Texas Administrative Code › Title 25 - HEALTH SERVICES › Part 1 - DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES › Chapter 181 - VITAL STATISTICS › Subchapter A - MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS › Section 181.6 - Disinterment

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Except as is
				  authorized for a justice of the peace acting as coroner or medical examiner
				  under the Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 49, remains may not be removed
				  from a cemetery except on written order of the State Registrar or the State
				  Registrar's designee.
(b) The
				  licensed funeral director or professional archeologist to whom the disinterment
				  permit is issued shall be responsible for the proper conduct of the
				  disinterment and removal.
(c) The
				  State Registrar shall issue a disinterment permit so as to provide a copy for
				  the State Registrar, a copy retained by the funeral director or professional
				  archeologist to whom issued, a copy filed with the sexton or person in charge
				  of the cemetery in which the disinterment is to be made, and a copy for the
				  Local Registrar of the district in which the death occurred. The State
				  Registrar and the Local Registrar shall file the disinterment permit as an
				  amendment to the death certificate and consider it part of the death
				  certificate. The State Registrar and the Local Registrar shall include a copy
				  of the disinterment permit with any future certified copies of the death
				  certificate that are issued.
(d) A
				  disinterment permit shall not be required if a body is to be disinterred and
				  reinterred in the same cemetery.
(e) A disinterment permit shall not be
				  required to remove cremains.
(f)
				  Cremation is considered to be a final disposition of remains.
(g) A disinterred body must be transported in
				  a container which insures against the seepage of fluid or the escape of
				  offensive odors. When shipped by common carrier, a disinterred body must be
				  enclosed in an airtight metal casket encased in a strong outside shipping case,
				  or in a sound casket encased in an airtight metal or metal-lined shipping case.
				  This requirement shall not apply if the disinterred remains involve no soft
				  parts.
(h) The disinterment permit
				  issued by the State Registrar shall serve as the authority to disinter,
				  transport by means other than a common carrier, and re-inter a body within this
				  state. (See §
										181.2 of
				  this title (relating to Assuming Custody of Body).)
(i) A body kept in a receiving vault shall
				  not be regarded as a disinterred body until after the expiration of 30
				  days.
(j) All disinterred remains
				  kept in receiving vaults shall be thoroughly embalmed in a manner approved by
				  the Texas Funeral Service Commission and shall be enclosed in a permanently
				  sealed casket.
(k) The licensed
				  funeral director or embalmer requesting a disinterment permit shall be
				  responsible for obtaining a written consent of the cemetery, the owner of the
				  plot, and the decedent's next-of-kin.
(l) The licensed funeral director or embalmer
				  requesting a disinterment permit shall be responsible for obtaining a written
				  consent order from the county judge to disinter a body from a grave when the
				  cemetery, plot owner, and the decedent's next-of-kin are unknown.