Who decides? Authorization for cremation and burial in Washington

For families · WA · Last reviewed Aug 29, 2026

Washington law starts with you. RCW 68.50.160 opens by saying that “A person has the right to control the disposition of his or her own remains without the predeath or postdeath consent of another person.”

That right is exercised on paper while you’re alive. If you leave nothing in writing, the same statute hands the decision to a list of people in a fixed order, and the order doesn’t care who was closest to you.

The order the law sets

When there is no prearrangement, RCW 68.50.160 gives the right to control disposition to the first of these who is available:

1. The person named on the decedent’s DD Form 93, where that form applies
2. A designated agent named in a written document signed in the presence of a witness
3. The surviving spouse or state registered domestic partner
4. A majority of the surviving adult children
5. The surviving parents
6. A majority of the surviving siblings
7. A guardian appointed by a court at the time of death

The list runs top to bottom and stops at the first level that exists. A spouse outranks every adult child. Adult children as a group outrank the parents. A sibling has no say at all while a spouse or an adult child is living, no matter who did the caregiving.

What the first two lines actually are

DD Form 93 is a military form, and RCW 68.50.160 puts the person named on it at the top of the list wherever that form applies. If the person who died served, that form is the first thing to look for. This site hasn’t verified how the form is completed or where a family obtains a copy, so ask the branch of service or a veterans service officer.

A designated agent is the route open to everybody else. The statute describes it as a written document signed in the presence of a witness. That’s the instrument that moves the decision to the person you choose, and it’s the reason a friend, a partner you never married, or one particular child out of four can hold the authority instead of whoever the default order would have handed it to.

The disqualification most families have never heard of

A person in that chain who has been arrested or charged with first or second degree murder, or first degree manslaughter, in connection with the decedent’s death relinquishes the right of control. The authority passes to the next person in line.

Arrest or charge is the trigger. The statute doesn’t wait for a conviction, and that’s deliberate: a case can take years and a body can’t.

What the authority actually covers

Holding the right of control isn’t a formality. Several things in Washington can’t lawfully happen without that specific person’s authorization.

Embalming. RCW 18.39.215 says that “No licensed embalmer shall embalm human remains without first having obtained authorization from the individual or individuals that have the right to control the disposition under RCW 68.50.160.” In Washington embalming isn’t merely something you may decline. It’s unlawful without permission.

Cremation, aquamation, and terramation. WAC 308-47-040 provides that reduction must not take place until the burial-transit permit and the authorization for the reduction method are obtained. The authorization and the permit are two separate documents, and both have to exist first.

The permit itself. RCW 70.58A.210 requires a burial-transit permit before final disposition. Nobody may provide for final disposition until the report of death is registered and the permit has been obtained from the local registrar by the funeral director, the funeral establishment, or the person holding the right of control.

Where cremated remains end up. RCW 68.50.130 permits disposition of cremated remains on private property with the consent of the property owner, and on public or government lands or waters with the approval of the government agency with jurisdiction. Ask before scattering, and ask the owner or the agency rather than the funeral home.

Two things sit outside that authority entirely. Where a coroner or a prosecuting attorney may perform an autopsy, RCW 68.50.108 bars embalming or final disposition without the coroner’s consent, and no family authorization substitutes for it. And under WAC 246-500-030 remains must be refrigerated or embalmed on receipt, with a delay of up to twenty-four hours allowed for washing, clothing, praying over, sitting with, or otherwise accompanying the person who died when the family directs it.

When the family disagrees

The two levels that split are the two the statute writes as a group: a majority of the surviving adult children, and a majority of the surviving siblings. Majority means more than half of them. Four adult children who split two and two don’t have a majority, and neither pair can authorize anything.

What happens then is quiet rather than dramatic. Nothing moves. The funeral home can’t obtain the authorization the law requires, so it can’t embalm, it can’t begin a cremation, and it holds the person in refrigeration while the family works it out. A funeral director who tells you they can’t proceed isn’t being obstructive. They’re describing WAC 308-47-040 and RCW 18.39.215.

There’s no statutory waiting period in Washington to run out while this happens. That’s worth knowing in both directions: nobody is required to wait, and a widely repeated claim that Washington makes families wait forty-eight hours before a cremation has no statute behind it. Timing here is driven by documents, not by a clock. The death report has to be registered, the burial-transit permit has to issue, the authorization has to be signed, and the coroner has to clear the case where RCW 68.50.108 applies.

This page doesn’t describe a court procedure for breaking a tie, because none was verified for it. What the statute does supply is the order itself, the relinquishment above, and the guardian at the bottom of the list. If your family is deadlocked, that’s a question for a Washington lawyer, and the funeral home holding the person isn’t the one who can answer it.

Settling it in advance

The written designation is the whole answer, and it takes one afternoon.

Name your agent in a document you sign in the presence of a witness, as RCW 68.50.160 describes. Say what you want done. Then do the part people skip: put a copy where somebody can reach it in the first day. The document only works if it’s in a hand at the funeral home while the decisions are being made, not in a safe deposit box that opens next week.

Tell the person you named. Being handed authority you didn’t know you had, on the worst day of somebody’s year, is a poor way to find out.

Tell the rest of the family too. Most disputes aren’t about the paperwork. They’re about a sibling learning at the funeral home that the decision was never going to be theirs.

If a funeral home has a preneed file for you, ask whether your designation is in it and ask for the copy back so you can see what they actually hold.

The short version

Washington gives the decision to you first, and to a fixed list of relatives if you leave nothing signed. A spouse or registered domestic partner outranks the children. Groups vote by majority, and a tie stops everything. Anyone arrested or charged with first or second degree murder or first degree manslaughter in the death loses the right and is skipped. Embalming and cremation are both unlawful in this state without the authorization of whoever holds that right.

Every legal statement on this page was read from the Washington statute or administrative rule cited beside it. The citations are addresses. Look them up.

Sources

1. RCW 68.50.160 Right to control disposition of remains: the statutory order, and the relinquishment that follows a murder or manslaughter charge
2. RCW 18.39.215 No licensed embalmer may embalm without authorization from the person holding the right of control under RCW 68.50.160
3. RCW 70.58A.210 Burial-transit permit required before final disposition, obtained by the funeral director, the funeral establishment, or the person with the right of control
4. WAC 308-47-040 Reduction must not take place until the burial-transit permit and the authorization for the reduction method are obtained
5. RCW 68.50.108 No body subject to a coroner's or prosecuting attorney's autopsy may be embalmed or finally disposed of without the coroner's consent
6. RCW 68.50.130 Disposition of cremated remains on private property with the owner's consent, and on public land or water with the approval of the agency with jurisdiction
7. WAC 246-500-030 Remains must be refrigerated or embalmed on receipt, with a twenty-four hour delay allowed for family and religious care