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O.C.G.A. § 31-10-20 — Permits for disposition, disinterment, and reinterment | Georgia Code
O.C.G.A. § 31-10-20 (2018) Copy Cite Official Site Syfertize CourtListener Scholar Amendments

TITLE 31 HEALTH

Section 10. Vital Records, 31-10-1 through 31-10-33.

ARTICLE 10 DRUG REPOSITORY PROGRAM

31-10-20. Permits for disposition, disinterment, and reinterment.

  1. The funeral director or person acting as such or other person who first assumes custody of a dead body or fetus shall obtain a disposition permit for cremation or removal from the state. A disposition permit may be required within the state by local authorities.
  2. Such disposition permit shall be made available by the local registrar of the county where the death or fetal death occurred, or body or fetus was found, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The registrar will issue a disposition permit immediately upon request from the licensed funeral director or his agent in charge of the body or fetus.The request for a disposition permit may be received by the registrar either orally or in writing.The registrar may respond to the request by any means utilized in the normal course of transacting business including, but not limited to, transmission by facsimile machine.
  3. A disposition permit issued under the law of another state which accompanies a dead body or fetus brought into this state shall be authority for final disposition of the body or fetus in this state.
  4. Prior to final disposition of a dead fetus, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, the funeral director or person acting as such, the person in charge of the institution, or other person assuming responsibility for final disposition of the fetus shall obtain from the parent(s) authorization for final disposition.
  5. Disposition permits shall not be required where disposition of fetal remains is within the institution of occurrence and a registry of such events is maintained by the institution.
  6. Authorization for disinterment and reinterment shall be required prior to disinterment of a dead body or fetus.Such authorization shall be issued by the local registrar to a licensed funeral director or other person acting as such, upon proper application, in the county in which the dead body or dead fetus was originally interred and a local registrar who issues such authorization shall not be civilly or criminally liable therefor if it is issued in good faith. A permit shall not be required when disinterment and reinterment are in the same cemetery.
  7. The department shall prescribe rules and regulations so that the local registrars may permit hospitals, funeral homes, or others in their respective counties to issue disposition permits.

(Ga. L. 1927, p. 353, § 5; Code 1933, § 88-1213; Ga. L. 1945, p. 236, § 27; Ga. L. 1953, Jan.-Feb. Sess., p. 140, § 13; Ga. L. 1960, p. 1130, § 1; Code 1933, § 88-1717, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, p. 499, § 1; Ga. L. 1975, p. 1179, § 3; Ga. L. 1976, p. 677, § 2; Code 1933, § 88-1720, enacted by Ga. L. 1982, p. 723, § 1; Code 1981, §31-10-75; Code 1981, §31-10-20, enacted by Ga. L. 1982, p. 723, § 2; Ga. L. 1983, p. 732, § 2; Ga. L. 1991, p. 669, § 6; Ga. L. 1992, p. 2758, § 2.)

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Code section applies to all disinterments and reinterments.

- This section contains no express exceptions. In its terms, the statute applies to all disinterments and reinterments, subject only to such reasonable rules and regulations as may be promulgated. Westview Cem. v. Blanchard, 234 Ga. 540, 216 S.E.2d 776 (1975) (see O.C.G.A. § 31-10-20).

Procuring permit held not ground for trespass action.

- Funeral establishment's assistance to a next-of-kin in procuring a disinterment permit did not subject the establishment to liability for trespass or intentional infliction of emotional distress in an action brought by relatives of the deceased. Edwards v. A.S. Turner & Sons, 181 Ga. App. 105, 351 S.E.2d 505 (1986).

Executor's authority.

- If an executor has any duty or authority relating to burial or disposition of a body, that duty or authority terminates after initially discharging any such obligation in accordance with the testamentary direction, and, thereafter, disinterment and reburial may be sought by the surviving spouse, or by the next of kin in the absence of a surviving spouse under O.C.G.A. § 31-10-20. Welch v. Welch, 269 Ga. 742, 505 S.E.2d 470 (1998).

Cited in Blanchard v. Westview Cem., 133 Ga. App. 262, 211 S.E.2d 135 (1974); Welch v. Welch, 244 Ga. App. 685, 536 S.E.2d 583 (2000).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

ALR.

- Removal and reinterment of remains, 21 A.L.R.2d 472.

Dead bodies: liability for improper manner of reinterment, 53 A.L.R.4th 394.

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This Georgia Code resource is curated by Graham Syfert, a personal injury and workers' compensation attorney admitted in Georgia (State Bar of Georgia No. 881027, since 2006) and Florida. For legal consultation, call 904-383-7448.