What Are the Burial and Cremation Laws in Wyoming?

Wyoming has a 24-hour minimum waiting period before cremation. Signed authorization from nearest legal next of kin per 035-6 Wyo. Code R. § 6-7; crematory or chemical disposition facility must also receive the burial-transit permit before accepting remains (Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 33-16-533).

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

Yes. Alkaline hydrolysis (water cremation) is legal in Wyoming.

Wyoming sets a statutory order for who controls the disposition of remains (Wyo. Stat. 2-17-101): Person designated in written instructions or disposition document per 2-17-101(a), then Surviving spouse, then Adult child of the decedent, 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. Wyoming does not require embalming by law. No state law requires embalming in the ordinary case. All bodies in possession of a funeral service practitioner or funeral director must be properly refrigerated, cremated, chemically disposed, buried, or embalmed within 36 hours after receipt (035-4 Wyo. Code R. § 4-5) — refrigeration is an explicit alternative to embalming. Embalming is required only for a body dead of a communicable disease that could present a public health risk, before removal from the state (035-4 Wyo. Code R. § 4-6(a)); an unembalmed body shipped more than 36 hours after death must be refrigerated or embalmed first (§ 4-6(b)(ii)).

Wyoming does not require a licensed funeral director to conduct disposition. The death-registration statute (§ 35-1-418(b)) and the permit statute (§ 35-1-420(a)) both place the duties to file the death certificate and obtain the burial-transit permit on "the funeral director or person acting as such," which expressly allows a family member to act in that capacity. A burial-transit permit issued by the local registrar is still required before final disposition or removal from the state (§ 35-1-420). The Funeral Service Practitioners Act (§§ 33-16-501 to 33-16-537) requires licensure only to practice funeral service for compensation; it does not compel a family to retain a director.

Wyoming provides a publicly funded option when a family cannot pay for disposition: County Indigent Burial (board of county commissioners; state-reimbursed via the indigent persons burial account administered by the Wyoming Department of Family Services). Eligible veterans may also be interred at no cost through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Each board of county commissioners must provide for burial or cremation of a deceased person who was not receiving POWER assistance, SSI, or Medicaid at death and who lacks sufficient estate or resources to pay; the county payment is capped at $1,500 (§ 18-3-504(c)). A parallel provision covers honorably/other-than-dishonorably discharged veterans who die with insufficient funds, paying up to $500 for transport and up to $1,500 for burial in the veterans cemetery (§ 19-14-101(a)). Counties seek reimbursement from the Department of Family Services through the indigent persons burial account, funded by a $5 surcharge on each death certificate (§ 35-1-428(c)); county burial payment is treated as the source of last resort. Apply through the county commissioners or county coroner of the county where the death occurred. Veterans: the Oregon Trail State Veterans Cemetery in Evansville offers no-charge burial plots and interment for eligible veterans (§ 19-14-108), and federal VA burial benefits and national cemetery interment (e.g., Cheyenne National Cemetery) are available to eligible Wyoming veterans through the VA (cem.va.gov).