1.5 CPD units - Professional Skills 

Burial and Cremation Law

Burial and cremation law in South Australia is a combination of legislation and common law. The Burial and Cremation Act 2013 consolidated and modernised the old and fragmented legislation relating to the disposal of human remains in the State, but it is not a codification of the law on the subject. This session will examine the key provisions of the Act and answer the questions that the legislation does not address, namely, who has a duty to dispose of human remains? Who is entitled to take possession of human remains for the purpose of disposal? Are directions in a will about mode and place of disposal legally binding? Can a dead body be capable of being owned as property? And what is the legal status of cremated human remains?