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DENVER (AP) — As the trend toward green burials grows, Colorado coroners think more people may want to bury their relatives at home, and they say the state needs to start tracking where people are being buried.
They see a potential problem 10 or 20 years from now if new property owners accidentally dig up a body, triggering an expensive and unnecessary investigation into whether foul play was involved.
At the request of coroners, Rep. Randy Baumgardner, R-Hot Sulphur Springs, plans to introduce a bill Wednesday that would require people doing home burials to notify their county clerk. A note would then be added to their deed so authorities and the new owners would know in case the grave is unearthed.
El Paso County coroner Robert C. Bux — the president of the Colorado Coroners Association — said the group isn't taking a position on home burials and isn't trying to discourage them.
"I just want to know where you are if you're not in a graveyard," said Bux, who thinks home burials could catch on just as cremation has.
Green burials are ones in which bodies aren't embalmed and are buried in biodegradable caskets with no concrete grave liner or traditional headstone or marker. Advocates for such environmentally-friendly burials also encourage families to take a more active role in making funeral arrangements, including keeping their loved one's body at home for people to pay their final respects rather than taking them to a funeral home.
Coroners say they don't know of any state law that prevents people from being buried on private property but say counties can come up with their own regulations limiting where it's allowed.
The number of home burials taking place now isn't known. State death certificates don't note whether someone was buried in a cemetery or at home. The state registrar does report that more families are turning in death certificates rather than leaving it to funeral homes.
Joe Sehee, executive director of the Green Burial Council in Santa Fe, N.M., said it's legal in most counties across the country to bury someone on private property but mostly only on larger tracts of land. Many also require that a map be filed with the planning department.
Sehee expects more people will want to hold funerals at home, as they used to be, both to save money and to give them more time to say goodbye. But, with more people living in cities and suburbs, he doesn't expect to see a big increase in home burials.
"It's certainly not the majority of Americans who can do this," he said.
Stephanie Gaines, the founder of the Crestone End of Life Project in southern Colorado, said she tried help a family arrange a burial on about three acres in semi-rural Conifer and found the distance required from other homes made it too difficult.
Boulder-based Natural Transitions also helps families handle their own environmentally friendly funeral arrangements. Because of the lack of green cemeteries in Colorado, the non-profit says many end up choosing cremation after holding a home funeral.
They see a potential problem 10 or 20 years from now if new property owners accidentally dig up a body, triggering an expensive and unnecessary investigation into whether foul play was involved.
At the request of coroners, Rep. Randy Baumgardner, R-Hot Sulphur Springs, plans to introduce a bill Wednesday that would require people doing home burials to notify their county clerk. A note would then be added to their deed so authorities and the new owners would know in case the grave is unearthed.
El Paso County coroner Robert C. Bux — the president of the Colorado Coroners Association — said the group isn't taking a position on home burials and isn't trying to discourage them.
"I just want to know where you are if you're not in a graveyard," said Bux, who thinks home burials could catch on just as cremation has.
Green burials are ones in which bodies aren't embalmed and are buried in biodegradable caskets with no concrete grave liner or traditional headstone or marker. Advocates for such environmentally-friendly burials also encourage families to take a more active role in making funeral arrangements, including keeping their loved one's body at home for people to pay their final respects rather than taking them to a funeral home.
Coroners say they don't know of any state law that prevents people from being buried on private property but say counties can come up with their own regulations limiting where it's allowed.
The number of home burials taking place now isn't known. State death certificates don't note whether someone was buried in a cemetery or at home. The state registrar does report that more families are turning in death certificates rather than leaving it to funeral homes.
Joe Sehee, executive director of the Green Burial Council in Santa Fe, N.M., said it's legal in most counties across the country to bury someone on private property but mostly only on larger tracts of land. Many also require that a map be filed with the planning department.
Sehee expects more people will want to hold funerals at home, as they used to be, both to save money and to give them more time to say goodbye. But, with more people living in cities and suburbs, he doesn't expect to see a big increase in home burials.
"It's certainly not the majority of Americans who can do this," he said.
Stephanie Gaines, the founder of the Crestone End of Life Project in southern Colorado, said she tried help a family arrange a burial on about three acres in semi-rural Conifer and found the distance required from other homes made it too difficult.
Boulder-based Natural Transitions also helps families handle their own environmentally friendly funeral arrangements. Because of the lack of green cemeteries in Colorado, the non-profit says many end up choosing cremation after holding a home funeral.
