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

(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.