Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Washington
Does embalming require family consent?
Is there a common amount of time
between death and embalming and
does embalming require family
consent before doing the
procedure? Please advise.
Thank you!
Asked on 5/24/09, 11:10 pm
1 Answer from Attorneys
Amir John Showrai
The Pacific Law Firm, PLLC
Re: Does embalming require family consent?
Embalming like any other post death dealings with a corpse requires either a will that provides for how the deceased would like their body disposed of, and in the absence of a will that provides for this, then the spouse, children, or other immediate family will have to consent. In the event of a dispute between say the spouse and children or between just the children of the deceased, then most likely some court action will have to be brought to resolve the issue.
Answered on 5/25/09, 6:22 pm