Florida Statutes 497.607 – Cremation; procedure required
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(1) At the time of the arrangement for a cremation performed by any person licensed pursuant to this chapter, the legally authorized person contracting for cremation services shall be required to designate her or his intentions with respect to disposition of the cremated remains of the deceased in a signed declaration of intent which shall be provided by and retained by the funeral or direct disposal establishment. A cremation may not be performed until a legally authorized person gives written authorization, which may include the declaration of intent to dispose of the cremated remains, for such cremation. The cremation must be performed within 48 hours after a specified time which has been agreed to in writing by the person authorizing the cremation.
(2) Cremated remains are not property, as defined in s. 731.201(32), and are not subject to partition for purposes of distribution under s. 733.814. A division of cremated remains requires the consent of the legally authorized person who approved the cremation or, if the legally authorized person is the decedent, the next legally authorized person pursuant to s. 497.005(43). A dispute regarding the division of cremated remains shall be resolved by a court of competent jurisdiction.
(3)(a) With respect to any person who intends to provide for the cremation of the deceased, if, after a period of 120 days from the time of cremation the cremated remains have not been claimed, the funeral or direct disposal establishment may dispose of the cremated remains. Such disposal shall include scattering them at sea or placing them in a licensed cemetery scattering garden or pond or in a church columbarium or otherwise disposing of the remains as provided by rule.
Terms Used In Florida Statutes 497.607
- Board: means the Board of Funeral, Cemetery, and Consumer Services. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Cemetery: means a place dedicated to and used or intended to be used for the permanent interment of human remains or cremated remains. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Columbarium: means a structure or building that is substantially exposed above the ground and that is intended to be used for the inurnment of cremated remains. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Control: means the possession, directly or indirectly, through the ownership of voting shares, by contract, arrangement, understanding, relationship, or otherwise, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of a person or entity. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Cremated remains: means all the remains of the human body recovered after the completion of the cremation process, including processing or pulverization that leaves only bone fragments reduced to unidentifiable dimensions and may include the residue of any foreign matter, including casket material, bridgework, or eyeglasses that were cremated with the human remains. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Cremation: means any mechanical or thermal process whereby a dead human body is reduced to ashes and bone fragments. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Department: means the Department of Financial Services. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
- Direct disposal establishment: means a facility licensed under this chapter where a direct disposer practices direct disposition. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Division: means the Division of Funeral, Cemetery, and Consumer Services within the Department of Financial Services. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Final disposition: means the final disposal of a dead human body by earth interment, aboveground interment, cremation, burial at sea, anatomical donation, or delivery to a medical institution for lawful dissection if the medical institution or entity receiving the anatomical donation assumes responsibility for disposition after use pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Legally authorized person: means , in the priority listed:1. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Person: when used without qualification such as "natural" or "individual" includes both natural persons and legal entities. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Scattering garden: means a location set aside, within a cemetery, that is used for the spreading or broadcasting of cremated remains that have been removed from their container and can be mixed with or placed on top of the soil or ground cover or buried in an underground receptacle on a commingled basis and that are nonrecoverable. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- service: means any service offered or provided in connection with the final disposition, memorialization, interment, entombment, or inurnment of human remains or cremated remains. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- veteran: means a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service and who was discharged or released under honorable conditions only or who later received an upgraded discharge under honorable conditions, notwithstanding any action by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs on individuals discharged or released with other than honorable discharges. See Florida Statutes 1.01
- writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01
(b) A reasonable effort shall be made before such disposal to determine whether the cremated remains are those of a veteran of the United States Armed Forces, United States Reserve Forces, or National Guard eligible for burial in a national cemetery or a spouse or dependent child of a veteran eligible for burial in a national cemetery.(c) If the unclaimed cremated remains are those of an eligible veteran or the spouse or dependent child of an eligible veteran, the funeral or direct disposal establishment shall arrange for the interment of the cremated remains in a national cemetery. A funeral or direct disposal establishment may use the assistance of a veterans’ service organization for this purpose. A funeral or direct disposal establishment or veterans’ service organization acting in good faith is not liable for any damages resulting from the release of required information to determine eligibility for interment.(d) This subsection does not require a funeral or direct disposal establishment to:1. Determine whether the cremated remains are those of a veteran if the funeral or direct disposal establishment is informed by a legally authorized person that the decedent was not a veteran.2. Relinquish possession of the cremated remains to a veterans’ service organization if the funeral or direct disposal establishment is informed by a legally authorized person that the decedent did not desire any funeral, ceremony, or interment-related services recognizing the decedent’s service as a veteran.(e) For purposes of this subsection, the term:1. “Reasonable effort” includes contacting the National Cemetery Scheduling Office, the county veterans service office, the regional office of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, or a veterans’ service organization.2. “Veterans’ service organization” means an association, corporation, or other entity that qualifies under s. 501(c)(3) or (19) of the Internal Revenue Code as a tax-exempt organization, that is organized for the benefit of veterans’ burial and interment, and that is recognized by the Memorial Affairs Division of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. The term includes a member or employee of an eligible nonprofit veterans’ corporation, association, or entity that specifically assists in facilitating the identification, recovery, and interment of the unclaimed cremated remains of veterans.
(4) Pursuant to the request of a legally authorized person and incidental to final disposition, cremation may be performed on parts of human remains.
(5) In regard to human remains delivered to the control of the anatomical board of this state headquartered at the University of Florida Health Science Center, the provisions of this chapter shall not be construed to prohibit the anatomical board from causing the final disposition of such human remains through cremation or otherwise when performed in facilities owned and operated by such anatomical board or the University of Florida Health Science Center pursuant to and using such processes, equipment, and procedures as said anatomical board determines to be proper and adequate.