Composting Human Remains

Whether it is spreading cremains around amusement parks, burying in a traditional religious ceremony, or becoming soil for a hardy patch of kale, make sure your loved ones know what you want for your final resting place(s).

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In establishing an estate plan, it is important to contemplate one’s wishes for the disposition of remains.  Funeral and burial wishes can be included in a last will and testament, but the document is often not discovered until after the funeral has occurred. Moreover if the last will is not yet probated, it is questionable as to how much weight its directions carry. As such, some clients opt to sign an additional document to designate an agent to execute funeral arrangements and to take control of one’s remains. Clients can also enter into arrangements with funeral homes, selecting their caskets or urns and even paying for them well in advance of their final breath. This is advisable for those without immediate family or friends to handle arrangements.

            Traditionally, burials and cremations are the two options for the disposition of remains. Religion, tradition, and cost are all factors that go into selecting one’s final disposition. Burials tend to be expensive. In addition to funeral arrangements which may include viewings, embalming, and ornate caskets, a land plot is needed in addition to some kind of tombstone. Often clients cannot decide on a cemetery or with which family members or friends they wish to rest. Funerals can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Environmentally, chemicals used to treat dead bodies such as formaldehyde can pollute the ground and invade crops.

Cremations tend to be less expensive than burials and can be effectuated much more quickly. It is important if this is one’s option, to designate a person to receive the cremains and to keep them or disperse them as directed and in accordance with the law. (See this author’s article, Disney Disapproves of the Disposition of Your Cremains).

            Once in a while I meet a client who wishes to be cryogenically frozen upon her demise. Sometimes individuals wish to donate their bodies to science. As of this month, the State of Washington has introduced a new method of disposition by legalizing the composting of human bodies. The process is known as Recomposition and it costs approximately $5,500, which is more than an average cremation but significantly less than a traditional casket burial.

            Seattle-based company Recompose has developed a process wherein a dead body is placed in a vessel. With the help of wood chips and straw, the body is transformed into soil in about four-to-six weeks. The soil, measuring about two wheel barrels in volume, can then be used for planting. The system is used by some ranchers when they compost dead cattle.

            Those in favor of Recompose’s methods argue that in addition to cost, land for burial is becoming increasingly scarce. Cremation, which has increased in popularity in recent years as a result of rising burial costs and land availability, is detrimental to the environment. Cremation can cause troubling carbon emissions. Certain states permit liquid cremation, scientifically known as “alkaline hydrolysis,” which uses pressure, chemicals, water, and heat to dispose of remains. This is a greener method than traditional cremation.

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            Washington is the first state in the United States to allow aboveground decomposition. There has been organized opposition to this process, most vociferously by the Catholic Church, which argues that recomposition departs from religious doctrine as to how to treat deceased bodies. Supporters of the method argue that the process effectively connects families to their loved ones by using the compost themselves to plant or donate to use on conservation lands.

            Estate plans are specific to the individual. If anything, the instant statute teaches practitioners and clients that we need to carefully consider our largest assets, our bodies, when determining the disposition of our estates. Detailed instructions as to the method of disposal and disbursement should be included in any estate planning documentation. Whether it is spreading cremains around amusement parks, burying in a traditional religious ceremony, or becoming soil for a hardy patch of kale, make sure your loved ones know what you want for your final goodbye.


Cori A. Robinson is a solo practitioner having founded Cori A. Robinson PLLC, a New York and New Jersey law firm, in 2017. For more than a decade Cori has focused her law practice on trusts and estates and elder law including estate and Medicaid planning, probate and administration, estate litigation, and guardianships. She can be reached at cori@robinsonestatelaw.com

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