ABSTRACT
Bodies may need to be exhumed for many reasons: lack of burial space; the redevelopment of old cemeteries or crypts; archaeological reasons; individual requests for reburial, repatriation or cremation; criminal investigations; or even to correct errors made at the time – for instance, the person was buried in the wrong plot. There are three categories of legitimate exhumation – under Ministry of Justice licence; ecclesiastical faculty, where remains are exhumed from consecrated ground; or a coroner’s order. Any person who wishes to exhume buried remains has to apply to the Ministry of Justice for a licence to permit it. Consent will also be needed from the owner of the exclusive rights of burial relating to the grave. The Ministry of Justice is unable to become involved in any family dispute and will not normally issue a licence until objections or disagreements between next of kin with the same degree of kinship have been resolved.
