Tennessee cremation and cemetery rights

Under a Tennessee Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers rule, no one may operate a crematory unless the Board has issued a funeral establishment license for that facility. Every cremation in the state must be arranged through the holder of a valid and current funeral-establishment license and directly supervised by a licensed funeral director during the cremation process. Each funeral establishment must use the Board-approved cremation authorization form provided by the crematory where the cremation will take place. Ask the funeral home which crematory it uses and for a copy of the signed authorization form. [1]

No more than one person’s cremated remains may be placed in a container unless the personal representative responsible for the remains gives written permission, and cremated remains may not be commingled for storage or disposition unless the personal representatives authorize it. If the urn is too small, the excess goes in a secondary container kept with the urn and handled according to the final disposition instructions. The entire cremated remains must be returned to the family or responsible party. Ask how the remains will be identified and when they will be returned. [2]

Since January 1, 2026, a Tennessee cemetery company that charges a fee for the memorial care of a commodity installed in the cemetery may not charge more than 75 cents per square inch of the ground the commodity covers. The cap is not fixed: at the end of each calendar year, the cemetery may raise the fee by no more than the percentage representing the consumer price index at the end of that year. The memorial care fee may not exceed the cemetery’s own fee for installing the commodity, and it may not differ based on where the commodity came from. A cemetery must provide memorial care whether or not it charges a memorial care fee. Ask for the cemetery’s current fee schedule and how the fee was calculated. [3][6][7]

A cemetery company may require that only its own staff install commodities, but if it does, its installation fee is limited to 75 cents per square inch of the ground covered, subject to the same yearly consumer price index increase, and it may not charge a different installation fee based on where the commodity came from. If the cemetery’s installation fee exceeds that scale, it must allow outside installers when the interment right owner, or the owner’s representative, agent, heirs or assigns, asks. A cemetery must install commodities from outside sources within 30 days of receiving them, weather permitting, and under a Commerce and Insurance rule it must give a written explanation if a commodity is not installed within 30 days of delivery. Note the delivery date of any marker or monument you buy elsewhere. [4][7]

When a cemetery sells interment rights, part of the price must go into its improvement care trust fund. For interment rights in land, the deposit is $1.00 per square foot or 20 percent of the total transaction amount for that land, whichever is greater, except for land donated without charge for the burial of someone who died under 18. For a lawn crypt, it is 20 percent of the transaction amount for the land, excluding the crypt, or $50, whichever is greater, and for a mausoleum, crypt or niche it is at least 10 percent. Under the Commerce and Insurance cemetery rules, each cemetery owner must post a sign within 100 feet of each public entrance saying the cemetery is registered by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance. Look for that sign, and ask what part of your payment goes into the trust fund. [5][7]