---
title: O.C.G.A. § 31-21-4. Cremated or organically reduced remains; burial at sea; notification; disposition of remains.
collection: code
id: 31-21-4
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 31-21-4 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/31-21-4
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/31-21-4.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/31-21-4/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t31-(v23)-2025-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=da7ded69_0#page=866
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Session of the General Assembly of Georgia
heading_path: HEALTH / DEAD BODIES / GENERAL PROVISIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 31-21-4. Cremated or organically reduced remains; burial at sea; notification; disposition of remains.

(a)(1) Cremated remains or organically reduced remains may be taken by boat from any harbor in this state, or by air, for burial at sea at a point not less than three miles from the nearest shoreline; provided, however, that such remains shall be removed from their container before such remains are buried at sea.

(2) Any person that buries at sea, either from a boat or from the air, any cremated remains or organically reduced remains of a dead human body shall carry out the burial services within 50 days from the reduction of the dead human body to cremated remains or organically reduced remains and shall file with the local registrar of births, deaths, and other vital records in the county nearest the point where such remains were buried a verified statement containing the name of the deceased person, the time and place of death, the place at which the cremated remains or organically reduced remains were buried, and any other information that the local registrar may require. Burial services may be delayed until weather conditions improve if inclement weather prevents safe burial.

(b) Any person that requests that a dead human body be cremated or organically reduced shall provide the funeral establishment or other person responsible for the cremation or organic human reduction an address at which such person can be notified when the cremated remains or organically reduced remains are ready for interment or other ultimate disposition. Such notification shall be made by first-class mail to such person at the address provided. If the cremated remains or organically reduced remains are not claimed for interment or other disposition within 60 days from the date the notification is mailed, such remains may be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of Code Section 43-18-80.

## History

Code 1981, § 31-21-4, enacted by Ga. L. 1989, p. 813, § 1; Ga. L. 1991, p. 94, § 31; Ga. L. 2025, p. 269, § 2-5/SB 241, effective July 1, 2025.

## Amendments

The 2025 amendment, effective July 1, 2025, inserted “remains or organically reduced” and substituted “nearest shoreline; provided, however, that such remains” for “nearest shoreline. Cremated remains” in paragraph (a)(1); rewrote the first sentence in paragraph (a)(2), which read: “Any person who buries at sea, either from a boat or from the air, any human cremated remains shall carry out the burial services within 50 days from the reduction of the body to cremated remains and file with the local registrar of births, deaths, and other vital records in the county nearest the point where the remains were buried a verified statement containing the name of the deceased person, the time and place of death, the place at which the cremated remains were buried, and any other information that the local registrar may require.”; and rewrote subsection (b), which read: “Any person who requests that a dead body be cremated shall provide the funeral establishment or other person responsible for the cremation an address at which such person can be notified when the cremated remains are ready for interment. Notification shall be made by first-class mail to such person at the address provided. If the cremated remains are not claimed for interment or other disposition within 60 days from the date that the notification is mailed, such remains shall be turned over to the coroner to be interred in a plot or niche in a cemetery where indigents are buried.”.