Who Decides About Your Body
Va. Code 54.1-2825 — a signed, notarized designation that outranks everyone else
Virginia lets a person name, in advance, the individual who will make the arrangements.
Signed, notarized, and accepted. Any person may designate, in a signed and notarized writing that the designee has accepted in writing, an individual to make arrangements for their funeral and the disposition of their remains, including cremation, interment, entombment or memorialization. The designee has priority over all others otherwise entitled.
Within 48 hours. The priority holds if a copy of the writing reaches the funeral service establishment, and any cemetery, no later than 48 hours after the establishment received the remains. Next of kin may still pay costs, with the designee's agreement.
Who decides when no one was designated is set by other sections of the Code. Anatomical gifts, the medical examiner's authority, the funeral home's own forms, and who pays for disposition when no one with the right will act are outside this page. A dispute between family members of equal rank is a question for a licensed Virginia attorney, and in some states for a court.
Sources for this section (1)
- Va. Code 54.1-2825 — Person to make arrangements for funeral and disposition of remains
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Virginia attorney.