Section 44 – Cremation of Bodies
[See Order of the Commissioner of Public Health, dated March 23, 2020, (2019 MA EO H20-9) related to the COVID-19 State of Emergency, for potential impact on the terms of this section.] Section 44. The body of a deceased person shall not be cremated within 48 hours after his decease unless he died of a […]
Section 44a – Receptacles for Cremated Remains; Caskets
Section 44A. The body of a deceased person to be cremated shall be contained in a suitable receptacle; provided, however, that a casket shall not be used for such cremation unless such use has been requested by a person lawfully entitled to the custody and control of such body.
Section 45 – Burial Permits; Permits for Removal of Bodies; Certificates of Death; Deceased Veterans
Section 45. Except as provided in sections forty-four and forty-six, no undertaker or other person shall bury or otherwise dispose of a human body in a town, or remove therefrom a human body which has not been buried, until he has received a permit from the board of health or its agent appointed to issue […]
Section 45a – Funeral Director's Name Used in Connection With Death Certificate or Burial Permit
Section 45A. No funeral director, whether doing business as an individual, partnership or corporation, shall permit his name to be used in connection with any death certificate or burial permit unless he was specifically engaged to perform the burial to which such permit or certificate relates. Any violation of this section shall be punished by […]
Section 46 – Permit for Burial of Bodies Brought Into Commonwealth; Certificate; Recording
Section 46. Whenever a dead body is brought into the commonwealth for burial, accompanied by a removal permit issued under the laws of the state from which such body is brought, such permit shall be received as sufficient authority for burial, and the superintendent or person or persons in charge of the cemetery where the […]
Section 46a – Veterans; Burial; Affidavit; Veteran Graves Officer
Section 46A. No permit for the burial or other disposition of the body of a deceased veteran, known to be such, as the term veteran is defined in section twenty-one of chapter thirty-one, shall be issued unless and until an affidavit, as hereinafter set forth, shall have been filed with the board of health, or […]
Section 47 – Certificates for Burial, Removal or Cremation; Indorsement of Coupon Accompanying Permit; Record
Section 47. No person having the care of a cemetery, burial ground or crematory shall permit the burial, removal or cremation of a human body until the permit for such burial, removal or cremation has been delivered to him, nor permit the ashes of a human body to be buried therein until there has been […]
Section 43g – Use of Community Mausoleum Prior to Completion; Care and Improvement Fund
Section 43G. No community mausoleum, crypt or structure erected as aforesaid shall be used for the purpose of depositing therein the remains of any dead body until such mausoleum, crypt or structure, or a component section thereof, is fully completed, and the permanent care and improvement fund required by section forty-three J has been established.
Section 48 – Cremation; Certificates for Burial
Section 48. An undertaker shall not bury the ashes of a human body until he has received from the person having the charge of the crematory a certificate that the burial permit and the certificate of the medical examiner prerequisite to the cremating of said body have been duly presented.
Section 43h – Sale of Community Mausoleum Prior to Completion
Section 43H. No crypt in a community mausoleum shall be sold or offered for sale before said structure, or a component section thereof, is fully completed.