What is the process to disinter human ashes in Montgomery County in Maryland?

Answer 1

Steps for disinterment of human ashes from a cemetery in Montgomery County, Maryland:

(1) Place a legal notice in newspaper of your disinterment intention:

Place a legal notice in any local newspaper for one day. You can contact the MD State Attorney's office or the cemetery for a sample of the legal notice. You will receive a certification of the notice from the newspaper soon after publication.

(2) Obtain authorization from State Attorney:

After 15 days of publication of the legal notice in newspaper, take the certification from the newspaper to the cemetery where the disinterment is to take place. Ask the cemetery to submit a request for disinterment approval to the Maryland State Attorney's office. The cemetery should know how this is done. There is no fee involved.

(3) Obtain disinterment permit from the Health Department:

Within 2 weeks, the cemetery will receive the approval from the State Attorney's Office. The next step is to get the disinterment permit from the Maryland Health Department. The cemetery is not going to do that for you. You pick up the State Attorney's approval paper from the cemetery to take to the Office of Vital Record of the Maryland State Health Department to get the permit. To do that you need to complete two copies of the form "Application for Disinterment, Transit and Reinterment Permit". You can get the form from either the Health Department or from the cemetery. Sometimes the cemetery may complete the forms for you so you don't have to. You should be able to receive the health permit right away at the Office of Vital Record Office and it is free. Call the office in advance to check the hours since only during certain hours of the day that the permit is issued.

The main Office of Vital Record is in Baltimore but there is also one office in Montgomery County that manages vital records for the county. The address and phone number can be found at the Related Link.

(4) Disinterment:

Take the Health permit back to the cemetery. If everything is in order, the cemetery can proceed to disinter the cremates.

Useful website:

Please visit the Related Links below.

NOTES:

(1) This is process is valid as of the summer of 2012 when I had my father's ashes disinterred from Gates of Haven.

(2) This is the process for disinterment of human ashes. I am not sure if it is the same for human body. I have a feeling that it is but in that case you may consider employing the funeral home to transport the body after disinterment.

(3) You may be told, as I was, by different parties that you need to use the service of a funeral home for this process. That is not TRUE! You don't have to. I can see that if it is for a human body but it does not make sense to spend thousands of dollars for the service of a funeral to disinter human ashes.

(4) As far as I know, this process is for Montgomery County only. I am not sure if it is the same for other counties in Maryland.