Cremation Jewelry and Keepsake Permits

 

Keepsakes and cremation jewelry have become really popular as cremation itself becomes more popular. Families are discovering that they can divide the cremated remains, allowing them to do different things with each portion. Some clients choose to have us scatter most of the cremated remains and keep a small portion for themselves. In California, where we are located, this requires that we obtain additional permits (H&S 103060).

 

This California law requires that all cremated remains, including portions of cremated remains, need a Burial Permit that follows them to their final place of disposition. The final place of disposition may be your residence, one of our beautiful scattering locations, or where cremation jewelry or a keepsake will go. We must obtain a permit for each separated portion. Each permit follows each portion to the final place of disposition.

 

The Burial Permit lists the amount of cremated remains as a fraction.  According to the Orange County Health Department, the fraction is an estimate of the divided cremated remains.  1/100 is the smallest fractional amount they see on Burial Permits.  Each permit also indicates where that portion is going. For example, we obtain two Burial Permits to scatter half of the cremated remains over Sequoia National Park (one of our more popular locations) and keep the other half in an urn at their residence. One of the permits would say “1/2 scatter over Sequoia National Park” and the other permit would say “1/2 to residence”.

 

We recently scattered cremated remains at sea and coordinated a viewing from the ground.  This client also had a small portion of her loved one’s cremated remains made into jewelry and a separate small amount placed in a miniature urn. We obtained 3 permits in this case – one for “98/100 to be scattered at sea off the coast of Los Angeles County”, “1/100 to residence” to be returned to where the jewelry would be going, and “1/100 to residence” to be returned to where the miniature urn would be going.

 

There is an exception to the fraction amount, and that is for “keepsakes”. Keepsakes are amounts containing 1cc or less of cremated remains (H&S 7054.6).  1cc is about the size of a pencil eraser. You still need a separate permit for this amount.  The Burial Permit would say “keepsake” and list the address where it is going. In this case, the non-keepsake amount would not need to reflect the portion removed for the keepsake. For example, if a family requests a scattering over the Santa Monica Mountains and also wants an amount 1cc or less to be placed in a keepsake locket, we would still get two permits. One permit would say “Scatter over the Santa Monica Mountains” and the other would say “keepsake” with the address where the keepsake is going.

 

We are happy to separate out cremated remains for the families with whom we work.  We can certainly request amended Burial Permits as needed. Please allow us time to obtain these new permits from the local Health Department.  It can take us up to two weeks to process the amended permits.

 

Please contact us if you have any questions about keepsake urns or cremation jewelry. We are here to help.