential for abuse is real. Only licensed funeral directors and certain insurance agents may sell them.¹¹

Every preneed contract must be in writing and include an itemized list of goods and services, the names and addresses of the seller and purchaser, and a disclosure of whether the price is guaranteed or non-guaranteed. Under a guaranteed contract, the funeral home must provide the specified services at the agreed price regardless of what costs look like later. Under a non-guaranteed contract, trust or insurance proceeds are applied to whatever the retail prices are at the time of the funeral, and the family covers any shortfall.¹²

You have seven days after signing any preneed contract to cancel and get 100% of your money back. The contract itself must include a boldface notice of that right. After the seven days, whether you can cancel depends on whether the contract is revocable or irrevocable. A revocable contract can be canceled, with funds returned according to its terms. An irrevocable contract can’t be canceled and creates a legal obligation for the funeral director to provide the agreed services. Irrevocable contracts are commonly used to shelter assets for Medicaid eligibility planning.¹³

Prepaid funds must go into a trust or fund an insurance policy or annuity. An irrevocable preneed contract can be transferred to a different funeral home by written notice to the trustee and the original seller, and the trustee must complete the transfer within 15 days. If the original contract guaranteed prices, the original funeral home can collect a transfer fee of up to 10% of the trust’s value, but only to the extent that fee plus any initial service fee doesn’t exceed 10% in total. Non-guaranteed contracts carry no transfer fee.¹⁴

If a funeral home goes out of business or a seller commits fraud, Ohio’s Preneed Recovery Fund can reimburse purchasers for financial losses from a seller’s malfeasance, default, or insolvency. Reimbursement covers only losses not already protected by bonding or insurance, and the Board has discretion over the order and manner of payments.¹⁵

Price Rights That Also Apply in Ohio

The FTC Funeral Rule applies to every funeral provider in Ohio and adds a layer of price protection on top of state law. Funeral homes must give a General Price List to anyone who asks in person about services or prices. That list has to include itemized prices for services like embalming, transportation, use of facilities, and caskets. Separate printed price lists are required for caskets and outer burial containers, and those lists must be presented before you’re shown the products. Over the phone, providers must share pricing information from these lists when asked.¹⁶ At the end of the arrangement conference, you get a written itemized statement listing every good and service selected, the price for each, any cash-advance items, and the total.

Funeral homes cannot require you to buy one item as a condition of getting another, unless the law requires it. You can buy a casket from a third-party retailer and bring it in; the funeral home cannot charge a handling fee or refuse to use it. The itemized statement must include a disclosure that charges are only for items you selected or that are required by law or the cemetery.¹⁷

Unclaimed Remains

When a body goes unclaimed, the township or municipal corporation where the body was found is responsible for burial or cremation at public expense. The funding source depends on where the deceased legally resided. If the person lived in the same county, the township or municipality where they lived pays. If the person lived in a different Ohio county, the county home superintendent arranges disposition, charged to the township or municipality of last legal residence. If the person had no Ohio residence, or the residence is unknown, the county where the body was found pays. A political subdivision can’t dodge this obligation just because an indigent family member claims the body.¹⁸

1
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2108 – Assignment of Rights Regarding Disposition of Remains
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Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2108.81 – Assignment of Rights Regarding Disposition of Remains
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Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 3705.17 – Burial Permit Required – Records to Be Kept
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Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Administrative Code Rule 3701-5-08 – Investigation of Delayed Filing of Certificates of Death and Fetal Death
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Ohio Department of Health. How to Order Certificates
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Ohio Funeral Directors Association. Complete Story
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Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 4717.26 – Procedure for Cremation
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Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 4717.28 – Records and Documents
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Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 4717.13 – Prohibited Acts
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Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 517.23 – Disinterment of Body Buried in Cemetery
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Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 4717.31 – Who May Sell Certain Preneed Funeral Contracts
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Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 4717.32 – Contents of Certain Preneed Funeral Contracts
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Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 4717.34 – Right of Purchaser to Rescind Contract
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Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 4717.36 – Funeral Goods and Services Payments Held in Trust
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Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 4717.41 – Preneed Recovery Fund
16
eCFR. 16 CFR 453.2 – Price Disclosures
17
eCFR. 16 CFR 453.4 – Required Purchase of Funeral Goods or Funeral Services
18
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code Chapter 9 Section 9.15 – Burial or Cremation of Body at Expense of Township or Municipal Corporation