The Cemetery Board licenses and regulates all cemeteries in Washington, except the following:
Religious cemeteries
Cemeteries operated by counties, cities, towns, cemetery districts, or other government entities.
Abandoned and historic cemeteries. These cemetaries are under the jurisdiction of the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, who can be reached by email or by calling (360) 586-3065.
You must contact the city or county where the property is located to see if it can be used for a cemetery. The requirements are:
The cemetery must be operated by a corporation organized for that purpose (RCW 68.20.010).
You must have $25,000 in an endowment care fund before selling or disposing of any plots. The interest from that trust fund will be used to maintain the cemetery in the future. (RCW 68.40.010)
The corporation operating the cemetery must apply to the Cemetery Board for authority to operate.
Prearranging your funeral, burial, or cremation, may ease the burden on your survivors in a time of grief. When you sign a contract, the cemetery is required to deposit or invest at least half of the money you pay in an insured account to protect your investment. In addition, the Department of Licensing monitors the status of prearrangement trust funds.
Yes, cemeteries are allowed by law to create their own rules for the operation of the cemetery, including rules regarding the planting of trees, bushes, and flowers. You should always check first with cemetery management before planting anything on a grave.
You may preauthorize your own cremation with a signed, written document without the consent of another person. If you do not make prearrangements for cremation, the following people may authorize cremation:
Your spouse
Your adult children
Your parents
Your siblings
Your representative acting under your signed authorization.
If the funeral home or cemetery is unable to locate the next of kin after making a good faith effort to find them, the most responsible person available may authorize a cremation. (See RCW 68.50.160.)
National Parks after receiving permission from the Chief Park Ranger.
State Trust Uplands after receiving permission from the regional manager for each scattering. However, scattering by commercial scattering services is not permitted.
public navigable waters under state control, including Puget Sound, the Pacific Ocean within the three-mile limit, rivers, streams and lakes.
the Pacific Ocean beyond the three-mile limit. (These scatterings must be reported within 30 days to the Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101.)
private land with the permission of the land owner.
Do not drop or throw the urn containing the cremated remains. Scatter only the contents.
Pour the cremated remains out of the container and dispose of the container separately. There is usually a second identification label and/or a numbered metal disc inside the container. Keep this and dispose of it separately with the container.
Embalming is not required, however all human remains must be embalmed or refrigerated within 24 hours of death, unless the body has been buried or cremated. Embalming must be authorized by a family member or representative of the deceased. See RCW 18.39.215 and WAC 246-490-040(3).
Yes, if you create a cemetery on that property following all the licensing requirements. It is a misdemeanor to bury any human remains anywhere except inside a cemetery or a building dedicated exclusively for religious purposes. This does not apply to scattering or burial of cremated remains.(RCW 68.50.130)
A fetus of less than 20 weeks gestation is not considered by the law to be a human remains, and may be buried on private property. However, a fetus of 20 weeks or more gestation is considered to be human remains and must be disposed of in a lawful manner according to state health laws.
sending a written complaint with copies of all substantiating documents to:
Funeral and Cemetery Licensing Office
Department of Licensing
PO Box 9012
Olympia, WA 98507-9012
It is usually best to submit a written complaint unless the complaint occurs between the time a death and the disposition of the remains, when our staff may need to obtain information immediately before it becomes unavailable.
Once we receive a written complaint, it is assigned to a member of the state board for review.
The reviewing member consults with board staff to determine if any violations of the laws and rules governing funeral and cemetery practice have occurred. We may need to contact you or other parties for additional information at this point in order to reach this determination.
The reviewing member and board staff decide:
to close the complaint for lack of jurisdiction,
that the conduct was proper and there are no apparent violation(s).
to request an investigation if there are possible violation(s).
If an investigation is requested, it is assigned to an inspector who performs the investigation and completes a report.
The report is returned to the reviewing member and board staff, and the prosecuting assistant attorney general may be consulted.
If it is determined that there is no basis for disciplinary action at this time, the file is closed.
If possible violations have occurred, they are reviewed with the prosecuting assistant attorney general, and either the the investigation is closed or disciplinary procedures are started.
Complaints and investigations become a matter of record with the Department of Licensing. This is important because some types of unprofessional conduct may require a pattern of conduct in order to establish a violation, and previous records can establish this pattern.