Rhineland-Palatinate raises coffin obligation: Revolution in funeral law!

Rhineland-Palatinate raises coffin obligation: Revolution in funeral law!

Rhineland-Palatinate is faced with a comprehensive modernization of its funeral law. On Tuesday, the cabinet in Mainz will advise on the new amendment to the law, which should bring a variety of innovations. These are intended to enable citizens to make a greater freedom of choice in burial their relatives. The aim is to legalize cloth and sea burials as well as diamond burials and to fundamentally reform the rules for burials. The previous draft law stipulates that the burial of the sea is also allowed in the Rhine, Moselle, Lahn and Saar rivers.

The planned lifting of the coffin obligation in cemeteries should be particularly emphasized. This decision would make it possible to make touch burials without religious prerequisites and could therefore respond to the needs of different groups of people. In this context, diamond burial is also addressed, in which a synthetic diamond can be produced from the ash of a deceased. This innovative funeral form should in future be possible in Switzerland, where the procedure has already been established. The draft of the amendment was approved by the cabinet in December 2024 and is expected to be treated in the state parliament in spring 2025, provided the consultations are successful.

sensitive regulations for parents and soldiers

Another important aspect of the novella is to consider the burial of "star children", i.e. children who died before, during or shortly after birth. Health Minister Clemens Hoch emphasized how important a place of mourning is for the parents to find a place in mourning together with their deceased children. This sensitivity can also be seen in the planned regulation that soldiers who have fallen abroad should receive a permanent right of relaxation for Bundeswehr honorary graves.

The costs for grave use and care should be covered if they are not borne by the Bundeswehr. This is an important step to offer relatives of the soldiers who died in the service.

flexibility of funeral law

The planned changes in funeral law strive for flexibility of the forms of funeral. This includes the approval of sea burials and the spread of the ashes outside of cemeteries. The urn handling of private individuals and the possibility of sharing the ashes without entering into a burial obligation should facilitate individual coping with grief. These measures serve, among other things, to avoid “burial tourism” to neighboring countries.

In addition, the amendment to the law will also bring serious changes in the corpse. An autopsy for children up to the age of 6 is introduced if the cause of death is unclear. This measure is intended to help to educate homicide offenses better and is not considered a violation of post -mortal dignity.

Overall, the amendment to the funeral law in Rhineland-Palatinate is seen as a significant step towards a modern and intuitive funeral right. The challenges of the past decades that have arisen in the context of the funeral law urgently require adaptation to current social needs. Therefore, the upcoming reform offers the opportunity to sustainably improve the funeral culture in Rhineland-Palatinate. borkenerzeitung.de reports that the draft can be employed several state parliamentary functions before it can be adopted. In addition, reference is made to the new approach, which puts the principles such as the obligation to burial, which comes from the Middle Ages, in a modern context. mwg.rlp.de Sensitivity to individual losses is taken into account.