Burieal laws?

[oldman45]

Back to the basic thread topic, there are many reasons for not wanting a body buried in the back yard.

The next property owner might not want it there and will not buy property with a body buried on it.

I believe laws pretty much everywhere require embalming unless the body is immediately buried. Around here that means within 24 hrs.

Why bury someone some place where they will not have perpetual care for the grave? A great grand kid 50 yrs from now will not give a flip about the old grave in the back pasture.

If not buried in a coffin placed in a vault, sooner or later, the lid will cave in. That will bring on a new set of issues.

But getting government approval for off site body storage is going to be time consuming when push comes to shove.

The deceased, no matter how great of a person, will certainly not complain about being buried around others or even in a mass grave.

Off site burials were common back at the turn of the century and during the depression due to the clost of burial plots and embalming but times have changed and money is now put up by the government when one cannot afford a proper burial.

A more reasonable approach would be to buy some special burial furniture that is now available and placing the deceased in a coffee table for lifetime viewing. If that is not suitable, place the body in a special sofa where you lift the seat to see the loved one as needed. You can learn more and see a very unique coffee table at the following: Casket Furniture : Caskets, Custom Furniture, Casket Plans & Casket Kits

 

[michael thornton]

dont put me in no box! i just never could see spending that kind of money on all that, a few hundred bucks and spread me out on my old hunting grounds, plates screws and all!

 

[Wayne02]

A private burial out on the back 40 next to a couple of my much beloved dogs is how I plan to go.

I'm going to order a coffin from a local guy called Outhouse Charlie who makes custom coffins for you to use as a bookcase, gun cabinet, coffee table etc before you die, and then of course use it for the final time when you die. I like the bookcase idea myself.

He offers all kinds of options such as laser engraving of your picture on the lid, or of a favorite quote or saying. Also a model available for the Irish inclined that allows your friends to stand you in the coffin up against the wall during the wake. Also available is the 'Nail shut option' which comes with a pound of nails and a new hammer so your friends and family can nail the lid on.

Then I hopefully I can find a family member to use our excavator to dig the hole and sling the coffin. After that, family and friends can have a big party and celebrate life.

 

[Faulkner]

Why bury someone some place where they will not have perpetual care for the grave? A great grand kid 50 yrs from now will not give a flip about the old grave in the back pasture.

If not buried in a coffin placed in a vault, sooner or later, the lid will cave in. That will bring on a new set of issues.

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I got to thinking about a couple of excerpts from oldman45's post. I had a sales representative from a local cemetary/funeral home come by and talk to my wife and I about burial insurance and making pre-arrangements for the inevitable. He made a couple of comments about guaranteeing "perpetual care for the grave" and I'm thinking, I just don't care. I'll be dead. My great grandparents were all gone before I was born and I don't know that I've ever been to their grave site, whether perpetually cared for or not.

I do think that pre-arrangements are the way to go, regardless of what the arrangements are. It really takes a load off the surviving family members during a very difficult time. My grandmother passed away a couple of years ago and she made prearrangements and my parents have since commented that it was one of the most considerate things my grandmother ever did for them. My parents have since made their pre-arrangments and provided me with a sealed envelope that I keep in my gun vault.

I've not made any pre-arrangements myself, but I'm thinking all that perpetual care stuff doesn't do anything for me. They can throw my dead carcass in a hole and put dirt in my face, I won't know the difference.

 

[feralmerril]

Dont know where your comeing from jimmy or what you really are trying to say or infur. Its quite simple really. The wife and I boondock on our ATV as much as we can. Yesterday we seen a gravestone by itself in the middle of a beautifull secluded area and I was surprised wondering if that was still legal. The guy died in 2002. It struck me as a fine idea.
Please be more specific. I can go either way with this!

 

[jimmyj]

Hi, Ferralmerril:
Just Jimmy's lane way of attempting to be humorous. I am sorry if this went wrong.
I think why most States require Embalming is an incident from the past that happened in Kentucky (I think). Due to road widening some graves at a small county cemetary had to be moved/relocated. Somehow one of the caskets was opened. Inside the lid was numbers of claw/scratches were the person had only been in a deep coma and was mistakely buried alive. Embalming would ensure that the person is really dead.
Jimmy

 

[feralmerril]

