Rhode Island § 23-3-18 - Vital Records

§ 23-3-18. Permits.

(a) The funeral director, his or her duly authorized agent, or another person acting as a duly authorized agent, who first assumes custody of a dead body or fetus shall prepare a burial-transit permit prior to final disposition or removal from the state of the body or fetus and within seven (7) calendar days after death.

(b) The burial-transit permit shall be signed by the funeral director and by the certifying physician as designated in § 23-3-16(c).

(c) A burial-transit permit issued under the law of another state which accompanies a dead body or fetus brought into this state shall be authority for final disposition of the body or fetus in this state.

(d) A permit for disinterment and re-interment shall be required prior to disinterment of a dead body or fetus except as authorized by regulation or otherwise provided by law. The permit shall be issued by the local registrar of vital records at the place of disinterment to a licensed funeral director, embalmer, his or her duly authorized agent, or another person acting as a duly authorized agent, upon proper application.

(e)(1) The body of a deceased person shall not be cremated within twenty-four (24) hours after his or her death unless he or she dies of a contagious or infectious disease. The body shall not be received or cremated by any corporation authorized to cremate the bodies of the dead until its officers have received the burial permit required by law before burial, and a cremation certificate issued by the Rhode Island office of state medical examiners. A cremation certificate shall be issued only if the office of state medical examiners determines that the cause and manner of death is such that no further examination or judicial inquiry concerning the cause and manner of death is necessary.

(2) The cremation certificate issued to the funeral director by the medical examiner, in duplicate, shall accompany the body to the crematory. The crematory shall retain the duplicate copy and mail the original copy to the state division of vital records.