Funeral and burial laws in Texas

• No state requires embalming in every case. Federal law, the FTC Funeral Rule, forbids a funeral home from telling you it does.
• No state law requires a casket for cremation, and the funeral home must offer an alternative container. Vault requirements come from cemeteries, not statutes.
• Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on 2026-09-07. Laws change. Confirm any hour threshold with the funeral home or the state board before relying on it.

Is embalming required in Texas?

Never mandatory as such. Texas has no statute or rule that requires embalming for any death, disease, common-carrier shipment or out-of-state transport. The only preservation rule is 25 Tex. Admin. Code § 181.4, which says no human body may be held in any place or be in transit more than 24 hours after death pending final disposition unless it is (1) kept at 34 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit (refrigeration is an expressly accepted alternative), (2) embalmed by a licensed embalmer, or (3) encased in a container that ensures against seepage of fluid and escape of odors. Any one of the three satisfies the rule, including for out-of-state or common-carrier transport. The Texas Funeral Service Commission's Facts About Funerals brochure restates this. A funeral provider may not embalm for a fee without prior approval unless law requires it in the particular circumstances (22 Tex. Admin. Code § 203.50).

How long can you wait before burial or cremation in Texas?

24 hours. Under 25 Tex. Admin. Code § 181.4 a body may be held or in transit no more than 24 hours after death unless refrigerated at 34 to 40 degrees F, embalmed, or sealed in a leak- and odor-proof container. There is no separate statutory outer deadline for burial or cremation once one of those methods is used. Separately, Tex. Health & Safety Code § 711.002(a-1) provides that a person with the right to control disposition who fails to make arrangements by the earlier of the 6th day after notice of death or the 10th day after death is presumed unwilling and the right passes to the next person in priority.

Can you bury someone on private land in Texas?

Legal. No state-level home-burial permit exists; Texas regulates location, depth and records rather than prohibiting private-land burial, and the Texas Funeral Service Commission notes Texas family-cemetery law is vague and points to county and city rules. Location restriction, Tex. Health & Safety Code § 711.008(a) bars using land for interment in or within 1 mile of a municipality of 5,000 to 25,000 people, 2 miles for 25,000 to 50,000, 3 miles for 50,000 to 100,000, 4 miles for 100,000 to 200,000, and 5 miles for 200,000 or more (no buffer applies to towns under 5,000 or unincorporated areas); private family cemeteries established before Sept. 1, 2009 are exempt (§ 711.008(c)), and a city council or, in counties over 750,000 or adjacent to one, the commissioners court may authorize a cemetery by ordinance or order (§ 711.008(g-3), (g-4)). A family cemetery of 10 acres or less is exempt from the requirement to organize a cemetery corporation (§ 711.021(g)(1)). Depth, § 714.001 requires the top of the container to be at least 2 feet below ground, or 1.5 feet if the container is impermeable (misdemeanor, $100 to $200 fine; a political subdivision may allow shallower burial by ordinance). Recording, cemetery organizations must file a plat and declaration of dedication with the county clerk for the deed records (§ 711.034); land with one or more human burials is treated as dedicated cemetery property (§ 711.035(g)). Records of each interment must be kept (§ 711.003). Visitors have a statutory right of reasonable access across the surrounding land (§ 711.041). A completed report of death is the authority to transport and bury within Texas (25 Tex. Admin. Code § 181.2(a)) and a death certificate must still be filed. No state statute setting distance from water sources or property lines was found; check county and city ordinances, floodplain and deed restrictions.

Even where state law allows it, the county or town usually has the last word through zoning, and a burial on private land should be recorded against the deed so a future buyer knows. A family burial ground can also complicate a later sale.

Can the family handle it without a funeral director?

Yes. The Texas Funeral Service Commission's official consumer brochure states that a family may take care of all aspects of disposition from death to interment, inurnment, entombment or transporting out of state without the assistance of a funeral director or establishment. Funeral directing is regulated only when done for compensation (Tex. Occ. Code § 651.001(6), (7)), and Texas vital-statistics rules refer throughout to the funeral director 'or person acting as such' (25 Tex. Admin. Code § 181.2). Texas is not among the states the Funeral Consumers Alliance lists as requiring a funeral director. Steps a family member acting as funeral director must complete, (1) obtain or complete a report of death before moving the body and transmit it to the local registrar within 24 hours (25 TAC § 181.2(a)), (2) obtain and file the death certificate within 10 days (Tex. Health & Safety Code §§ 193.002, 193.003), (3) obtain a burial-transit permit from the local registrar if the body will leave Texas, travel by common carrier, or be cremated (25 TAC § 181.2(b)). Cremation is the one area where a licensed party is usually needed, 22 Tex. Admin. Code § 205.6 allows the authorizing agent to contract directly with a crematory only if the crematory is also licensed as a funeral establishment or the agent has written authorization from the justice of the peace or medical examiner of the county of death; otherwise a funeral establishment must contract for and sign the cremation authorization and identification statement (Tex. Health & Safety Code §§ 716.052(c), 716.104).

