Maryland Disinterment Laws

For as long as you have known how to read, and as long as you have known that death exists, you have probably been aware that gravestones say “rest in peace” or some variation thereof. You take it for granted, maybe even remix the phrase for rhetorical effect, as the folks at the debt relief charity RIP Medical Debt have done, but you probably have not considered the alternative. Why would someone not let a deceased person’s body rest in peace after it has been buried? Why would someone dig up human remains? The legal term for un-burying a human body is disinterment, and under ordinary circumstances, it is not supposed to happen. Disputes among a deceased person’s surviving relatives over burial location are common, but disinterment is not. To find out more about expressing your wishes about burial, or for help resolving a legal dispute about the appropriateness of a deceased person’s burial location, contact a Washington, D.C. estate planning lawyer.

When Is It Appropriate to Disinter a Body?

Some people decide, when they can safely assume that they have decades of life ahead of them, where they want to be buried; they might choose a family plot that is the final resting place of many generations of their own family or their spouse’s family. Even if you don’t own enough property to warrant a full-fledged probate case, you should write a will in which you specify where you want to be buried.

If the decedent’s will does not make provisions about burial, or if the decedent wrote two versions of the will in which the burial clauses disagree with each other, this can lead to bitter disputes. Disagreements about burial can lead to wrongful burial lawsuits. When the plaintiffs, who allege wrongful burial, prevail in these cases, the court usually awards them monetary damages. Instances where the court orders the disinterment and reburial of a body are the exception to the rule. It is against the law to disinter a buried body without a court order, and the court rarely orders disinterment unless there has been no autopsy, but a civil or criminal investigation requires one.

Legal Procedures for Disinterment

If you believe that a body should be disinterred so that it can be reburied elsewhere, you can apply for a disinterment and reinterment permit and submit it to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. This is only the first of several steps before the state authorizes a mortician or cemetarian to disinter the body. These permits can also be issued to archaeologists or anthropologists who wish to conduct excavations at an archaeological site that includes graves or human remains. The legal process is simpler when the goal is only to move a body from one burial plot to another within the same cemetery.

Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C. About Avoiding Disputes Over Burial

A Washington, D.C. estate planning attorney can help you draft the final disposition of remains clauses of your will.  Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C.  in Washington, D.C. or call 202-362-5900.

Source:

law.cornell.edu/regulations/maryland/COMAR-10-03-01-07#:~:text=When%20it%20is%20proposed%20to,reinterment%20permit%20will%20be%20issued.