New JerseyCounties could cremate unclaimed bodies and bury their ashes
If a body meets the 30-day rule for being unclaimed, counties could cremate it and bury the ashes after keeping them for at least a year.
What it does
County medical examiners would have to offer cremation for unclaimed bodies. The bill uses a 30-day wait and rules about who can claim the body.
Counties could bury ashes from unclaimed bodies after a medical examiner's office keeps them for at least one year from cremation.
Argument forA cremation option could give counties another way to care for unclaimed bodies while keeping the ashes for at least a year.
Argument againstRelatives who come forward after cremation might lose the chance to choose how the body is handled.
More detail
County medical examiners would have to offer cremation as an option. This option applies to bodies that meet the bill's rules for being unclaimed. The bill considers whether family or other people allowed to claim the body can be found, respond, or take it. The 30 days start when the body is identified or death is pronounced, whichever happens later.
Counties could bury ashes from cremated, unclaimed bodies. This applies to ashes from unclaimed bodies held by a medical examiner's office. The office must keep the ashes for at least one year from cremation; burial may follow after that year.
Where do you stand?
Choose your position
Tell your reps
Take a position to see your representatives and ways to contact them.
Where it stands
- Introduced
- Passed 1st Chamber
- Passed 2nd Chamber
- To Governor
- Became Law
Looking ahead
No hearings or votes scheduled.
History
- 2026
- Sep 10Reported out of Asm. Comm. with Amendments, and Referred to Assembly State and Local Government CommitteeLatest
- Jan 13Introduced, Referred to Assembly Regulated Professions CommitteeIntroduced
Government & EthicsPublic Safety