Title XXVI, Cemeteries; Burials; Dead Bodies

Such transfer shall be made under the direction of a funeral director, next-of-kin as defined in RSA 290:16, IV, or designated agent under RSA 290:17, and the funeral director, funeral director's representative, next-of-kin, or designated agent shall leave with the institution fr…

Any body for which a burial or removal permit has been secured, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, may be taken through or into another town for funeral services without additional permits.

Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of RSA 290 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

A justice, upon complaint made on oath by any person that he has reasonable ground for suspecting that a deceased person who has been interred came to his death by some unlawful means, may issue his warrant, requiring that the body shall be disinterred and examined, and may summo…

In this subdivision: I. "At-need funeral arrangements" means funeral arrangements made after death. II. "Custody and control" means the right to make all decisions, consistent with applicable laws, regarding the handling of a dead body, including but not limited to possession, at…

The custody and control of the remains of deceased residents of this state are governed by the following provisions: I. If the subject has designated a person to have custody and control in a written and signed document, custody and control belong to that person. The person desig…

Notwithstanding RSA 290:17, if the surviving spouse and the subject were estranged at the time of death, the spouse shall not have custody and control of the subject's remains. In this case, custody and control belong to the next of kin following the spouse.

Notwithstanding other provisions of this subdivision, the court of probate for the residence of the deceased may award custody and control to the person determined by the court most fit and appropriate to carry out the responsibilities of custody and control, and may make decisio…

No dead body of a human being shall be removed from a hospital, a nursing home, a private home served by a home health care provider licensed under RSA 151, or a hospice without a pronouncement of death certified by hand or other approved electronic process by a physician or a re…

If the subject has left written and signed instructions regarding funeral arrangements and disposal of the subject's remains, the person having custody and control shall abide by those wishes to the extent that the subject paid for those arrangements in advance or left resources …

Except to the degree it must be considered by the court under RSA 290:19, IV, the fact that a person other than the subject has paid or agreed to pay for all or part of arrangements does not give that person a greater right to custody and control than that person would otherwise …

The personal representative of the estate of the subject does not, by virtue of being the personal representative, have a greater right to custody and control than the person would otherwise have.

A party who, in good faith, acts upon the instructions of the party having custody and control is not liable for having carried out those instructions.

The ownership of a cemetery plot or burial space, as defined under RSA 289:1, II, shall be governed by the following provisions: I. If the deceased has designated a person to assume ownership of the cemetery lot or burial space in a written and signed document, ownership passes t…

It shall be the duty of the funeral director, next-of-kin as defined in RSA 290:16, IV, or designated agent under RSA 290:17 to add to the death record the date and place of burial, and having certified the same by hand or other approved electronic process, to forward it to the d…

Whenever it shall be determined that a dead fetus will be disposed of by means of burial or cremation, the burial permit will be issued in accordance with the rules and regulations of the department of health and human services.

The division of vital records administration, department of state, may issue an emergency burial permit in an emergency as defined by RSA 5-C:70.

In any case in which the town where the death occurred and the town of residence or burial is different, the burial permit shall indicate the actual date of interment where the dead body is stored in a tomb or vault prior to burial.

No interment of the dead body of a human being, nor disposition of the body in a tomb or vault, shall be made without a permit, and only in accordance with it. No disinterment, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, of the dead body of a human being shall be made without a…

It shall be the duty of every funeral director, next-of-kin as defined in RSA 290:16, IV, or designated agent under RSA 290:17, or other person having charge of a burial place, who shall receive the permit, to complete it and forward it to the town clerk within 6 days after the b…

No such permit shall be issued until there has been delivered to the division of vital records administration a death record completed in accordance with RSA 290:1.