Virginia funeral, cremation and cemetery rights

If a body will be stored for more than 48 hours before disposition, the funeral establishment with custody must keep it refrigerated at no more than about 40 degrees Fahrenheit, or embalmed. The same law says the body must be refrigerated and not embalmed unless a next of kin gives express permission or a court orders it. Ask whether embalming is planned and confirm that you have approved it before it happens. [1]

If a body will be stored for more than 10 days before disposition at a location other than a funeral service establishment, the funeral service establishment must tell the contract buyer where the body will be stored and the method of storage. Ask where the body will be kept while arrangements are pending. [1]

When arrangements have been made with a licensed funeral service establishment, its funeral service licensees must accept a casket provided by a third party, in line with the Federal Trade Commission’s funeral rule. A funeral home is not required to store a third-party casket when funeral arrangements were made in advance. Ask how and when a casket you buy elsewhere should be delivered. [2]

You can name the person who will make your funeral and disposition arrangements in a signed and notarized writing that the person accepts in writing. That person has priority over others, provided a copy reaches the funeral service establishment, and the cemetery if there is one, no later than 48 hours after the establishment receives the remains. Next of kin may still pay costs if the named person agrees. Ask who has a copy of the document and how it will be delivered in time. [3]

No crematorium, cemetery, memorial society or other organization or person may cremate a body without registering with the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers as a cremator. The Board may suspend or revoke a crematory registration. Ask which crematory will perform the cremation and check its registration. [4][5]

A body may not be cremated without permission from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and visual identification of the deceased by the next of kin or their representative, which can include the person named to make arrangements. If visual identification is not feasible, other positive identification may be used. Ask who will be asked to identify the deceased and when. [6]

It is unlawful to sell a grave or entombment right while representing that it will be perpetually cared for unless adequate provision has been made for that care. Each cemetery company must establish an irrevocable perpetual care trust fund of at least $50,000 before its first sale, and then deposit at least 10% of the receipts from graves and above-ground crypts and niches, excluding below-ground burial vaults, within 30 days after the end of the month in which they are paid. Ask how much of your payment will go into the perpetual care trust fund. [7][8]

These cemetery rules do not apply to cemeteries wholly owned and operated by the state, a county, city or town, or a church. A nonprofit nonstock corporation’s cemetery, a nonprofit community cemetery and a family cemetery are outside them only if they meet the conditions the statute sets. The Cemetery Board says that for complaints you cannot resolve with a cemetery outside its jurisdiction, you should contact an official of the managing organization. An exemption does not tell you what care the cemetery promises, so ask for its written care arrangements. [9][10]