Funerals

Funeral laws are regulated by the federal states. This includes issues such as the deadline for burial, death certificates, the determination of death and what happens in the case of an inquest.  Each federal state enacts its own law.

You can find the rules for each state here (in German)

The following are roughly translated and cannot serve as legal advice:

“The burial responsibility (Bestattungspflicht) specifies who is responsible for the burial of a deceased person.
This only implies responsibility and not an obligation to bear the costs. The obligation to bury a deceased person is in order of priority and starts with your spouse or life partner then your children, then your parents, next your siblings then grandparents and lastly grandchildren. If the obligation falls on more than one child, the eldest is usually responsible.  If there are no survivors to take over this obligation, the community (Gemeinde) will take over the responsibility.

The obligation to bear the costs is not regulated by the federal states. According to § 1968 of the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB), the heirs have to bear the cost of the funeral. If the heir is a community, they will bear the costs. If the cause of death is a fatal accident, the costs can be reclaimed from the person who caused the accident. To read more about it in German have a look here. They explain a couple of scenarios.
When the estate is insolvent or over-indebted, and the heirs cannot pay the costs, the obligation to cover the costs may be passed on for example to relatives or maybe the person who caused the death, or the Sozialkasse if no one else can pay.”

Each state also has their own rules on the burial deadlines (Bestattungsfristen ). The time allowed to transfer a body to the morgue (Eine Überführung) can be anything between 24 and 36 hours. Burials may not take place before 48 hours after death. Some federal states also specify the deadline by which the funeral must be carried out at the latest.

Laws on miscarriage or stillbirth (Sternenkinder) are based on the weight of the fetus and are governed by the states.

In Germany, a deceased person or his ashes must be buried in a cemetery, and German law does not allow private persons, to handle remains. This means you are not allowed to take the ashes with you.
The only two exceptions at the time of publishing are if you have a burial at sea or if the urn is buried in a burial forest (Beisetzungswald/ Friedwald.)
In Bremen, you are allowed to scatter ashes on private property.

One of our members also mentioned the following with regard to a Sea burial:
An anonymous Seebestattung (no mourners) was 740 Euro in 2019, the Sterbeurkunden and Totenscheingebühren were an additional 148 Euro. They are in Genthin and Brandenburg.
The company is called Bestattung und Grabpflege Titze.

If you opt for a burial, you have to be aware of the fact that after 20/25 years your grave will be assigned to someone else, and the remains will be disposed of.