What Are the Burial and Cremation Laws in Ohio?

Ohio has a 24-hour minimum waiting period before cremation. Person with right of disposition per § 2108.70 or § 2108.81, via signed cremation authorization form (§ 4717.22, § 4717.24).

No. Natural organic reduction (human composting) is not currently authorized in Ohio.

No. Alkaline hydrolysis (water cremation) is not currently authorized in Ohio.

Ohio sets a statutory order for who controls the disposition of remains (Ohio Rev. Code § 2108.81): Person designated in a written declaration per § 2108.70, then Surviving spouse, then Sole surviving child, or all surviving children collectively, and so on. You can also name your own agent to control your remains in a signed, written document before death. You can record those wishes alongside the rest of your estate plan when you create a revocable living trust.

No. Ohio does not require embalming by law. No state law requires embalming. However, § 4717.13(A)(10) requires that if a body is held more than 48 hours after death without embalming, it must be placed into refrigeration and maintained at a constant temperature of less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

No Ohio statute requires a licensed funeral director to take custody of or dispose of a body. The vital-statistics chapter assigns the duties to "the funeral director or other person in charge of the final disposition of the remains" (§ 3705.16(B)), and the burial permit — required before any interment, cremation, or other disposition — is issued to "a funeral director or other person" (§ 3705.17). The cremation authorization form likewise records "the funeral director or other individual who obtained the burial or burial-transit permit authorizing the cremation" (§ 4717.24(A)(2)). What Ohio licenses is the business or profession: no person may "[e]ngage in the business or profession of funeral directing" without a license (§ 4717.13(A)(1)), and "funeral directing" is defined to include the arrangement or sale of funeral services and the disposition of dead human bodies (§ 4717.01(C)). So a family may direct its own member's disposition — registering the death, obtaining the burial permit, transporting the body, and delivering it to a cemetery or licensed crematory — but may not hold out as, advertise as, or act as a funeral director for others. Embalming, operating a funeral home, and operating a crematory each require a license in every case (§ 4717.13(A)(2), (5), (8)). A crematory must still receive the burial permit authorizing cremation and a completed authorization form before it cremates (§ 4717.23(A)).

Ohio provides a publicly funded option when a family cannot pay for disposition: Township or municipal indigent burial/cremation under Ohio Rev. Code § 9.15 (county where no legal residence), with state reimbursement to the local government under the Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors' indigent burial and cremation support program (Ohio Admin. Code ch. 4717-17), plus county veterans service commission burial assistance under Ohio Rev. Code §§ 5901.25-5901.27. Eligible veterans may also be interred at no cost through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Indigent disposition: under § 9.15, when a body is not claimed for private interment or cremation at the claimant's own expense, the township or municipal corporation of the decedent's legal residence (or the county when the person had no Ohio legal residence or it is unknown) must bury or cremate the person at public expense. "Indigent person" means a person whose income does not exceed 150% of the federal poverty line; a political subdivision "is not relieved of its duty to bury or cremate a person at its expense under this section when the body is claimed by an indigent person." Application is to the township trustees, municipal officers, or county commissioners responsible for the body. Section 9.15 sets no dollar cap on what the subdivision must spend, but the state's indigent burial and cremation support program reimburses the local government entity — not the family — and those reimbursements "shall not exceed one thousand dollars for an adult or seven hundred fifty dollars for a child" (Ohio Admin. Code 4717-17-06(C)), subject to available funds. Veteran assistance: under §§ 5901.25 and 5901.27, the county veterans service commission must, on application and with the approval of the family, contract at a fair and reasonable price with the funeral director the family selects and inter or cremate an indigent veteran (or a veteran's parent, spouse, or surviving spouse) after satisfying itself by careful inquiry that the family lacks the means; the statute fixes no dollar cap. Federal VA burial benefits and interment in a national cemetery are available to eligible veterans; Ohio is served by Dayton National Cemetery and Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery (Rittman). Eligibility and federal allowances are set by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.