- (a) Except as is authorized for a justice of the peace acting as coroner or medical examiner under the Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 49, remains may not be removed from a cemetery except on written order of the state registrar or the state registrar's designee.
- (b) The licensed funeral director to whom the disinterment permit is issued shall be responsible for the proper conduct of the disinterment and removal.
- (c) The state registrar shall issue a disinterment permit in four parts. One copy shall be retained by the state registrar, one copy retained by the funeral director to whom issued, one copy filed with the sexton or person in charge of the cemetery in which the disinterment is to be made, and one copy sent to the local registrar of the district in which the death occurred. The state registrar's copy and the local registrar's copy shall be attached as an amendment to the certificate of death filed in their respective offices.
- (d) A disinterment permit shall not be required if a body is to be disinterred and reinterred in the same cemetery.
- (e) A disinterred body must be transported in a container which insures against the seepage of fluid or the escape of offensive odors. When shipped by common carrier, a disinterred body must be enclosed in an airtight metal casket encased in a strong outside shipping case, or in a sound casket encased in an airtight metal or metal-lined shipping case. This requirement shall not apply if the disinterred remains involve no soft parts.
- (f) The disinterment permit issued by the state registrar shall serve as the authority to disinter, transport, and reinter a body.
- (g) A body kept in a receiving vault shall not be regarded as a disinterred body until after the expiration of 30 days.
- (h) All disinterred remains kept in receiving vaults shall be thoroughly embalmed in a manner approved by the Texas Funeral Service Commission and shall be enclosed in a permanently sealed casket.
Source Note:The provisions of this §181.6 adopted to be effective January 1, 1976; amended to be effective November 19, 1991, 16 TexReg 6297.