What Happens to the Body Before Cremation

Before cremation, the body is moved to a funeral home or crematory, kept in secure cold storage and identified at every step. The paperwork is completed, the person with legal authority signs an authorization, and any pacemaker or other implant is dealt with. Then the body is placed in a rigid, combustible container. Embalming is not required.

What happens first: removal and cold storage

The Cremation Association of North America (CANA) says a cremation has at least four main elements: transport of the deceased from the place of death to the crematory, secure cold storage before cremation, the cremation itself, and return of the remains to the authorized agent. In practice, the body usually goes first to a funeral home. On rare occasions it goes straight to the crematory.

From the point of removal, CANA says the person's identity is confirmed at each step so that a chain of identification is established. Until services are planned and the cremation is scheduled, the body stays in cold storage. CANA says the time between death and cremation varies, and that cremation typically occurs at least 48 hours after death. See what happens to a body overnight at a funeral home for what that looks like.

How is identity tracked?

Staff confirm the identity of the deceased by checking all the paperwork, and assign a cremation number. CANA says this number is often stamped onto a stainless steel disc, but may be a barcode, and is recorded on a cremation log. The stainless steel disc stays with the remains for the entire time they are at the cremation facility.

CANA lists eight identification checkpoints, starting with removal from the place of death. Each state requires different records, so each facility's procedures may differ slightly. CANA also suggests asking providers whether they require the body to be identified before cremation, and how they track the body through the process. If seeing the person one more time matters to your family, ask about it when you arrange the cremation.

Is the body embalmed or prepared?

Not for cremation alone. The FTC says no state law requires routine embalming for every death, and that choices such as direct cremation do not require any form of preservation. Where preservation is needed, refrigeration is usually an acceptable alternative, and the FTC notes that some states require embalming or refrigeration only if the body is not buried or cremated within a set time. See whether embalming is required by law.

Preparation only goes further if the family wants a viewing first. CANA says a visitation or viewing before cremation may involve embalming, setting features, or washing and dressing the deceased. See viewing without embalming for the options, and washing and dressing a body if your family wants to take part.

What paperwork comes before cremation?

Three things have to be in place before a crematory can proceed:

1. The death certified. A doctor, medical examiner or coroner completes the medical part of the death certificate. See how to get a death certificate.
2. Written authorization. The authorizing agent, the person legally entitled to control disposition, has to authorize it in writing. State law decides who that is. In Washington, for example, a person's own signed and witnessed written wishes come first, followed by a designated agent (or, for service members, a person named on a DD Form 93), then a spouse or domestic partner, a majority of adult children, surviving parents and a majority of surviving siblings.
3. Any waiting period, permit or review your state requires. In Florida, for instance, a legally authorized person must give written authorization and sign a declaration of intent for the disposition of the remains. In Texas, a crematory may not cremate within 48 hours of the time of death on the death certificate unless an official waives the wait.

The authorization form often asks for more than a signature. Texas law requires it to include a declaration that, to the signer's knowledge, the remains do not contain a pacemaker or other potentially hazardous implant, and a list of any items of value delivered with the body, with instructions for handling them. Read the form before you sign.

What about pacemakers and implants?

Tell the funeral home about every implanted device. A 2025 experiment reported in the Journal of Arrhythmia heated 13 pacemakers and defibrillators to cremation temperatures, and all of them exploded, in an average of 4.3 to 5.4 minutes, depending on the temperature. The study saw no structural damage to the chambers. It says removal or deactivation is generally recommended, though not legally required, in the US and Europe, while the UK and Brazil require removal. Its authors also note that Japan does not require removal, and conclude that cremating devices without removal appears safe in modern regulated Japanese facilities, so rules differ by country.

Some US states go further. Texas bars a crematory from knowingly cremating remains with a pacemaker, and makes an authorizing agent or funeral director who fails to remove one liable to the crematory for damages. In Texas, if the authorizing agent lists a pacemaker on the form, the funeral director must make sure it is removed before the body goes to the crematory. Our pacemaker guide covers who does it. For other implants such as hip replacements, CANA says metal is separated from the remains after cremation and typically recycled. See medical implants after death.

What happens to jewelry, clothing and personal items?

CANA says jewelry, watches and other personal items are removed from the container and returned to the family if you arrange it in advance. Families sometimes ask for a meaningful item to be cremated with the person. CANA says that can sometimes be allowed but often cannot, because not everything is combustible and the wrong item can damage the equipment or hurt the operator. The funeral director will tell you what is acceptable.

For viewings, CANA says the family selects the clothing, jewelry and casket. It also says the family can decide whether clothing, jewelry and keepsakes go with the body or come back to the family, or to the funeral home in the case of a rental casket. See what the body can wear for cremation and cremation and jewelry.

What container is used?

CANA's minimum is a container that is completely enclosed, rigid, leak resistant and combustible. Options include cardboard or particleboard, a rental casket, a wooden casket or a polished casket, as long as it is combustible and non-toxic. CANA says metal caskets cannot be cremated. The FTC says no state or local law requires a casket for cremation, and that an alternative container may be made of unfinished wood, pressed wood, fiberboard or cardboard. See rental caskets.

Can the family see the body or hold a service first?

Yes. CANA says you can have a visitation or viewing before cremation, and that many crematories offer witnessed cremation, which lets a chosen few of the closest people be with the body as it enters the cremator. Ask about both when you arrange the cremation, since neither is automatic. See funeral before cremation options and being present at a cremation.

What to do next

1. Ask the funeral home how it stores the body, how it tracks identification and whether you can see the person before cremation.
2. Tell the provider about any pacemaker, defibrillator or other implant.
3. Decide what jewelry and clothing you want returned and what, if anything, you would like to ask to place in the container.
4. Read the authorization form closely before you sign, and keep a copy.