Death certificate and permits in Texas

Filing the death certificate

The person in charge of interment or of removing the body from the registration district for disposition (a funeral director or the person acting as such, including a family member) must obtain the certificate, enter the disposition information, sign it and file it electronically through TxEVER (Tex. Health & Safety Code § 193.002). Deadline, not later than the 10th day after death, with the local registrar of the district where the death occurred or the body was found (§ 193.003(a)). The attending physician, PA or APRN (or the JP or medical examiner for unattended or inquest deaths) must complete the medical certification within 5 days of receiving the certificate (§ 193.005(b), (e)); a death without medical attendance must be reported to the JP or ME (§ 193.005(d)). Final disposition may not proceed until the medical certifier authorizes it if the certification is delayed (§ 193.005(g)). The DSHS Death Registration Handbook confirms a family handling disposition files with the help of the local registrar.

Burial or transit permit

Two documents apply. (1) Report of death, the funeral director or person acting as such must obtain an electronic report of death or complete a paper one before transporting the body and transmit it to the local registrar within 24 hours; a copy is the legal authority to transport or bury the body within Texas (25 Tex. Admin. Code § 181.2(a)). (2) Burial-transit permit, required only if the body will be removed from Texas, transported by common carrier within Texas, or cremated; issued by the local registrar where the death certificate is or will be filed, or by the state registrar electronically through TxEVER; the registrar may not issue it until a death certificate completed in so far as possible has been presented (25 TAC § 181.2(b); 22 TAC § 205.11(b); Tex. Health & Safety Code § 193.008 for permits issued by other states). A family member acting as funeral director may obtain both, and registrars must make permits available after hours. Cremated remains may be transported without any permit (§ 716.301).

Cremation waiting period in Texas

48 hours. A crematory may not cremate within 48 hours of the time of death shown on the death certificate unless the waiting period is waived in writing by a justice of the peace or medical examiner of the county where the death occurred, or by court order (Tex. Health & Safety Code § 716.004(a); 22 Tex. Admin. Code § 205.7). Before cremating, the crematory must have a cremation authorization form signed by the authorizing agent plus a death certificate or other death record indicating the remains may be cremated; the burial-transit permit satisfies the second requirement (§ 716.051; 22 TAC § 205.11). The authorizing agent is the person with the right to control disposition under § 711.002(a), in order, the agent named in the decedent's written instrument, surviving spouse, any adult child, either parent, any adult sibling, the executor or administrator, then next of kin. If the decedent left written directions for cremation (§ 711.002(g)) and the agent refuses to sign, the crematory may proceed on the written directions with positive identification and payment (§ 716.054). A crematory may accept and refrigerate remains before authorization (§ 716.0035).

Caskets and vaults

No. The Texas Funeral Service Commission's official brochure states that caskets and outer burial containers are not required by state law, though a cemetery or mausoleum may impose its own rules. For cremation a casket is not required and a crematory may not require one or refuse uncasketed remains (Tex. Health & Safety Code § 716.151(c); 22 Tex. Admin. Code § 203.49(a)), but remains must be in a combustible, rigid, leak-resistant cremation container that fully covers the body (§ 716.151(a)). For burial the only statute is the depth rule, § 714.001, which measures from the top of 'the container' (2 feet of cover, 1.5 feet if impermeable, not applicable in a sealed reinforced concrete vault); whether a shroud alone counts as a container under § 714.001 is unverified. Funeral providers may not condition goods or services on buying other items except as required by law (22 TAC § 203.49(b)).

Scattering ashes in Texas

Permitted without a permit. Tex. Health & Safety Code § 716.304 allows scattering cremated remains over uninhabited public land, over a public waterway or sea, or on private property with the owner's consent; unless the container is biodegradable the remains must be removed from it before scattering. § 716.302(e) limits disposition of cremated remains to a cemetery crypt, niche, grave or scattering area, scattering under § 716.304, or private property with the owner's written consent. The authorizing agent is responsible for disposition (§ 716.302(b)) and may carry the remains anywhere in Texas without a permit (§ 716.301). Texas sets no state distance-from-shore rule; at sea the federal EPA general permit (40 C.F.R. § 229.1) requires scattering at least 3 nautical miles from shore with notice to EPA within 30 days. Individual public land managers may have their own rules, not verified here.

At sea, federal rules apply everywhere. The EPA allows scattering at least three nautical miles from shore and asks for a report within 30 days. Inland waters follow the state.

Your rights under the FTC Funeral Rule, in every state

Whatever Texas adds, federal law requires any funeral home to give you an itemised price list before you agree to anything, to quote prices over the phone if you ask, to let you buy only the items you want rather than a package, and to accept a casket or urn bought elsewhere without a handling fee. It also forbids claiming that embalming, a casket for cremation, or a vault is required by law when it is not.

Other states

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• District of Columbia
• Florida
• Georgia
• Hawaii
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• Illinois
• Indiana
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• Kansas
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• Louisiana
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• North Carolina
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• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
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• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming