CHAPTER 157
DISPOSITION OF HUMAN REMAINS
SUBCHAPTER I
CORPSES
157.01 Rules for preparation, transportation and disposition.
157.02 Disposal of unclaimed corpses.
157.03 Restrictions on use of bodies for anatomical purposes; embalming such bodies; delivery of bodies to relatives.
157.06 Uniform anatomical gift act.
SUBCHAPTER II
CEMETERIES
157.062 Cemetery associations; creation; powers and duties.
157.064 Cemetery associations and religious associations; holding property; change of ownership.
157.065 Location and ownership of cemeteries.
157.067 Connection with funeral establishment prohibited.
157.10 Alienation and use of cemetery lots.
157.11 Improvement and care of cemetery lots and grounds.
157.111 Opening and closing of burial places.
157.112 Reburial of human remains by a cemetery authority.
157.115 Abandonment of cemeteries and cemetery lots.
157.12 Mausoleums and crematoriums.
157.125 Trustees for the care of cemeteries or cemetery lots.
157.128 Minimum acreage requirement for cemetery established on or after November 1, 1991.
157.19 Deposit and investment of care funds and preneed trust funds.
157.50 Municipal cemeteries.
157.60 Public easement in cemetery.
157.62 Reporting; record keeping; audits.
157.625 Reporting exemption for certain cemeteries.
157.63 Reporting and auditing exemptions; certification of compliance of cemetery affiliated with religious society.
157.635 Regulations of cemetery affiliated with religious society.
SUBCHAPTER III
BURIAL SITES PRESERVATION
157.70 Burial sites preservation.
Ch. 157 Note
Note: See s. 69.18 for (1) registration of deaths, (2) medical certification, (3) disposition of corpse or stillbirth and (4) disinterment and reinterment.
CORPSES
157.01
157.01
Rules for preparation, transportation and disposition. The department of health and family services shall make, and delegate to the funeral directors examining board the enforcement of, rules not inconsistent with
ch. 445 covering the control of communicable diseases and sanitary and health regulations in the preparation, transportation and disposition of dead human bodies.
157.02
157.02
Disposal of unclaimed corpses. 157.02(1)
(1)
Notice to relatives. When an inmate of any state, county or municipal institution dies, the superintendent or other person in charge of the institution shall immediately notify a relative of the decedent. A public officer having the possession or the disposition of a corpse shall immediately notify a relative of the decedent. If no relative is known, or discoverable by use of ordinary diligence, notice may be dispensed with. In addition, if the deceased had been an inmate of a state correctional institution, the department of corrections shall provide written notification to the relative informing him or her that the department of corrections, upon request, will provide a copy of any autopsy report or other report or information pertaining to the death. The department of corrections shall describe how the request may be made and shall promptly comply with any such request.
157.02(2)
(2) Time allowed relative to act. If a relative or friend fails to arrange for taking charge of the corpse within a reasonable time after death, the superintendent or other officer may proceed as provided in this section, but relatives or friends may claim the corpse at any time before it has been delivered pursuant to
sub. (3).
157.02(3)
(3) Notice to university or school. If the corpse is in the Mendota mental health institute district, the university of Wisconsin shall be notified that it may have the corpse. If the corpse is in the Winnebago mental health institute district, medical college of Wisconsin, inc. or any accredited school of mortuary science at Milwaukee shall be notified that it may have the corpse. The university or school so notified shall immediately inform the superintendent or public officer whether it desires to have the corpse. If it does, the corpse shall be delivered accordingly, properly encased, to the most available facility for transportation to the consignee, the consignee to pay the cost of transportation.
157.02(4)
(4) Standing applications. If there are advance applications for such bodies, by medical college of Wisconsin, inc. or any accredited school of mortuary science, such superintendent or public officer shall make an equitable distribution between them.
157.02(5)
(5) Other disposition. If the corpse is not disposed of under
subs. (1) to
(4), the superintendent or public officer shall properly bury it.
157.02 History
History: 1971 c. 211;
1973 c. 90 s.
560 (3);
1985 a. 316 s.
14; Stats. 1985 s. 157.02;
1987 a. 27;
1989 a. 31.
157.03
157.03
Restrictions on use of bodies for anatomical purposes; embalming such bodies; delivery of bodies to relatives. 157.03(1)(1) The corpse of a person who died with smallpox, diphtheria or scarlet fever, or who in his or her last sickness shall request to be buried or cremated, and of a stranger or traveler who suddenly died, shall not be disposed of under
s. 157.02 (3), and no person having charge of a corpse authorized to be so disposed of shall sell or deliver it to be used outside the state.
157.03(2)
(2) Upon receipt of the corpse by a university or school pursuant to
s. 157.02 (3) it shall be properly embalmed and retained for 3 months before being used or dismembered and shall be delivered to any relative claiming it upon satisfactory proof of relationship.
157.03 History
History: 1985 a. 316 ss.
14,
25; Stats. 1985 s. 157.03;
1993 a. 482.
157.04
157.04
Penalty. Any officer or person having a corpse in charge, and refusing to report and deliver it, when required by this subchapter, or violating the provisions forbidding sale or delivery thereof, to be used outside the state, shall be liable to the person, university or medical school aggrieved, in the sum of $50.
157.04 History
History: 1985 a. 316 s.
14; Stats. 1985 s. 157.04.
157.05
157.05
Autopsy. Consent for a licensed physician to conduct an autopsy on the body of a deceased person shall be deemed sufficient when given by whichever one of the following assumes custody of the body for purposes of burial: Father, mother, husband, wife, child, guardian, next of kin, or in the absence of any of the foregoing, a friend, or a person charged by law with the responsibility for burial. If 2 or more such persons assume custody of the body, the consent of one of them shall be deemed sufficient.
