Wisconsin Statutes 440.80 – Disposition of cremated remains
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Terms Used In Wisconsin Statutes 440.80
- Business entity: has the meaning given in…. See Wisconsin Statutes 440.70
- Cremated remains: means human remains recovered from the cremation of a human body or body part and the residue of a container or foreign materials that were cremated with the body or body part. See Wisconsin Statutes 440.70
- Cremation: means the process of using heat to reduce human remains to bone fragments and includes processing or pulverizing the bone fragments. See Wisconsin Statutes 440.70
- Crematory: means a building or portion of a building within which a cremation chamber is located. See Wisconsin Statutes 440.70
- Crematory authority: means a person who owns or operates a crematory. See Wisconsin Statutes 440.70
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Following: when used by way of reference to any statute section, means the section next following that in which the reference is made. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
- Funeral establishment: has the meaning given in…. See Wisconsin Statutes 440.70
- Human remains: means the body or part of the body of a deceased individual. See Wisconsin Statutes 440.70
- Niche: means a space in a columbarium that is used or intended to be used for the inurnment of cremated remains. See Wisconsin Statutes 440.70
- Person: includes all partnerships, associations and bodies politic or corporate. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
(1) Responsible party.
(a) Except as provided in par. (b), the person directing the cremation is responsible for determining the manner in which cremated remains are disposed.
(b) If the person directing the cremation fails to determine the manner in which cremated remains are disposed, the crematory authority shall, no sooner than 30 days after cremation, deliver the cremated remains to the person who delivered the human remains to the crematory authority for cremation or the funeral establishment or other business entity with which that person is affiliated, neither of which may refuse to accept the cremated remains. No sooner than 60 days after the cremated remains are delivered under this paragraph, the person to whom they are delivered may determine the manner in which the cremated remains are disposed and shall make a written record of any determination that is made.
(c) The person directing the cremation or the decedent‘s estate, or both, are liable for all reasonable expenses incurred in delivering and disposing of cremated remains under par. (b).
(2) Manner of disposition. A person may dispose of cremated remains only in one of the following manners:
(a) Placing the remains in a grave, niche, or crypt.
(b) Disposing of the remains in any other lawful manner, but only if the remains are reduced to a particle size of one-eighth inch or less.
(3) Commingling. Without the prior written consent of each person directing the cremation, no person may place cremated remains of more than one individual in the same container.
(4) Prohibited sales. A crematory authority may not do any of the following:
(a) Sell any material or device, including a prosthetic or medical device of a decedent, that is obtained from cremating the human remains of the decedent.
(b) Resell any casket or other container that has been used for cremating human remains.