The law on scattering ashes in the UK

The scattering ashes law in the United Kingdom is pretty relaxed. People can freely bury or scatter ashes in their garden if they want so there are no strict regulations that prevent people from doing this. However, the fact that you may not always live in the same property clearly needs to be considered.

Even though you can freely scatter ashes on your property, the situation is different if you want to do this on some other individual’s property or on a public property. In cases like this, you will definitely need permission.

As far as the law is concerned, ashes shouldn’t be split between different family members unless there is a mutual agreement that this can happen. A court of law will not sanction the splitting of ashes but if you agree as family members to do so, then there’s no law against that.

If you want to bury or scatter cremation ashes on a family grave you should ask the management of the cemetery because not all of them allow this. Of course, it’s not just the law that regulates scattering of ashes. Many religions have specific rules about this practice. For instance, Buddhists cremate the bodies of deceased persons, however, there are cases when the bodies are buried. For example, if a child dies while their parents are still alive, they are often buried rather than cremated.

Interestingly, the Catholic Church was against cremation for many centuries. However, the ban that they had was lifted in 1963. Three years later, Catholic priests were allowed to be part of religious cremation ceremonies. It’s worth pointing out that the Catholic Church prefers the traditional, conventional type of burial, but if a Catholic person wants to be cremated they will respect their wishes. The same goes for the Church of England.

Judaism accepted cremation in the 19th century. Sikhs and Hindus find cremation to be one of the basic beliefs and part of their tradition while Muslims strongly oppose cremation.

No matter which option you choose, make sure that you are following the law and if you need advice, please get in touch.