I love exploring. In our part of utah there are many abanded old mines. Usualy in the boonies with no population for many miles. Yet there are many graves and small cemitarys around them. Most date 1870s to early 1900s. The other day I found a chieanse headstone I couldnt read outside of modena. Thats a ghost town near the utah/nevada border straight west of cedar city. North of that, straight up the border is many mines. Here is just a couple pictures of various mines in the middle of nowhere.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

timely post. The Monks at St. Joseph's Abbey on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain are making their own simple wooden caskets and were threatened by the Cemetary people iwith a cease and desist as apparently there is a law that only liscensed people can make caskets. Well, the Monks have sued in Federal Court and I expect them to be successful. The Funeral Industry is one of the most heavily protected industries in the country and is run like a cartel. I have researched this burial thing for some time as all I want is to be sewn into a canvas shroud-stuffed into a plain pine box and buried without a big old cement vault. You have any idea how hard it is to find a cemetary that will let you be buried without lining the hole with a cement vault??? BTW, I have found out that our state prison, Angola, makes wooden caskets and will sell them to the general public for around $250. That plus a $50 heavy canvas shroud and a needle and twine and my pards digging my grave and I'm set. Course that really chapps the funeral industry.
Check you local regs, they will help. I'm getting to the point where I'm gonna just say cremate me and then deposit the urn containing my ashes in the Gulf of Mexico beyond the continental shelf.

 

[feralmerril]

Thanks. I wasnt worried about the question of embalming as much as the legalitys of planting someone on your own property. I assumed the guy was embalmed. By the way, I belive his name was Lawerance Ray Grifford, born 1945 died in 2002. It also said he was a air force sargent in the 1960s. The view there would take your breath away!
Years ago I worked with a friend in california who was from the area I now live in utah. His brother died in california and he told me about driveing the body back here to utah in his pickup to save money. I assume he was already embalmed and in a casket. He drove him here to be buried. Right where I live there is a mortuary with the same odd last name my friend had. I farther assume strings were pulled for the paperwork to make it legal as the undertaker was no doubt a cousin.

 

[Grog]

I've told people to just leave me in a field for the buzzards to play with. Seeing as that would likely not happen, I guess burn me up and do whatever they want to do with me.

 

[DeathGrip]

Hey Caj,You ever heard of The Neptune Society?They used to advertise here locally but I don't see any more ads.I think they did burieals at sea.
I really never understood how they could bury any one at sea,what with the diggin' and stuff.

DG

 

[Grog]

A more reasonable approach would be to buy some special burial furniture that is now available and placing the deceased in a coffee table for lifetime viewing. If that is not suitable, place the body in a special sofa where you lift the seat to see the loved one as needed.

: Casket Furniture : Caskets, Custom Furniture, Casket Plans & Casket Kits

Would it be wrong to have just my head placed in a plexiglass-filled commode so people would lift the lid and see me smiling back?

 

[Speedo2]

A couple of interesting graves, recently observed:
The first is sort of in line with Merril's observation. This site is out in Wyoming's Crazy Woman Canyon. The story I heard was that he was killed in an accident while working with the CCC in the 30's and was buried soon thereafter, pretty much where it happened; I don't recall his name. I think that he's probably got one of the best burial sites around:

This one is in Remagen, Germany. I know that the guy couldn't help having his name engraved prominently on his headstone , and it's not all that funny, but this may be one that we surely wouldn't see too often over here. Cosmo Kramer may have appreciated it:

 

[m1gunner]

About 5 years ago there was a fellow in N Ga. that buried his mother on the family farm. He had been taking care of her for years, and when she passed, he buried her as per her wishes.

He didn't bother to ask or say Boo to anyone, just did it.

Of course, the local LEOs thought the worst, and wanted to investigate murder, elder abuse, desecration of a corpse, and probably kicking the family dog as well. The funeral folks got involved demanding "something must be done".

Turned out the events happened just as the son said, and NO Georgia laws were broken. Last I heard the state legislature was trying to pass a law to make taking care of business on your own an illegal act.

 

[Deckard]

While traveling up Haleakala on Maui we saw a couple of grave markers. I don't know if anyone is actually burried there or if their ashes where just scattered there or if they died there as the road was quite curvy and very close to steep drop offs. But man what a view from there.........

 

[cowboy117]

Speedo2,i had to laugh about the Kramer line!!!I wonder if he had the lic.plate?Great photos!

 

[cowart]

In this day and age, is it legal to just bury someone out in the boonies if you own the land?

Yes & no - in Utah, it appears that it is legal to do this, but there are extensive laws covering the required reporting procedures. It appears that you can't just arbitrarily bury someone like a dead hamster. See

Utah Legislature HB0265

 

[K38]

I'm going to be cremated and scattered in the woods around my school in Northern Michigan. I told my wife and son to just do it, and for god's sake don't ask permission!


DLB

 

[Davwingman]

Here are a couple pictures of a grave on a ranch that I used to hunt on.

 

[dave b]

They will probably just put me out by the curb on Tuesday morning.