Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Virginia

Re: death certificate without claiming the body

Yes, your children should be able to secure a death certificate formally attesting to your (hopefully, not untimely) demise without having to lay claim to your corpse.(And I am resisting all temptation to probe further into this matter as being entirely irrelevant to answering your question.)

Re: death certificate without claiming the body

The death certificate is a public document issued by the government. As a result, your children cannot "get" a death certificate as being something personal to them or exclusively for their benefit. They can provide evidence to the proper authorities that a death has occurred. But it is an official government act to determine this and to issue a death certificate. It is not for private benefit alone. Once a death certificate has been issued, any interested party can request a copy of this government document.

Thus, it would be irrelevant whether they claim your body or not, although I also can't imagine why this would be desirable.

If you have any special instructions about the handling of your earthly remains, you can and should update your will to specify what you want to have done.